3000+ Venice or 3800+ X2?

[terrordemon]

Alright, I'm going to be building a new rig sometime soon and I really cant decide on what processor I want. What I will be buying (for sure) is:

DFI ut nf-4 Ultra-D
2x1gb Ballistix
GeForce 7800 GT
XP-90

I play games sometimes, but ive recently found myself multitasking since ive come to college. I will be overclocking these chips no matter which one I get, id hope to get 2700 out of a venice or 2600 out of an x2. Now another factor in my choice is upgradability. I personally have no clue about the M2, i have no clue what it is other than the next amd processor, no clue of the advantages of it, i dont know what ddr2 gets you, i dont know what socket it will be, etc (any answers to this would be kinda helpful also).

Especially with the new price drops, the 3800+ X2 is looking more and more attractive, but I'm afraid i'll lose too much performance in games with a dual core over a single. Any suggestions? Thanks

[Kobalt]

Check out the new s939 opterons. Theyre hitting 3ghz right out of the box because they are server chips and have better silicon. I'd explain more, but im not in the mood. Someone else can elaborate :D

[terrordemon]

i was thinking about the opterons, but i really wouldnt want one unless it was a CABNE stepping, which is basically a guaranteed 3000ish. I wouldnt want to buy one, see if its a CABNE, and if its not just return it (if there are more even in stock!) for one that MAY be. I duno, is there any place that lists the stepping when selling the chip? And im still leaning towards dual core just for future-proofing it

[KaptainBlaZzed]

you will not lose any performance in games with the X2, it is 2 x 3200+ cpu's on the same die. you will get the same performance is games that you would have it it was only a single core. Except you will have an extra core to do anything you want to with.

I love my X2 and would NEVER go back to a single core.

[uOpt]

I wouldn't go for the Opteron unless you get a known-good one.

The larger cache costs money and is almost useless for current applications.

The X2 3800+ Toledos seem to be very nice at this time.

[terrordemon]

where can i get a toledo though? all i can find is manchesters

[ben805]

actually I get better gaming performance with the X2 than any single core I have/had after I'd updated the 81.8x drivers which is optimized for dual core!!! Venice....not even worth considering anymore, if you prefer to stick with single core and can't find any CABNE, then see if you can find a used but good overclocker like 3700SD or 4000SD?