Opteron Vs. Athlon X2

[Mark Hahn]

> > Does an Opteron dual-core give me any advantage over the Athlon X2
> > besides a bigger L2 cache?
> >
> ECC RAM capability, assuming you have a board and BIOS that also support
> that.

the ath64 X2 datasheet says that it supports SECDED.

> > Can I take an Opteron processor and drop it into my existing MSI
> > motherboard, or should I expect to buy a new motherboard also? If so,
> > what motherboard?
>
> Doubtful

I would expect any s939 chip to work in a lot of recent/updated/etc s939 
boards, including the s939 1xx opterons.

in fact, I'm not sure what distinguishes an athlon64 4000+
(2.4 GHz, 1M cache) from an opteron 150.  perhaps not 
surprisingly, their prices are quite similar ($330 or so
on pricewatch).

interestingly, the ath64 x2 version (4800+, 2.4, 2x1M) is 
around $790 - a 20% premium.  if your choice is 2xSC vs 1xDC,
(and you don't mind less memory bandwidth), you can probably 
save more than the $130 premium because single-socket boards 
are cheaper...

regards, mark hahn.