Upgrade strategy (ies)..

[FLFlyGuy]

Here is a good review/test of the latest AMD and Intel Chips.  
Intel pretty much runs away with the prize.


http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/core2/index.x?pg=1

[NicksFXHouse]

[quote]

The only X2's ever made with 2mb of L2 cache were the 4400+ and 4800+. No other AMD cpu got those designations to my knowledge.

The weird thing is that supposedly, no socket AM2 X2 chips were to recieve the 2mb L2 cache, which was the subject of quite a bit of consternation, but this AMD comparison chart shows otherwise:

http://www.amdcompare.com/us%2Den/deskt ... 4400DAA6CD

The chart shows two cores for each version of the 4400+, socket 939 and socket AM2, all have 2mb of L2 cache ram in common.

I've never heard of any advantage of a 4800+ over a 4400+ other than stock speed and multiplier. To the overclocker, the difference is completely transparent.
Neither one is a particularly great overclocker and on average they clock about the same as each other, they are, for all intents other than stock running, identical as far as I'm aware.
One thing you do notice, the people that own 4800+'s run them at stock speed usually, and the people with 4400+'s run theirs faster than the 4800'+s, which is self explanatory in a way, Why would you pay the extra for a 12x cpu multiplier when you don't need it or desire it?

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Here are the 4800+'s..... Note the two built for socket AM2, and note the lower wattage on those.

http://www.amdcompare.com/us%2Den/deskt ... 4800IAA6CS

From this point on my rave is about Socket 939 cpu's only.

I doubt there is much binning done between the 4400+ and the 4800+ but I could be wrong. I don't work there at AMD to know.

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Here are the FX60 and FX62 equivalents, I'd say the FX cpu's are from the first binning and are probably proof tested.

http://www.amdcompare.com/us%2Den/deskt ... FX60DAA6CD

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Here are the socket 939 Dual core Opterons which you will notice are running E6 silicon exclusively:

http://www.amdcompare.com/us-en/opteron ... SA175CDBOX

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Points to consider:

All of these CPU's have very similar characteristics.

There are two types of core silicon being used on these cpu's, F2 and E6 silicon. The F2 cores get a name suffix of CS and the E6 silicon gets a suffix of CD.

The F2 cores are running lower wattage the the E6 ones.

The high powered expensive FX and Opterons are using at least 110 watts of power, and this is the reason I would seek out the 4400+ ADA4400DAA6CD model in particular, they are virtually an FX60 in the overclocker's hands and if lucky, you may just get them to go faster.
However, there is an anomaly here in that AMD's flagship CPU,