Opteron Vs. Athlon X2

[Merlin]

Could someone explain a bit about what the differences are btween these two....Opteron 175 Denmark 2.2 GHz Dual Core VS. Athlon X2 4200 Toledo 2.2. It would seem to me that it is a huge waste of time to make,package,distribute, and sell 2 almost identical CPUs WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT? These are both the socket 939 models. I know the HT rating on the Opteron is 1000 vs. 2000 on the Athlon but what does that really mean in real performance terms. the cache is the same. And lastly can I run either one of these with the heatsink/fan that came on my 3200 Venice?

[kenc51]

The Opteron is validated/tested for server use.......apart from that, there's no difference.
The HSF on the Opty 175 & 4200 have four heatpipes so would cool better than the one that came with the 3200 Venice.

If your upgrading, and must have a skt939 chip, get the Opteron 170 (2GHz) and overclock it.

[Merlin]

Thanks for the Info. Would an X2 3800 Toledo overclock as well as the Opty? What does it mean to be validated for server use? More stable?

Being a student of "good" business I can't help but wonder why they would launch two identical CPU's. It would seem that their capital while in competition with Intel would be better spent on other things. Unless launching Opteron series was simply a ruse to try to get more $$ out of the same product. If that is what they did then someone needs to be fired for thinking they could "fool" their customers that easily. Just my mindless wonderings.......

[Zertz]

They tend to clock better with less voltage.

Intel does the same thing with their Xeon CPUs.

[allenpan]

x2 3800+ = 2.0ghz + 2*512K
x2 4200+ = 2.2ghz + 2*512K
x2 4600+ = 2.4ghz + 2*512K

x2 4400+ = 2.2ghz + 2*1024K
x2 4400+ = 2.4ghz + 2*1024K

Opteron 165 = 1.8ghz + 2*1024k
Opteron 170 = 2.0ghz + 2*1024k
Opteron 175 = 2.2ghz + 2*1024k
Opteron 180 = 2.4ghz + 2*1024k
Opteron 185 = 2.6ghz + 2*1024k

so there is a difference..note those are all s939

opteron 1XX = 1 way
opteron 2XX = 2 way
opteron 8XX = 8 way

as for xeon, there is no one way xeon, all xeon are either DP or MP,

[Merlin]

Thanks Allen. Would you do me a small favor and go to Ford VS. Chevy thread in the LR country Club and post your thoughts on AMD there?? please

[Major_A]

All Opterons before the 939 series needed ECC RAM. The 939 Opterons didn't need ECC RAM and had 1MB of cache while most of the Athlon X2's had 512Kb. That's why people bought them originally. Also buyers suspected they would clock better since they are designed to be used in servers and could handle the heat better. Also when the Opteron's first came out they were cheaper than their X2 counterparts (i.e. Opteron 170 vs X2 4200+). This was the case until retailers and AMD caught on to what was going on and raised the prices.

With that being said get the one that is cheaper.

*EDIT*
Here's my Opteron 170 with a Thermalright XP120.

[Zertz]

Here's my Opteron 170 with a Thermalright XP120.

How much voltage is that?

[Major_A]

It's set to 1.45V in the BIOS but the board fluctuates from 1.40V to 1.48V all over the place. I wish a board manufacturer would get rid of voltage fluctuations. I have a 6 year old Gigabyte board that will fluctiate at most .002V. Every board I've owned since is all over the place.

I see there is no strike option, oh well.

*EDIT*
Temps/Voltages/Etc...

[Zertz]

Not bad, my 4200 takes 1.45V to run 2.7Ghz stable, can hit ~2.8Ghz if I give it enough volts, around 1.55

[pistyll]

opterons historically use the best silicon as they are intended for server use and amd can't afford them to break down and are usually clocked at far lower speeds than they are really capable of to make them 100% reliable at quoted clock speeds therefore they are GREAT overclockers and given a choice of an opteron or an Athlon64 at same clock speeds I would always go for the opteron they are cherry picked for their reliability.