What opteron and where from?

[Pitbull]

I'm looking to dump my p4 setup and inoticed that opties are cheap so i decided to get a 146 as a start and DFI Ultra D board as i know i wont use SLI. Also decided on teh memory which will be Teh crucial balistixx 500mhz flavor. (curently using OCZ 3700EB) But i have no clue which stepping i should get nor where i should or der it from. Can you guys offer any help in that dept?

[politenessman]

brooklyn? hey, i'm over the verazanno. sold my 146 about 3 days ago. i think right now they are a bit hard to get, and usually not so cheap (considering the msrp) and its hard to pin down a stepping. tankguys will usually let you know which stepping, as will compumusic, you can usually find out what people are getting from monarch lately on this forum. many places now make you declare that you are going to use the opteron in a server or for some other high perf pc use, but its not like the amd police are going to show up at your house or something. you might consider an opty 165, (dual core, 1800mhz, 2x1mb l2) for $300 to $350 or 170 (dual core, 2ghz, 2x1mb l2) for $380 and up. try this guy http://www.flickerdown.com/ , his name is dave graham, he hangs out at hardocp forums, sells at pretty much wholesale, and has the personal touch you get from a guy who sells 20 or 30 cpus a week.
good luck

very truly yours,
politenessman

[Pitbull]

Actually 165 was my first choice but then i thought that it would be a better bang for teh buck if i were to get a 146. I think you are right and instead of tracking down a decent 14x series i should just go ahead and get my 165 frol Dave, i have found his site earlier actually :D

[politenessman]

let me know how you do. the performance diff in most apps between a 3800 x2 (dual core, 2ghz 512kb x 2 l2) and either the 165 or 170 is pretty much razor thin, and you can easily buy an x2 for a little over $300. the only difference between these cpus is the extra l2 the opterons carry. if you read the recent article in anandtech (toms hardware maybe?) you will see that the extra cache does not count for much. the semprons with 128kb and 256kb l2 at same clock speed kept up with the optys in benchmarks. i have had a couple 165's and 3 3800 x2's pass thru here, and the 3800 x2's oc'd much better, for me, at least(you did not mention if you were going to oc) the other difference is that the opterons use "better silicon" but this is just a legend.
if you cant come up with anything i have an opteron 144 cab2e (does 9x335 superpi stable) i might be convinced to sell, but only because you are a homeboy.

very truly yours,
politenessman
s.i., nyc (lamf)

[Pitbull]

Ohh that 144 does sound pretty nice. I need few days to make up my mind and come up with some cash, if something i'll keep intouch with you. Thanks alot for all the help.