DDR or DDR2

[Bryan J. Smith]

Mohamad Al-Saqer <msaqer at iastate.edu> wrote:
> what is an advantage would the opteron offer me over the
> regular 939 athlon if both have same FSB and cache,
> considering the price difference.

What price difference?  Have you actually priced the new Socket-939
Opterons?!?!?!  They're maybe $20 more.

They are:  
A.  Tested to higher tolerances/specifications
B.  Always 1MiB L2 cache (2MiB L2 in dual-core versions)
C.  Always lead Athlon 64 in various improvements (like FX)

> For instance:
> Lowest price for opteron 175 is: $496.25
> while for X2 4400+ is $459.50
> where both have 2.2GHz with 2MB cache and 1000MHz FSB.

God forbid, $35 more.

> Actually I am considering a dual socket with two single core
> processors. I guess this will reduce my choices to only 2xx
> opteron series, right?

Correct.  Some of the Socket-940 Opteron 2xx are quite cheap these
days.  Of course, you'll then pay more for Registered DDR SDRAM --
something the Socket-939 Opteron doesn't have to do.



-- 
Bryan J. Smith     Professional, Technical Annoyance
b.j.smith at ieee.org      http://thebs413.blogspot.com
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*** Speed doesn't kill, difference in speed does ***