AMD Processors?

Im considering upgrading (well its about time after 3 1/2 years!)

I've been looking on the Ebuyer site and am confused. AMD offer two 3200+ 64 bit chips, The Newcastle 754 pin and the Winchester 939 pin. Which is the better of the two?

Also the retail boxed Newcastle is slightly cheaper than the OEM version. Why would this be? i would have expected it to be the other way around as the retail boxed version comes with the heatsink and fan.

some info in the link

http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y

[jamesclarke555]

Apart from the different pin configuration, the Newcastle core is 130nm, whereas the Winchester core uses the newer 90nm technology. The latter should overclock nicely and consume less power, in theory

Yeah usually OEM is cheaper than retail, that's the point...weird

[Caspar]

OEM vs Retail prices - it's really where, when and how much the supplier bought the component from that counts. Yes, rule of thumb is that OEM is cheaper cause you don't have the 3rd party retail (middle man) costs like the box and software/games etc.. (depending on the component).

One trade supplier maybe selling the component at one price and another at another.... the retail supplier then makes decisions on where he/she buys the job lot from...they may get discounts at one supplier but less or none at another...etc..

It's or dependant on supply too, if there's not much to go around [the supplier trade] then that bumps the price up...

Originally Posted by homealone

some info in the link

http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y

Thanks, thats a good link, but now im more undecided than i was before i asked!

I guess the Winchester is the better option as the FX55 is also 939 pin and therefore offers an upgrade path without changing the MOBO

[Aragorn]

Originally Posted by gary_580

Which is the better of the two?

Depends what you want to do!

If price is not an issue, I would probably go Winchester 939 processor with dual channel memory. It will be faster but whether you'll notice the difference depends on how often you max out the processor/memory.

I went for an A64 Skt 754 3000+ because it offered a better combination of great performance and affordability (£110 for Proc-in-a-box).

Some say that 754 will be phased out in favour of 939, so if you are likely to want a faster processor on the same mobo in future, go 939.

The retail version was a doddle to install - HSF has thermal paste pre-applied and just clips on to the processor. Very quiet for a stock HSF as well.

HTH

Originally Posted by Aragorn

Depends what you want to do!

If price is not an issue, I would probably go Winchester 939 processor with dual channel memory. It will be faster but whether you'll notice the difference depends on how often you max out the processor/memory.

I went for an A64 Skt 754 3000+ because it offered a better combination of great performance and affordability (£110 for Proc-in-a-box).

Some say that 754 will be phased out in favour of 939, so if you are likely to want a faster processor on the same mobo in future, go 939.

The retail version was a doddle to install - HSF has thermal paste pre-applied and just clips on to the processor. Very quiet for a stock HSF as well.

HTH

The two processors are only £8 difference in price for the 3200+

[altis]

3200+ in socket A is ~ £20 cheaper and mobos are much cheaper

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by altis

3200+ in socket A is ~ £20 cheaper and mobos are much cheaper

the 32bit XP is slower though, even in 32 bit applications. Take a look at these gaming benchmarks

http://www.viperlair.com/reviews/cpu.../3200/p2.shtml

[Aragorn]

Originally Posted by gary_580

The two processors are only £8 difference in price for the 3200+

Yes, but the 939 mobos are £20-30 more than the equivalent 754, plus dual channel memory is more than standard.

But as you say, if you're likely to go FX-55 in future, you need 939.

£28 more expensive to go the Winchester route with a Asus A8V Deluxe as opposed to he Newcastle with a Asus K8V-SE Deluxe

[Aragorn]

Originally Posted by gary_580

£28 more expensive to go the Winchester route with a Asus A8V Deluxe as opposed to he Newcastle with a Asus K8V-SE Deluxe

Not much of a choice at those prices! I think the 939 3200 has come down in price since I bought my 754 3000 :-( Ho hum!

[Matth]

The Socket 939 ones are currently out of stock.

If the price difference of going 939 is not too large, I'd take the double memory bus 939 over the single bus 754 any day - you do need to use dual DDR with the 939, and unlike the socket A Nforce 2 (dual DDR up to a single DDR entry point to the CPU), socket 939 is dual DDR all the way to the embedded memory controllers on the CPU.

For a FEW tasks, the older 754 CPU with 1Mb cache could outperform a 939 version with wider memory bus but 512k of cache.


Mind you, in the last hurrah of socket A, there are some quite decent motherboards for under £50 and a CPU likewise - it's a dead end platform, but then by the time you get to a worthwhile level of CPU upgrade, the socket usually changes anyway ... true, isn't it?

says 3200+ Winchester has a stock of 26 on Ebuyer. Use quick code 79189