Thats right my fellow OC junkies, you can get a CPU now for 200$ that runs at FX-57 speeds or better!






We all remember recent "Overclocking Legends" such as the 50$ JUIHB 1700+ Athlon XP (1.53GHZ stock) that ran at 3200+ speeds of 2.2GHZ at stock voltage, and 2.4GHZ with a little bump.

The same thing happened again when the Mobile 2500+ came along for 100$ and could overclocked to 2.5-2.6GHZ with air cooling.

Nothing could touch the 2.4c from Intel though in terms of percentage of OC, they were commonly reaching 3.6ghz with watercooling for the "Magic" 50% OC!

Again we have one of those special low dollar "Gifts" this time from AMD, the OPTERON... just in time for Christmas!

"But Opteron is a 940 pin CPU for servers only" you say?

Well not any more, AMD has been kind enough to start making them for 939 pin boards a few months back with little notice by the mainstream desktop users.

It all began last week my good friends SpikeShot and Captain Planet sent me a link on them in a IM convo. Spike was looking for a new CPU, and Capt. started looking around a bit and came across this.

We all ordered them, just too see if it was true and not a one shot deal...all of us got the good stepping CABYE, each screaming away at 3GHZ now!

I had to wait till Spike and Capt Planet got there OC's on to let the cat out of the bag, I had allready benched it on Friday night, so the suspense was killin me!

Here is the thread Spike has started, however I wanted to examine it a bit closer and do a few comparisons with my X-2 3800+

http://forums.pcapex.com/showthread.php?t=57092

This is certainly front page news..Congrats on the find Captain Planet!

I can tell you for a fact it dropped into my regular DFI Lan Party and booted up, and had no problems recognising this "Server Class" processor.

I will also mention that you will need a motherboard that is capable of 300FSB, or you won't get the most from this CPU since it starts at 2.0GHZ (10x200)

The 10x Multiplier is going to limit you if your board can't spin up very high. You might get a Opteron 148, 150 or 152 with a higher Multiplier (11x and 12x and 13x respectively) if you are stuck with the board you have.

I cannot say what kind of overclock you will get if you get something other than the 146 Model with a CABYE stepping I have shown above, though it still should be very good.

These are the current 939 Opterons available, OC potential is unknown at this point as mentioned, but I will list them anyways for those with a bit of adventure!

AMD Opteron 148 2.2GHz 1MB 64/32-Bit Socket 939 (Retail Box-w-Fan)
Code: 120332
Price: $229.00
AMD Opteron 150 2.4GHz 1MB 64/32-Bit Socket 939 (Retail Box-w-Fan)
Code: 120334
Price: $339.00
AMD Opteron 152 2.6GHz 1MB 64/32-Bit Socket 939 (Retail Box-w-Fan)
Code: 120336
Price: $799.00

CABNE is supposed to be the same 3.0GHZ or better, grab one if you see it!

CABGE or "Cabbage" as it has been affectionately named is said to be the ones to avoid, often "Only" reaching 2.7~2.8GHZ

If you are considering an X-2 it might be worth looking at the dual core Opterons for 939, but I do not have any links to them.

EDIT: Found the dual core 939's in stock at Monarch!

AMD Opteron 165 Dual-Core 1.8GHz 1MB (per core) 64/32-Bit Socket 939 (Retail Box-w-Fan)
Code: 120338
Price: $299.00

AMD Opteron 170 Dual-Core 2.0GHz 1MB (per core) 64/32-Bit Socket 939 (Retail Box-w-Fan)
Code: 120340
Price: $377.00

AMD Opteron 175 Dual-Core 2.2GHz 1MB (per core) 64/32-Bit Socket 939 (Retail Box-w-Fan)
Code: 120342
Price: $525.00

Just make sure it says 939 pin before you hit that order button!

From what I have read, this particular CABYE stepping is the same basic "Core" as the 2.8GHZ FX-57 with 1MB cache that has just been renamed and had the multiplier locked at 10x.

That certainly would explain this CPU's abilty to run at 2.8GHZ with stock voltage!

I will return shortly with Bios screenies and detailed benchmarks!

EDIT: Here ya go..now get to OC'in!

10,499 3DMARK 05 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=1403013
5813 PCMARK04 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?pcm04=3115245

NOTICE: The below pictures are using BH-5 based Memory that can do 270 FSB with CAS 2-2-2-7 Timings (1T) using 3.2v




Memory settings below are specifically for use with WinBond BH-5 based Chips, Samsung TCCD will require much different settings
TCCD and most other memory will need something in the range of CAS 2.5-3-3-7 to CAS 3-4-4-8, it might be best to use "Auto" for the memory settings until you can get the CPU stable, then try to tiighten them up a bit.

You may also need to use a lower memory divider of 133 or 150 if your memory cannot run 250FSB 1 to1






Sandra CPU test shows a "Performance rating" of 4500+ wich seems a bit low, should be 4600+ for a 3GHZ 1 MB cache single core CPU.



Must be Sandra's odd way of rating them when OC'd, but who's' gonna argue with 14K on the Dhrystone

How about some memory tests with BH-5 DDR500 CAS 2-2-2-7



Here it is doin some real work.. FOLDING@HOME !!!!!




Note for above picture: this was an early testing pic, I was using a rather large memory divider at the time to ensure it did not interfere with overnight stabilty testing.

My new personal best 1 MB Super Pi time is now at 27.2 sec with a bit more CPU speed.. and a few tweeks

I'd also like to thank my OC assistant, cause when I get stuck...



Little Debbie is extremely good at "Sitting" the Bios to something I never would have thought of on my own

UPDATE Dec 8, 2005

There is rumor that AMD will discontinue OPTERON's for socket 939 very soon, it seems they are not happy the word got out, my guess is it seriuosly hurt there high end chip sales!

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Their 3GHz OC convinced me that I needed one of these CPU's. Can't wait to see what it will do.

Count me in to. Im ordering another one in a couple of weeks.

Well BA, here's how it stacks up against a 4000+ REV E and the X-2 3800+ in PCMARK 04



It's miles ahead of the OC'd 4000+ I paid 450$ for less than 6 months, the Opty-Ron just passes by a stock X-2 3800+ at 2.0GHZ (330$) however... it could not catch up to that Dual Core X-2 when the speed was turned up past 2.4GHZ.

This should come as no suprise since this is probably the one benchmark I have that can show the power of 2 CPU's

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What's with the 6879 score? Are you running all the tests or selecting some? Cause I want to play. I don't have PCMark2004 installed, but i guess I could get it.

WELL WELL WELL , looks like i found my CPU to learn OC'ing on WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! now i just need another MoBo .... OPPS gotta spend more money DaYuM

AM in....hehe Just placed my Order This will be my First OC project

Quote: Originally Posted by BigAkita What's with the 6879 score? Are you running all the tests or selecting some? Cause I want to play. I don't have PCMark2004 installed, but i guess I could get it.

C'mon in and play.. there's plenty o' room for the Big Dog!

I ran the default test, I don't have the PRO version (Just 3D-05) there was a bump in Vid Card clock speeds for that test also, I was trying to get in the top 20 for 6800U and X-2's, but I could not seem to get 2.5GHZ to run on that bench with the warm temps I had that day (80F in the Apt!)

You can see in this pic how that extra core realy helps on multitasking, and seem to realy scale well, as you allready know it's no contest single vs dual..but the X-2 falls behind when the second core isn't used and pure GHZ rule!



Having the memory at nearly DDR 500 speeds 1 to 1 realy woke up the performance of the X-2, I cannot do that on the Opty with my BH-5, I have to use a divider till my PC4800 gets RMA'd, so its not exactly "Apples to Apples" test.

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Sounds like I will have to drop the hint for a Christmas present.

hehe well the link mastahs seem to have done thier job well good god a 200 dollar chip, i am in negotiations with HTRN for a f@h rig for the parts to get this

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...iliate=bizrate

Idont know if this is the same proc exactlly but if it is $180 and LOOK you can buy 20 lol

Have any of you guys thought seriously about running Win2000 as an OS? If you turn off all necessary services a la Black Viper and terminate any unnecessary processes, the lack of bloat that XP has could be quite beneficial, especially with a fresh install and tweak session.

"Dizzzaam!?!?!?!?!?!"

Thanks for the tips bud. I will be seeking out that illusive CABNE and see if it is what they say it is to be. Maybe i can give rokk a fight of his life with a second 7800gtx for pdxlan 06

Quote: Originally Posted by Redigieren "Dizzzaam!?!?!?!?!?!" Thanks for the tips bud. I will be seeking out that illusive CABNE and see if it is what they say it is to be. Maybe i can give rokk a fight of his life with a second 7800gtx for pdxlan 06

The CABYE we got seems to be out clocking the CABNE

thats not what im seeing on extreme systems right now.

Quote: Originally Posted by Redigieren thats not what im seeing on extreme systems right now.

Post a link please. Not the CABNE are only sold on ebay and on forums. They are incredibly hard to get now. Our CABYEs overclocked to 2.75 ghz without any voltage increase to the vcore. The current fastest overclock of a 146 opteron is 3.6ghz the stepping for that cpu was CABYE0540FPMW

Oh sorry i didnt see that there was one that hit 3.6ghz i just saw a cabne on phase that hit 3.5 that ran pie stable in 23 secconds. You probably read the same thing i did on xtreme systems. I am a lazy reader and i only read the last 20 pages not all 100+ roffel.

Argh don't temp to get one when they are out. Maybe I'll get one if I don't plan on getting a M2 if/when it is released.

Proud owner of a brand new CABYE 0540 FPBW! I sold the fx-55 last night in under 1 hour.

How fast in comparison to the new X2 3800+ is the Opteron 146 when overclocked?