If you’re a trifle less than eager to start tossing out big bucks to buy a new Venice system, here’s a couple suggestions:
Let Intel Cut AMD’s Prices Intel is supposed to have a price cut June 30.
It is reasonable to expect that AMD will do some price cutting on (or more likely a few weeks before) that date.
What might you get from a wait? Probably very little for the low-end 3000+, but from initial results, I’m not so sure the 3000+ is going to prove to be the OCer’s weapon of choice, if only because a maximum 9X multiplier may not be quite enough to squeeze the maximum MHz out of a typical configuration.
I could be wrong on that, but if it turns outs that 10X is better, the price on a 3200+ ought to go down a couple dozen dollars. If you’re thinking about moving further upmarket, to a 3500+ or even a 3700+, the savings are likely to be around double that.
Sempron 939: A Place-Holder? If you find the OC numbers from the Athlon 64s a bit underwhelming, but you find yourself needing something sooner rather than later, fairly shortly, you ought to be able to buy a socket 939 Sempron instead. Those are due out this quarter, and are already showing up in OEM boxes.
Of course, price is going to have to be right for these things, and it probably won’t be (it will make little sense to buy a 939 Sempron for $130 if you can get a 3000+ for $140, and these may or may not have x86-64 enabled), but it’s an option you ought to keep in the back of your mind just in case all the planets align right.
Is This Worth Waiting For?
Probably not (especially on point 2) if you have the hots (or are even slightly above room temperature) to jump in.
However, if you’re less than heated up by the results so far, a lower price might raise your temps a bit.
Have I come to any conclusions from the results I’ve seen so far? It’s still too early to make a comfortable estimate, but if you put a gun to my head and demanded an answer NOW, I’d say that a realistic expectation for these chips with good high-end air and realistic settings for equipment is probably 2.7-2.9GHz. I don’t think you can reasonably expect 3Ghz from air anytime soon, or maybe not even for water.
My suspicion is 3GHz may be just a bit too far until we see AMD chips rated for 2.8GHz, and that may not be for a while.
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