Venice or San Diego with 9NPA+ Ultra

[Boat]

I've got my Epox board and video card (ATI X800 256MB) and I'm now trying to decided which processor to buy. I was looking at the San Diego 3700 and the Venice 3500. How important is that extra L2 Cache on the San Diego and is it worth the extra money?

[GrahamGarside]

About 8% tops increased performance clock for clock, and in a lot of things none at all.

Right now I'd say the best choice is a 3000+

Buying one of the higher end Athlon 64's doesn't make much sense unless money is not an issue, a 3000+ venice will still likely do 2.7ghz+ with a decent board and dual cores will be much more affordable in the near future

[el.crichon]

For your info, I've just bought a 9NPA+Ultra and a 4000+

At the moment, I can't go beyond 2560MHz ( 2400 from stock )

For a 400€ cpu it's not worth the money.

I should have bought an X2 3800+ for the same price.

[cadaveca]

And to that i say.....say hello to my San Diego 3700+, Asus SLi, and OCZ Gold. 2809mhz stable through everything i have thrown @ it. and that's just hte max on my asus board, with limited bios options...it will go higher when i get my DFI back.

[GrahamGarside]

Originally Posted by el.crichon

For your info, I've just bought a 9NPA+Ultra and a 4000+

At the moment, I can't go beyond 2560MHz ( 2400 from stock )

For a 400€ cpu it's not worth the money.

I should have bought an X2 3800+ for the same price.

Is that a San Diego or Clawhammer?

Thats a real low overclock, you tried lower memory dividers?

[el.crichon]

It's a SanDiego.

I'm abble to run Memtest86+ for hours at 9x310 (2790) 3-4-8-4-1T

Under XP with SuperPi, Prime95, SP2004 I can't reach 2600 unless I cranck the vcore to 1.65

max safe for all mode :
12x214 @ 2-2-5-2-1T
10x255 @ 2,5-3-6-3-1T
9x283 @ 2,5-4-7-3-1T
8x315 @ 3-4-8-4-2T (memory limitation)

I'm waiting the tank to rebuild my Watercooled box but I believe my troubles are not related to overheating.

Maybe the memory controller of my 4000+ is kapput

I think I'll give a try with the X2-3800+ which seems to be more OC'friendly.

[cadaveca]

woah...lots of vcore to get windows stable? memtest is stable but windows is not?

[GrahamGarside]

I don't think it's memory thats the problem then, my suggestion was made on the assumption you may have standard DDR400 which wasn't liking the increased HTT clock at it's standard divider

[hoinar]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

And to that i say.....say hello to my San Diego 3700+, Asus SLi, and OCZ Gold. 2809mhz stable through everything i have thrown @ it. and that's just hte max on my asus board, with limited bios options...it will go higher when i get my DFI back.

Mate how high did you jump with that DFI of yours?

[cadaveca]

Dunno yet..haven't got it back.load temps are still under 40c @ 1.55v in bios, so i feel i have a bit of room to expand uponI have had 2950mhz stable, but the cpu needs to be below 35c to keep stable.

[hoinar]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

Dunno yet..haven't got it back.load temps are still under 40c @ 1.55v in bios, so i feel i have a bit of room to expand uponI have had 2950mhz stable, but the cpu needs to be below 35c to keep stable.

Isn't that temp you said (35C) a little low? I thought generally speaking a CPU can be stable even at higher temps..like 50-55C..or even more.

[cadaveca]

not for almost 3ghz it isn't. i'm currently running 2.6ghz @ 1.375v(1.4v is default). Getting that speed at that voltage required removing the IHS and replacing teh goop there with AS5.

[bradmax57]

Unfortunately I sold my killer san diego, 3ghz on water and 3.3 on vapo, now its gone along with my vapo and dfi ive yet to see what my new week 25 will do, ive given up with my asus a8n premium, the bios sucked!!! first and last asus board for me, just received another dfi nf4 sli-dr today so ill see what the baby will do tonight

[el.crichon]

watercooler is back !

now I'm abble to pass the 2560 barrier without crancking the vcore....

my new limit is now 2660MHz

266x10 @ 2,5-3-6-3 or
333x8 and ddr /10 = 266 @ 2,5-3-6-3

it's a pity my 2x256 G.Skill GbLE can't pass 296 2,5-3-7-3

temps moving from 41~51 (iddle/full)

removed the IHS and now only moving 40~45
but can't clock more than 2660 !