Confused about AMD Athlon 64 types

T

Tweek

Venice is the newest core and that is the one you want. It has SSE3 and some
enhancements to the memory controller that are desirable. San Diego is also
a new core, same as Venice but with 1MB L2 cache.
 
S

shoe gazer

Venice is the newest core and that is the one you want. It has SSE3 and some
enhancements to the memory controller that are desirable. San Diego is also
a new core, same as Venice but with 1MB L2 cache.

San Diego is way overpriced too. Same speed of cpu but 512k more L2
cache and they want an arm and a leg for it. Stick with Venice if you
want the better bang for the buck ratio.
 
T

Tweek

I don't know, $60 for another 512k cache is not bad, considering it has a
good impact on performance. Overclock that sucker to 2.6Ghz+ and you have
one baddass processor. I think that is the one I am going to buy to replace
my 3200+ Winchester.
 
S

Shoe Gazer

I don't know, $60 for another 512k cache is not bad, considering it has a
good impact on performance. Overclock that sucker to 2.6Ghz+ and you have
one baddass processor. I think that is the one I am going to buy to replace
my 3200+ Winchester.

I'm in Canada and I sourced the prices through here.
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?majorcatid=101&minorcatid=106

Both processors run at 2.4ghz even though the San Diego is given a
higher speed rating due to the extra 512k of L2 cache.

AMD ATHLON 64 3800+ PROCESSOR S939 VENICE 2.4GHZ 512K L2 CACHE 90NM
RETAIL BOX $518.67 CAD

AMD ATHLON 64 4000+ PROCESSOR S939 SAN DIEGO 2.4GHZ 1MB L2 CACHE 90NM
RETAIL BOX $766.25 CAD

That's $247.58 CAD difference just for 512k L2 cache. Obviously we
Canadians are getting ripped if you can get it for only $60.00 USD
difference.
 
E

Ed Coolidge

Shoe said:
I'm in Canada and I sourced the prices through here.
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?majorcatid=101&minorcatid=106

Both processors run at 2.4ghz even though the San Diego is given a
higher speed rating due to the extra 512k of L2 cache.

AMD ATHLON 64 3800+ PROCESSOR S939 VENICE 2.4GHZ 512K L2 CACHE 90NM
RETAIL BOX $518.67 CAD

AMD ATHLON 64 4000+ PROCESSOR S939 SAN DIEGO 2.4GHZ 1MB L2 CACHE 90NM
RETAIL BOX $766.25 CAD

That's $247.58 CAD difference just for 512k L2 cache. Obviously we
Canadians are getting ripped if you can get it for only $60.00 USD
difference.

It depends which speed you look at. I looked up the prices for the 2.4GHz CPU
on an another US site:

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Venice Retail $374.49 US
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ San Diego Retail $499.00 US

The price difference for the 2.2GHz is less, but still more that $60.
 
T

Tweek

Well, I was talking along the lines of the 3500+ Venice ($272 OEM) and the
3700+ San Diego ($335 retail), the price is closer when you consider that
the retail San Diego comes with a heatsink/fan. The difference between the
retail 3800+ Venice and the retail 4000+ San Diego is about $125. All US
dollars.
 
F

Fisher

Well, I was talking along the lines of the 3500+ Venice ($272 OEM) and the
3700+ San Diego ($335 retail), the price is closer when you consider that
the retail San Diego comes with a heatsink/fan. The difference between the
retail 3800+ Venice and the retail 4000+ San Diego is about $125. All US
dollars.

Just as I thought. We Canucks get it up the arse once again. The store
I quoted is charging over 100% more than your quoted price and yet the
Canadian doller is only 20% less in value than the USD. As I said, I
would buy the Venice before I would buy the San Diego, for me it is a
much better deal. 512k of L2 cache doesn't give over $240.00 CAD worth
of extra performance. I'm already on a P4 3.0ghz so considering
anything less than an AMD64 3800+ isn't worth my money either. I'm not
even sure if the cost of a Venice 3800+ and a new motherboard is worth
dumping my current P4 3.0ghz for. Probably get more bang for the buck
upgrading my 9800pro vid card to a 6800GT considering my primary
purpose of the need for speed is computer gaming. Decisions,
decisions...
 
F

Fisher

It depends which speed you look at. I looked up the prices for the 2.4GHz CPU
on an another US site:

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Venice Retail $374.49 US
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ San Diego Retail $499.00 US

The price difference for the 2.2GHz is less, but still more that $60.

Yea, and that San Diego 3800+ numbering is suspect IMO. Does the 3800+
SD truly perform the same as the 3800+ Venice? Not in all situations
is my guess. In some situations the amount of cache is not that
important so how they can say they perform the same is BS IMO. I look
at the cpu speed and that is all I care about, this numbering game is
a marketing scam.

I had the first Celeron with no L2 cache and I OC that sucker to
400mhz and it smoked peoples games benchmarks that had cpu's running
at lower mhz with L2 cache. L2 cache made no difference to FPS in a
flight sim. Pure number crunching speed is what mattered.
 
F

Fisher

It depends which speed you look at. I looked up the prices for the 2.4GHz CPU
on an another US site:

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Venice Retail $374.49 US
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ San Diego Retail $499.00 US

The price difference for the 2.2GHz is less, but still more that $60.

p.s. let's make one thing clear 3800+ does not denote speed. Please
don't fall for that marketing malarky of AMD. Compare the SD 4000+ to
the Venice 3800+, they actually run at the same speed.
 
T

Tweek

The San Diego is not a 3800+, it is 3700+, 2.2Ghz 1MB cache. The 3800+
Venice is 2.4Ghz 512k cache. The new 4000+ is a San Diego 2.4Ghz 1MB cache.
AMD's model numbers are bit annoying, but are good for differentiating the
performance of each Ghz/cache size. No matter what though, the A64 is a
sweet processor.
 
T

Tweek

For gaming, the Athlon 64 is the way to go. I have two computers, a P4
3.2Ghz overclocked to 3.6Ghz with 512MB ram and a 9800 pro. The other is an
A64 3200+ overclocked to 2.3Ghz, 1GB of ram and an X700pro. Half-Life 2 on
the A64 system is much smoother. I thought it was the ram so I pulled one of
the 512 modules in the A64 machine and it was still much smoother than the
P4 system.
 
E

Ed Coolidge

Fisher said:
p.s. let's make one thing clear 3800+ does not denote speed. Please
don't fall for that marketing malarky of AMD. Compare the SD 4000+ to
the Venice 3800+, they actually run at the same speed.

Sorry, that was a typo. The second one is the price of the 4000+.
 
F

Fisher

Sorry, that was a typo. The second one is the price of the 4000+.

OK, that NCIX must be setting unrealistically high prices then because
they dont actually have any in stock.
 
F

Fisher

For gaming, the Athlon 64 is the way to go. I have two computers, a P4
3.2Ghz overclocked to 3.6Ghz with 512MB ram and a 9800 pro. The other is an
A64 3200+ overclocked to 2.3Ghz, 1GB of ram and an X700pro. Half-Life 2 on
the A64 system is much smoother. I thought it was the ram so I pulled one of
the 512 modules in the A64 machine and it was still much smoother than the
P4 system.

OK, thx for the feedback. I will eventually upgrade both CPU and vid
card and the cpu will definirtely be AMD64 when I get around to doing
it.
 
F

Fisher

Actually, I got my prices from www.newegg.com.

Yea, but I was talking about the prices I posted. newegg is no good to
me because I'm in Canada and I don't buy anything through the US
anymore. It's not worth the hassle of getting it across the border.
 
E

Ed Coolidge

Fisher said:
Yea, but I was talking about the prices I posted. newegg is no good to
me because I'm in Canada and I don't buy anything through the US
anymore. It's not worth the hassle of getting it across the border.

I was referring to the post that someone said that the price difference in the
US is only $60. I would like to know where he shops.
 
T

Tweek

It was me and I was quoting newegg.com. I just ordered the San Diego 3700+
retail for $335 shipped. The OEM Venice 3500+ on Newegg is $274 shipped.
That is a difference of $61. Factor in the fact that you have to buy a
heatsink/fan for the 3500+ and the cost difference is even less. Now, the
difference between the Venice 3800+ and San Diego 4000+ is $121. When the
difference between the SD and Venice were first mentioned, specific models
and prices were not mentioned. I responded to a post saying that the
difference in price between the two cores was an arm and a leg. After that,
he listed the Canadian prices for the 3800+ and 4000+. For me that 3700+
will be easily overclocked to 2.4Ghz and beyond so I didn't even consider
the 4000+ at all. I think it is a pretty good price/performance ratio.
 
F

Fisher

It was me and I was quoting newegg.com. I just ordered the San Diego 3700+
retail for $335 shipped. The OEM Venice 3500+ on Newegg is $274 shipped.
That is a difference of $61. Factor in the fact that you have to buy a
heatsink/fan for the 3500+ and the cost difference is even less. Now, the
difference between the Venice 3800+ and San Diego 4000+ is $121. When the
difference between the SD and Venice were first mentioned, specific models
and prices were not mentioned. I responded to a post saying that the
difference in price between the two cores was an arm and a leg. After that,
he listed the Canadian prices for the 3800+ and 4000+. For me that 3700+
will be easily overclocked to 2.4Ghz and beyond so I didn't even consider
the 4000+ at all. I think it is a pretty good price/performance ratio.

Well, to be able to overclock you have to have ram that can do it
which would mean I would have to buy new ram as all I have now is two
sticks of Samsung PC3200 512mb. Or are these cpu's unlocked? I don't
think they are. I don't think my ram would do much above 200mhz, if
any above. I'm not buying new ram too so I think OC'ing is out of the
question for me. It looks like it would have to be a 3800+ Venice at
the minimum for me to make it a worthwhile upgrade so I'm comparing
3800+V to 4000+SD which makes the SD not such a great deal.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top