[Mr_Threepwood]

RonJr, from what I gather you are somewhat new to computer tech stuff. If you get that opteron 165 though (awesome processor), you might want to do a bunch of research and read up about overclocking. If you have an old computer test it on that. Opterons are known to overclock very nicely giving you an excellent performing PC, some people have been able to Overclock them past a fx-60 (1.5k$ processor), thats rare though but you can definitly get a good performance increase.

[EndofSanity]

If your set on a laptop dont go with alienware. go with VooDoo atleast... i have an alienware Laptop and Desktop. i payed 2000 for what i could have built from newegg for about 1000 less... Laptops on the otherhand are worth buying OEM. But dont go with alienware please...


Alienware = good
Buying from Alienware = Bad

[RonJr]

I've made my mind up, I'm going with a custom built high performance desktop for now then in the future I'll get a medium performance laptop. At first I was going to do that the other way around but flanker forced me to change my mind...lol j/k

I do know about overclocking and that AMD was known for doing this but I've never done it. The Opteron cpu is new to me I haven't heard much about this. I understand alot of people do overclock but I'm still worried about frying the cpu. How safe is it?

[RonJr]

Hey Flanker,

I was just curious why you picked the opteron 165?

[NathanM]

Originally posted by RonJr
Hey Flanker,

I was just curious why you picked the opteron 165?

Better overclocking ability, larger L2 cache, and the price is great on www.zipzoomfly.com.

In comparison to the the 3800+ X2, that is.

[NeedAcpu]

Originally posted by RonJr
I've made my mind up, I'm going with a custom built high performance desktop for now then in the future I'll get a medium performance laptop. At first I was going to do that the other way around but flanker forced me to change my mind...lol j/k

I do know about overclocking and that AMD was known for doing this but I've never done it. The Opteron cpu is new to me I haven't heard much about this. I understand alot of people do overclock but I'm still worried about frying the cpu. How safe is it?

Overclocking is very safe if you do it the right way. It would be pretty hard to fry your system unless you upped your voltage to like 4V and set your cpu speed to 10000 mhz or something crazy like that.

Learn how to overclock here http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20823

I also suggest getting a dfi board since they are the best for overclocking.

[RonJr]

What about this board, MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum. I heard that it has alot of overclocking options

[Flanker]

I DID give him the link from ZipZoomFly.

The Opteron is an overall better CPU [currently] than the Athlon 64. When compared to the X2 3800+ (I went Dual Core beucase it looks like you're going to be doing intensive stuff) the Opteron has twice the L2 cache which is always a good thing. But the area where the Opteron really shines is Overclockability. The 1.8Ghz Opteron 165 has a very good chance of reaching 2.6Ghz. That would essentially make your performance equal that of a Athlon 64 FX-60, the "strongest" processor currently avaliable for the Desktop market. Not only that, but they're also put through greater stress before being shipped out, so you know its reliable.

There are no compatibility problems either since the Socket 939 Opterons are what we're talking about, and thats the same socket that mainstream Athlon 64s fit into.

So the Opterons are, in every way, better than the Athlon 64s.

PM me for Overclocking Guides They're excellent and they're what taught me to overclock.

And that list that I made, its perfect, don't change anything in it.