GonzoDamon Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 All right, I need a general consensus on this one before I do anything drastic. Last night I bought an AMD X2 4400+ in a combo with an eVGA 7800 GTX. Now, a lot of people are telling me to cancel my order and go with an Opteron. Are the X2's really that resistant to overclocking? Opteron 170 $414 + 7800 GTX $454 = $868 X2 4400 $464 + 7800 GTX $454 = $918 - $100 combo sale = $818 SO, the X2 4400 combo sale is $50 cheaper than the Opteron. Still, my main question is can the X2 4400 be overclocked to a decent extent at all? If I did cancel my order and go with the Opteron, I would definitely need to get an extra cooler to allow it to run at the OC speeds safely, right? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that I will be pleased any way I go. I just don't want to have spent all this money and then regret that I didn't buy the best bang for my buck. The fact is, I've never gotten into overclocking. At this point, I'm rather certain I will, but I definitely am no expert in OC in any manner. Seeing as how the stock X2 4400 is quicker than a stock Opteron, maybe I made the right decision? I'm sure everyone that doesn't have a lot of disposable income that is spending such an amount of money on a new system is nervous and wonders if they are making the right decisions. Problem now is that I need to buy all the rest of the stuff while the 15 day return policy is still good on the CPU, video card, and motherboard. THANKS!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest thespin Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 Your OCing results depend a lot on your luck - which stepping you get - your other components, and your skill ... almost a crap shoot in other words ... no guarantees. So read the stickies in the OC section and make your own choices ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GonzoDamon Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 Do the dual Opterons handle gaming better than the X2's? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDog69 Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that I will be pleased any way I go. I just don't want to have spent all this money and then regret that I didn't buy the best bang for my buck. The fact is, I've never gotten into overclocking. At this point, I'm rather certain I will, but I definitely am no expert in OC in any manner. Seeing as how the stock X2 4400 is quicker than a stock Opteron, maybe I made the right decision? I'm sure everyone that doesn't have a lot of disposable income that is spending such an amount of money on a new system is nervous and wonders if they are making the right decisions. Problem now is that I need to buy all the rest of the stuff while the 15 day return policy is still good on the CPU, video card, and motherboard. You might find better bang for the buck in the 3800+...I see they are down to $300 now. You probably can't really go wrong with any of your choices, but if budget is tight, you might be able to use the extra cash on other stuff you couldn't otherwise afford (RAID-0 or water-cooling, perhaps). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
red930 Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 Do the dual Opterons handle gaming better than the X2's? No. I think the 4400+ is an excellent choice, which is why I went with it at the time (before 939 opterons were available) and I still thik its an excellent choice. Overclocking dual-core cpu's is definitely a hit-or-miss gamble, and opterons ar no different. There are some that'll reach 3.0Ghz (claimed) and there are also some 4400s that have reached that point. At the VERY least you'll be able to get 2.5GHz (300MHz oc) off of it, and many are capable of 2.6-2.7. Anything over that is lucky really. As for gaming, I've honestly NEVER had a problem in game and I don't use the AMD dual core driver or anything, its all just stock. It also games just as well if not better than my old 3700+ @ 2.8GHz. Again, this could be hit-or-miss I suppose, some people need the hotfix while others don't. There is a claim that the driver increases gaming, I have yet to try that out. But anyways, I think you made a fine decision, don't let anyone talk you out of it to get an opteron just based on performance-you won't gain anything. If you want to save a few bucks go with the 3800+ as there are/were a few that could do nearly as well as the 4400+, though I'm not sure those are still available. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GonzoDamon Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 Thank you everyone that has responded with suggestions. I will stick with my X2 4400+ and not look back. It may even turn out that I am too chicken to OC on such expensive hardware, in which case I made the right decision. Does anyone here have horror stories about OC? Burnt out chips? Fried components? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
red930 Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 You never will as long as you keep the voltage below 1.5v, and you should be fine up to 1.6 even on air. The stock cooler on the 4400+ is sufficient for even that I'll bet. I've seen quite a few 4400s do well at 1.5 and get better than 2.6GHz out of them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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