Athlon FX 55(SD core) Or X2 4800??

gline

Which is best to get the Athlon FX 55(SD core) Or X2 4800 these days?? As we all know that most programs/games dont support dual core so no major use for dual core now. I am going to be sticking it under mach 2, so i was thinking of the fx as unlocked multis is handy.

How do the 4800's preform though?? Anyone got them on vapo or mach 2 as i read their cap is 2.7-3.0ghz, not many getting it over this. Is that true??

Any thoughts on which to get? I will probably be using win xp so no real dual core support/enhancement until vista.

WizZard

I've seen X2's at 3.5Ghz on Mach2's but I don't know if they can handle that constantly. Check XS for more info though.

Spear

I'd rather the X2 over the FX in general, but if it's for gaming you won't really see a difference over a 3500 or so.

gline

Spear wrote:

I'd rather the X2 over the FX in general, but if it's for gaming you won't really see a difference over a 3500 or so.

thats what i meen, most if not all the apps/games are single threaded, any point in getting a 4800?

Azza

I heard the X2's are harder to overclock.

Do the FX chips not suffer from the cold boot issue that plagued users of phase coolers overclocking Athlon 64's?

Neither of those chips is worth the money. At most I would go with an Athlon 64 4000 or a X2 3800.

WizZard

Here's a XS post with a 4600 X2 doing ~3.2 with a Vapochill LS.

<edit>And a 3.4Ghz X2 3800+ suicide shot </edit>

gline

Azza wrote:

Do the FX chips not suffer from the cold boot issue that plagued users of phase coolers overclocking Athlon 64's?

Neither of those chips is worth the money. At most I would go with an Athlon 64 4000 or a X2 3800.

no the sd core fx's are fine on - temps.

The main reason i wanted to go for the 4800 is the 2meg cache, so maybe the 4400 also might be an option, its all about getting good oc's mate lol

WizZard

I went with the 4400 as it's cheaper and the cap is probably the same for OC'ing. Same reason as you, becasue of the larger cache.

Haven't had a chance to bench it yet. Might do it at the weekend.
I may get the new DFI Expert board too So I can watercool my chipset!

gline

WizZard wrote:

I may get the new DFI Expert board too So I can watercool my chipset!

Whats dfi Expert??? post up ur benchies when you try ocing it.

WizZard

Will do. The Expert is the name for the new DFI Lanparty UT nF4 SLI-DR, and it is designed like the newer DFI Crossfire board, but, most crucially, it has 2 PCI slots width between the two x16 PCI-E slots allowing chipset watercooling!1! :D

gline

WizZard wrote:

Will do. The Expert is the name for the new DFI Lanparty UT nF4 SLI-DR, and it is designed like the newer DFI Crossfire board, but, most crucially, it has 2 PCI slots width between the two x16 PCI-E slots allowing chipset watercooling!1! :D

cool, no news on the crossfire?? id really love to get that

WizZard

The DFI Crossfire board is also slated for release at the end of September.

gline

WizZard wrote:

The DFI Crossfire board is also slated for release at the end of September.

oh if only....lol
dobt wether anyone will see it then other than tech websites to do more benchs on it

Azza

The 2Meg cahce is not really going benefit you is it. 1 Meg is on the second core. So unless your multitasking or got a dual core support application it won't benefit you. The dual cores perform the same as in single core applications as a single core at the same speed if I'm not mistaken.

gline

Azza wrote:

The 2Meg cahce is not really going benefit you is it. 1 Meg is on the second core. So unless your multitasking or got a dual core support application it won't benefit you. The dual cores perform the same as in single core applications as a single core at the same speed if I'm not mistaken.

yeh i was just lookingfor ppls opinions. So you'd recommend a single based core cpu?? FX??

Mythago

I went with the 4400 as it's cheaper and the cap is probably the same for OC'ing. Same reason as you, becasue of the larger cache.

My 4400+ @2400'ish (using the provided air cooler!)& standard x800xt scores 6087 in 3dmark05 about 200 up on my old 3800+ Winchester.

yeh i was just lookingfor ppls opinions. So you'd recommend a single based core cpu?? FX??

Unless you're planning on running BOINC or DIVX encodes at the same time as gaming you're probably better off with the FX....

WizZard

Mythago wrote:

Unless you're planning on running BOINC or DIVX encodes at the same time as gaming you're probably better off with the FX....

Exactly. Unless you multitask a lot, you won't see a difference in single/dual core for now.

gline

WizZard wrote:

Exactly. Unless you multitask a lot, you won't see a difference in single/dual core for now.

i think i am gonna try get the fx 57, selling all my old components off soon, fx 51 , mobo, ram etc. so i should be able to get the fx57... getting a mate to ship it in from the US

WizZard

Don't get the FX-57, get an FX-55. No real difference. The FX-57 doesn't clock to highly and is easily beaten by the FX-55's (Claw/San Diego).

No point spending way more than you need to...

gline

WizZard wrote:

Don't get the FX-57, get an FX-55. No real difference. The FX-57 doesn't clock to highly and is easily beaten by the FX-55's (Claw/San Diego).

No point spending way more than you need to...

ive seen some 57's clocking to very good speeds. Just the heat is more of an issue, no prob for the mach 2 though

WizZard

DFI Crossfire board for sale here

Why not get some new Patriot DDR700 RAM for it too

gline

WizZard wrote:

DFI Crossfire board for sale here

Why not get some new Patriot DDR700 RAM for it too

hmm im really out of touch with all this ?? that ram any good, i will be buying parts on 30th of this month, so its looking like crossfire so. Can any normal x850XTPE be used with the crossfire edition of the card? I suppose the crossfire x850's wont be out for ages yeh?

WizZard

Well, AFAIK ATI are pre-shipping cards so that when they launch Crossfire they wil be immediately available, but I haven't seen any stockist mention anything yet.
ATI's dates are end of Sept for first Crossfire cards (DFI intend to coincide with this) based on current chipsets, and the R520's are coming out at the end of October onwards, in the order Mid, High, Low end cards. Basically any card bought now is supposed to work with it's Crossfire counterpart when they are launched.

Patriot only launched the RAM the other day, and nobody has reviewed it yet
It can only run at 2T and with loose (think DDR2) timings, but has HUGE bandwidth.

gline

WizZard wrote:

Well, AFAIK ATI are pre-shipping cards so that when they launch Crossfire they wil be immediately available, but I haven't seen any stockist mention anything yet.
ATI's dates are end of Sept for first Crossfire cards (DFI intend to coincide with this) based on current chipsets, and the R520's are coming out at the end of October onwards, in the order Mid, High, Low end cards. Basically any card bought now is supposed to work with it's Crossfire counterpart when they are launched.

Patriot only launched the RAM the other day, and nobody has reviewed it yet
It can only run at 2T and with loose (think DDR2) timings, but has HUGE bandwidth.

i dont need HUGH bandwidth, LOL. I was going to get the ram u have as i heard it can be hard to pair ram with dfi's, so at least that is guarenteed to work, ram is always a hard decision. If crossfire isnt available wen i buy, im going for 2 x 7800 Gt's

gline

i want ram that can do 500+ @ 2-2-2-5

whats the best? Probably bh5 would be the stuff to do that, yeh?

WizZard

I have some OCZ Gold PC4000 VX sitting around waiting to be benched so I'll tell you what that can do. Supposedly 2-2-2 @ DDR500.
The only RAM to beat it is the Mushkin Redline XP4000 (another DFI special) which does the same 2-2-2 timings @ DDR500
Both of these take at least 3.3v to run, so you'll need a serious PSU.

I'll tell you what my results are when I bench them. My RAM is EOL now so it's really hard to find. It's more for bandwidth than tight timings though. It does have the tightest timings at DDR625 speeds than any other RAM though.

An SD (or any E) core chip will struggle to get more than 270FSB (with a good multi) though, which is why OCZ pulled my RAM. Dunno what results are like on PC though, or if they can go higher with it?

gline

WizZard wrote:

I have some OCZ Gold PC4000 VX sitting around waiting to be benched so I'll tell you what that can do. Supposedly 2-2-2 @ DDR500.
The only RAM to beat it is the Mushkin Redline XP4000 (another DFI special) which does the same 2-2-2 timings @ DDR500
Both of these take at least 3.3v to run, so you'll need a serious PSU.

I'll tell you what my results are when I bench them. My RAM is EOL now so it's really hard to find. It's more for bandwidth than tight timings though. It does have the tightest timings at DDR625 speeds than any other RAM though.

An SD (or any E) core chip will struggle to get more than 270FSB (with a good multi) though, which is why OCZ pulled my RAM. Dunno what results are like on PC though, or if they can go higher with it?

il be looking at an ocz powerstream 600w+ or something similar. Hmm let me kno how the VX goes as id be interested in that. I mite search for some bh5 on ebay or something also

Mythago

so its looking like crossfire so. Can any normal x850XTPE be used with the crossfire edition of the card? I suppose the crossfire x850's wont be out for ages yeh?

Might be worth looking at this before going with crossfire:
Serious Crossfire Limitation

WizZard

Interesting yet scary!

AS they've pointed out it's unreleased so we'll have to see if it is a limitation. Remember SLi had horrific problems with hi-res widescreen monitors until the 77.7x drivers!

po0k

gline wrote:

il be looking at an ocz powerstream 600w+ or something similar. Hmm let me kno how the VX goes as id be interested in that. I mite search for some bh5 on ebay or something also

Try TCCD.

gline

SyxPak wrote:

Try TCCD.

i checked reviews on Mushkin Redline XP4000 and i think i will get it, it seems savage

po0k

Mythago wrote:

Might be worth looking at this before going with crossfire:
Serious Crossfire Limitation

I'd like to know where he got the part number from, what revision/stage of design the board was at etc.
It could very well have been a drop-in placeholder piece for testing/proof-of-concept.
It is a trivial issue to slap in a multi channel TMDS design, one of the advantages of discrete components.

WizZard

BH5 takes a good while to burn in so you might have to wait for some time before you can get the very best out of it. TCCD/5 don't have the same burn in period and are know to work very well with DFI nF4 boards.
Corsair are the only manufacturer with access to Samsung TCCD at the moment but Corsair memory is know to have some teething problems with DFI nF4 based boards.
TCC5 is quite similar to TCCD but likes less voltage and performs almost the exact same.

gline

WizZard wrote:

BH5 takes a good while to burn in so you might have to wait for some time before you can get the very best out of it. TCCD/5 don't have the same burn in period and are know to work very well with DFI nF4 boards.
Corsair are the only manufacturer with access to Samsung TCCD at the moment but Corsair memory is know to have some teething problems with DFI nF4 based boards.
TCC5 is quite similar to TCCD but likes less voltage and performs almost the exact same.

what chips do the Mushkin Redline XP4000 use, i didnt check it?

WizZard

BH5 IIRC

The supposed ATI limtitation is on The Inquirer now

gline

WizZard wrote:

The supposed ATI limtitation is on The Inquirer now

ok read that article and if that is true i am going sli (2 x 7800's), as i play games on a 22" crt @ roughly 2000 x 1900 (or whatever the res is), so 1600x1200 @ 60hz is NO good for me. Can nvidias solution handle even those resolutions?

WizZard

Yes, to the best of my knowledge. There is an article here on Crossfire (French) which shows a picture of the offending chip. I'm sure ATI will havea press release out by tomorrow...

gline

WizZard wrote:

Yes, to the best of my knowledge. There is an article here on Crossfire (French) which shows a picture of the offending chip. I'm sure ATI will havea press release out by tomorrow...

hmmm.. this doesnt look good, mite have to skip crossfire untill its more "mature"

WizZard

That was an early (pre-June) sample of the master card, but it seems ATI are still using the same chip due.
Wait for the ATI press release before deciding anything.

gline

dont know if i can wait, i will be getting the parts ordered, probably 30th sept, need to start getting stuff in order

WizZard

I meant wait til Monday before deciding on what to buy
Forgot that tomorrow's the weekend.
ATI will probably issue a press release confirming/denying/assuaging the doubts people have about this res issue by then.

gline

ah sure i can wait until then

gline

this the best sli mobo at the mo from dfi?

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=310790&cks=PRL

WizZard

Yes. Currently the top end one.

gline

thanks


At the mo.. its looking like that mobo, fx 55, redline 4000ram , 2 x 7800 gt's watercooled and 2x160gig sata2 hdds raid0 and xifi soundcard,

SO FAR.. well see how crossfire pans out

WizZard

gline wrote:

2x160gig sata2 hdds raid0 and xifi soundcard,

Why 160gb's?? SATA2 isn't implemented in the nF4 on the DFI boards, although there is a chipset hack that can enable it. Would you not go for a single 300gb instead? Or 2 x 250Gb's?

And the X-Fi may have some issues with the DFI board. I know the Audigy 2 had... So just check that out before you buy.

gline

WizZard wrote:

Why 160gb's?? SATA2 isn't implemented in the nF4 on the DFI boards, although there is a chipset hack that can enable it. Would you not go for a single 300gb instead? Or 2 x 250Gb's?

And the X-Fi may have some issues with the DFI board. I know the Audigy 2 had... So just check that out before you buy.

geez theses boards sound ropey.. 2x160's cuz i dont need loads of space as i have a 1TB file server. lol. I thought it supported sata2???

WizZard

Nope, you need to mod the chipset to get SATA2. The drives will work, but will default down to SATA(1).
It just seems like RAID for the sake of RAID, that's all.

The board is an enthusiast board, so it may have teething problems with certain other non-essential (and even some essential) hardware.
That said, I've never encountered problems with my Audigy 2 ZS.

masteroftherealm

Hey you do all know you can buy the Ultra-D draw a line on the chipset and its then an SLI board right?
http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10736
UltraD is also a lot cheaper
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=310787&cks=PRL

WizZard

gline wrote:

cuz i dont need loads of space as i have a 1TB file server. lol. I thought it supported sata2???

Then go with the SLI-D. It's basically the same (doesn't have the Front-X) but only has 4 (vs 8) SATA ports.

The chipset mod to the Ultra-D would do you either, but nVidia could stop all that with a driver release...

masteroftherealm

They cant cause its hardware level! The chipset is actually a SLIwith the SLI and the SATA2 disabled this just reenables it