Buy an Opteron instead of Venice

Number12 · Post by **Number12** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 8:45 pm

The 1xx Opterons socket 939 have recently gained popularity in OC circles due to their amazing OC capacity. Fortunately, AMD has also incorporated CnQ for these chips, so I looked at getting an Opteron instead of a Venice. These are my thoughts:

Pros
- better availability than Venice (at least in Australia, it is difficult/long pre-order to obtain anything less than a 3500+ Venice recently)
- better pricing than a Venice (an entry level 144 Opteron @ 1.8GHz is AUD$215, 146 Opteron $230, versus Venice 3200+ $250, Venice 3500+ $310. Venice 3000+ now phased out)
- 1Mbyte cache versus 512
- undervoltable. I'm running my 144 Opty at 0.85VCore idle and 1.1VCore Max, using RMClock on an Asus A8V Deluxe. Standard voltage 1.35-1.4V, which means 13.7W idle and 41.3W at load (using CPU Power utility, 1.4VCore, 67W TDP)
- otherwise, still enabled with CnQ, 90nm SOI manufacture like Venices
- compatible with (?all) desktop socket 939 mobos, heatsinks, etc
- dual core Opty also compatible, so long you update the bios to accept dual core cpu's
- does not need registered DDR memory
- highly overclockable, if that takes your fancy

Cons:
- no official support by manufacturers for Opty in desktop mobos
- slightly more heat due to larger cache, but AMD maintains TDP <67W
- I really can't think of other cons...

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 9:17 am

yeah before socket m2 comes out, everyone really should be getting opterons. I totally agree.
I am glad the prices havent jumped either.

the best chip out I feel is the 175, thats a sick chip. I wish I had the extra cash, i would go that with a asrock dualsata board.... sigh......

Number12 · Post by **Number12** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 3:11 pm

what's the pricing of opterons versus venices outside of Oz?

It's interesting is that in Australia at least, there is a significant difference (in order of 20-30%) in price for an Opty with a larger cache, and they're also more readily available versus the same speed Venice.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 5:16 pm

well I know that dual core you get more cache and a better memory controller as well as a card that takes all sorts of voltages for about 5% cheaper....

who knows!?

venice though in general isnt that expensive.

if you want to check our prices, go to www.pricewatch.com