Help me choose a dual core Opteron

[twitchy]

Hi - I'm hoping someone who uses this forum might be able to offer me some advice.

After an order arrived that I thought had been cancelled I've ended up with two brand new retail dual core Opterons. They are both still sitting in their boxes as one of them is going to be returned asap. The steppings are as follows -

AMD Opteron 165 - CCB1E 0609 FPBW

AMD Opteron 170 - CCBWE 0551 UPMW

Both were competitively priced so I've been endlessly researching steppings to help me decide which one to keep. I'm currently thinking about keeping the 165 as the CCB1E are reputedly good overclockers generally, with the CCB1E 0609 FPAW (very similiar?) a bit of a scorcher, while the CCBWE steppings seem average at best.

Any advice or opinions you can offer about either cpu will be much appreciated as once the box is opened there's no going back!

twitchy

[ExceededGoku]

Both are good but send the Opty 170 back and buy another graphics card or something

[twitchy]

Thanks ExceededGoku

A new graphics card would be nice...<dreams> but I have to keep my spending in check otherwise I'll be on bread and water for the next few months! Just one upgrade for the time being.

I understand that Opterons are a gamble, I'd just like a bit of reassurance that I'm placing my bets on the right horse, if that makes sense.

[kempez]

UPMW is a good stepping mate. 0551 is also meant ot be decent. I'ds go for the 170 as well as it has a 10x multi

[ExceededGoku]

UPMW is a good stepping mate. 0551 is also meant ot be decent. I'ds go for the 170 as well as it has a 10x multi

ah he has a good point!

[twitchy]

UPMW is a good stepping mate. 0551 is also meant ot be decent. I'ds go for the 170 as well as it has a 10x multi

Thanks kempez - hopefully I could get it to about 2.6ghz air cooled which would be a great cpu, but there are chips that overclock better which makes me wonder about the 165.

I'd love to know if anyone has a AMD Opteron 165 - CCB1E 0609 FPBW. I haven't found anything about them in my searches. I'm tempted to gamble on it because it's a fair bit cheaper.

To be honest I'm no closer to making up my mind. I'll probably sleep on it and do a quick search in the morning.

Thanks again guys

[atmadden]

I have had approx 10 dual core opties over the last few weeks and without a doubt CCB1E steppings are by far the best. Probably one of the worst steppings is CCBWE 0551 upmw the 0550's are good tho but not as good as any CCB1E. Did you get these from scan?

Thanks

[twitchy]

I have had approx 10 dual core opties over the last few weeks and without a doubt CCB1E steppings are by far the best. Probably one of the worst steppings is CCBWE 0551 upmw the 0550's are good tho but not as good as any CCB1E. Did you get these from scan?

Thanks

Cheers atmadden - I needed the advice of a guy who's had a go with a few. Which Opty did you settle with after trying so many?

The 165 is from Scan and I'm guessing it's one of the latest steppings as I've not been able to find and info on it, just the CCB1E 0609 FPAW, which I'm hoping is similar as they seem to overclock very well.

The 170 is from a UK based retailer that I haven't used before so if this is the one to be returned I'd like to get it done quickly. Ideally, I'd have a go with both, but the market for nearly new processors doesn't seem very strong in the UK compared the USA.

Thanks

[atmadden]

I settled for a 165 CCB1E 0550 vpmw clocks to 2.9ghz. The 170's have been a big dissapointment to be honest I had a ccbwe 0550 upmw that would reach 2.8ghz but all the CCB1E 165's have reached in excess of this I have had a 0606 vpmw as well.

[Artic_Kid]

Question: The OEM opterons (for example at monarchcomputers.com) come without a Heatsink&Fan (and no warranty is listed at the website). Whereas the RETAIL opterons "in a box" come with all those. Yet the OEM version is more expensive (slightly) than the RETAIL version. Why? Which are better? Are the OEM opterons better quality, or better stepping?

[Artic_Kid]

Another question: Here's an example (from Newegg.com) concerning socket 939 dual-core processors. They list the HT of all opteron dual-cores as 1000MHz. Whereas they list the HT of all Athlon64 dual-cores at twice as high, at 2000MHz. Why the big difference? I was told these are basically the same chip, just sorted/binned differently by quality (with the opterons being higher quality).

[s29feb]

I would say it depends on your RAM and how you run it e.g.

If you have some good RAM that you wan to run 1:1 then the 10X multi of the 170 will come in really handy for higher clocks.

For instance me I have an Opteron 170 ccbwe 0550upmw with a 2GB Ballistix Kit and I can run this 1:1 at 270 X 10 @ 3,3,3,7 stock volts 1.3 and 2.6 (actually this is less than stock for the ballistix) all day

However if you run you run a divider on some slower ram then the 9X multi won't make a difference so you could run at an HTT of 300 (presuming you can hit this - mine does about 315 with 1.45v before it gets flaky) with a 166 divider to get 2.7 with ram coming in about 195

People will say that running the divider does not mean a performance hit with AMD, however if you have some uber RAM then no point running it low is there

In fact then I would also consider your cooling - most people do get good clocks from their 165's but with a voltage bump to usually 1.5v however all opterons can get really toasty so you'd better have some good cooling.

[s29feb]

I'd have a go with both, but the market for nearly new processors doesn't seem very strong in the UK compared the USA.

The 170 is quite a rare proc at the mo from what I can tell?

[atmadden]

What did you go for in the end? I just recd 2 opty 165's the same stepping as yours priming at the moment at 3005 mhz gone an hour at 1.4v. Hope you kept yours!

[Artic_Kid]

I'd love to know if anyone has a AMD Opteron 165 - CCB1E 0609 FPBW. I haven't found anything about them in my searches. I'm tempted to gamble on it because it's a fair bit cheaper.

You're in luck! Here's a list of known steppings and their ratings!

[mfurse]

Think my PSU is holding me back but my 170 0546 XPMW runs at 2.7Ghz, 1.44 V, CnQ enabled, all on air, 25°C idle, 43°C Load.

Will try for 2.8Ghz soon - would be nice to squeeze a dual-core that can act like 2xFX-57s.

Matt