AMD A64 X2 4x00+ coming in June/July?

[Vishruth]

May 31 is going to be interesting day, as it brings the launch of dual core processors on the desktop.

Link (http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20050509/index.html)

Does this mean the X2 processors are actually going to be available in stores (OEM/Retail) by the end of June or early July?

Thinking that the X2 processors won't be coming anytime soon, I was ready to get a 3700+ San Diego CPU. Now I'm not sure if I should wait for the X2 processors or go ahead right away with a 3700+ SD. :retard:

[wEEt]

I think that sounds quiet realistic.

[Vishruth]

The Inquirer (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=23519) thinks X2s should be available by June 7th. I need to see some ETAs on Monarchcomputer.com before I can believe any of these predictions.

[Dazz]

I am thinking of getting the 4200 or 4400+ the multi treading could come in real handy. My DFI board has the latest BIOS on that supports dual core so i am ready.

[curiousergeorge]

The CPUs are still going to be fairly expensive at launch... I think I'm going to wait for the price to drop on the dual cores, but I definitely lust after dual processing goodness. I love my dual Athlon MP workstation at work, but it's long in the tooth now.
In the meanwhile, I'll probably sink that money into a new video card once the G70 is announced. Even if the G70 is not the card I get, it should get me more GPU for the buck as older cards drop in price.

[bkswaney]

The CPUs are still going to be fairly expensive at launch... I think I'm going to wait for the price to drop on the dual cores, but I definitely lust after dual processing goodness. I love my dual Athlon MP workstation at work, but it's long in the tooth now.
In the meanwhile, I'll probably sink that money into a new video card once the G70 is announced. Even if the G70 is not the card I get, it should get me more GPU for the buck as older cards drop in price.

For sure. With the starting price of 500.00US these X2's are highend stuff. :eek:

[jAkUp]

Yes the X2's are starting off very expensive. You should see retail stores carrying them by July.

[bkswaney]

Yes the X2's are starting off very expensive. You should see retail stores carrying them by July.

These prices really hurt me bad. I was going to switch
back to AMD this round but I guess I'm not now.
I cannot shell out 500 bucks on a CPU.
I guess I'll go with a Pentium D 830 setup and hope
it OC's pretty good.

[Vishruth]

These prices really hurt me bad. I was going to switch
back to AMD this round but I guess I'm not now.
I cannot shell out 500 bucks on a CPU.
I guess I'll go with a Pentium D 830 setup and hope
it OC's pretty good.

Check these DC power-consumption charts from PC Perspective (http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=141&type=expert&pid=18) and The Tech Report (http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2005q2/athlon64-x2/index.x?pg=15):

http://img80.echo.cx/img80/1286/power4zc.th.gif (http://img80.echo.cx/img80/1286/power4zc.gif) http://img157.echo.cx/img157/2948/powerload0ln.th.gif (http://img157.echo.cx/img157/2948/powerload0ln.gif)

With that kind of power usage on the Intel DC processor, I expect the processor to run very hot. Therefore, I am supposing that the present generation of Intel's DC processors aren't going to be good over-clockers.

[msxyz]

http://www.pcperspective.com/images/reviews/141/power.gif

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

I guess they don't like bandwidth leechers ;)

[Vishruth]

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

I guess they don't like bandwidth leechers ;)
Oops. :o Fixed now. :rolleyes:

[Vishruth]

Toms Hardware Guide (http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20050531_120100.html) has some good news regarding the X2 processors.

Jonathan Seckler, senior product manager of AMD's microprocessor group, admitted that the chip is announced earlier than initially planned. According to Seckler, engineering went better than expected and accelerated the product schedule by three weeks with first X2's leaving the fabs on May 25.

Well, it's not ALL good news. The article does touch on the point of the X2's flagship model, the 4800+, being too expensive. X2 4400+ is still the best one in the current line-up.

A 108 percent price premium over the single-core 4000+ ($482) will buy a 20 percent increase in application performance, Seckler said.

Expect to see a 5000+ and a 5200+ soon. In all probability the former processor will have 2x2.6GHz with 2x512 L2 cache and the latter processor will have 2x2.6GHz 2x1MB L2 cache.

While Intel appears not to be able to increase the clock speed of the Pentium D during this year, AMD says it has headroom left to scale the X2 into even higher regions. According to Seckler, an Athlon 64 X2 5000+ or 5200+ is "not out of the question."

And as for availability...

AMD did not say how many X2s will be shipped this year, but Seckler confirmed that "production capacity will meet demand."

H'm... Only us hardware geeks/enthusiasts want these things right now. :) So AMD should be able to live up to people's demand for these dual-core wonders. :D I think I'll get a 4400+ now and move to a faster 65nm dual-core CPU sometime in 2006... if 65nm CPUs are coming at all in 2006, that is.

I was very disappointed when I saw AnandTech's coverage of day 1 at Computex, 2005. AnandTech dismissed the official launch of these processors after only a few uninteresting words which were seriously lacking new, or otherwise useful, information. TheInquirer too didn't have much to say. Tomshardware saved my day. :) Tomshardware isn't paying me anything to say this, btw... no, really! :p

[AthlonXP1800]

These prices really hurt me bad. I was going to switch
back to AMD this round but I guess I'm not now.
I cannot shell out 500 bucks on a CPU.
I guess I'll go with a Pentium D 830 setup and hope
it OC's pretty good.

$500 really hurt you bad? :rolleyes:

If you get Pentium D 830 for $361, plus $185 for new Gigabyte motherboard compatiable with Pentium D if you love Gigabyte and $145 for GeiL 1Gb DDR2 memory, subtotal $691. That will hurt you even more but here still more.

I took a look into Pentium D datasheets, 830, 840 and 840 XE all three use the same power consumption but 820 use 35W less. Did you looked at the chart? Pentium D 830 used the same power consumption of Pentium 840 XE with the idle at 168W and 291W at load. Still, Pentium D 820 will have the idle at 133W and 256W at load, that more than Athlon 64 X2 4800+ power consumption. If you going to overclock Pentium D 830, the load could be as high as near 400W, your 500W power supply wont do the job, you probably look at $20 650W or bigger power supply for power hungry Pentium D 830, grand total $711. Ouch that hurt you very bad!

AMD say Athlon 64 X2 4200+ outperformed Pentium 840 XE in many benchmarks, it probably wise to get Athlon 64 X2 4200+ for $537 and new motherboard for $75 that will set you back $612 and it will be great for overclock with the same power supply and memory you have. :)