I have decided to upgrade my socket 939 processor from single core to dual core. I can't decide among the following processors.
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ / 2.4Ghz
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 OEM / 2.6Ghz
AMD Opteron 180 / 2.4Ghz
Is the server processor (Opteron) any good for gaming? Would I notice any advantage (ex. gaming)? Please help me to decide!
Well for gaming and you have a 939M/B maybe you shouldn't go dual core just yet since theres such good prices now for the fastest single core CPU on the planet the FX57, in many games the FX57 outperforms the dualies, I see benchie braggers posting their 3D Mark Scores coming in lower than mine, so what are they really bragging about, I'm still trying to figure that out.
I'm an owner of an FX60 and an FX57, the 57 was my gaming rig, I got the 60 for Christmas and its great for multi apps, however if you're going to play a game you surely won't be playing back a DVD at the same time and unless the game is written to take advantage of the second core, its pretty much useless, except for possibly running background apps.
Some games even get really funky on a dual core, like FarCry one of my favorite games, so I pulled the 60 out of my gaming rig and gave it to my wife and slapped the 57 back in the machine, funkiness is gone and gamings great.
You'll hear all kind of suggestions here, but if you intend to play your games fullscreen and really don't want any side effects at all get yourself an FX57, the multiplier is unlocked you can easily run 3ghz with a 15x multi on air cooling, I know you said you weren't going to OC at all but you can without touching the FSB.
Anyhow if i didn't already have an FX57 I'd get one myself, but its your money.
Once we really start getting software and games written for dual cores, then that will be great, but its just trickling in, maybe Vista will change things faster, but do you want to wait or play whats available now???