Hi, I think i'm going to get an opteron in my new PC. I've picked out the following: AMD Opteron 146 Venus 1000MHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model OSA146BNBOX - Retail TYAN S2865ANRF Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX Server Motherboard - Retail However, I don't really know the differences between the processor core families and the differences between the AMD 939 and 940s. Would there be a huge advantage to using a socket 940 chip? Or to a different core?
The 939 Opterons are all 1xx series, which are not SMP capable like the 2xx and 8xx versions are. The Opterons carry a larger cache than an Athlon64 of the same speed. The larger cache can make a difference in some applications like heavier photo editing and high-end music production, so you may want to also consider an Athlon X2 If you're interested in more than physical CPU package, a board with dual Socket 940's would be a good choice. Otherwise, probably not. If you're building a home box you're spending quite a bit on a pretty basic nForce 4 Ultra motherboard.
I think this will be a case of wait and see since it's going to be a few months before I start ordering compenents. It's a home box but there will be a lot of demand placed on it and quite frankly, i just like having a lot of processing power.
If you expect there to be a lot of stress placed on the CPU, then it may very well be worth your while to have a Socket 940 system. With the 939 Opterons, they don't require Registered DDR, but the Socket 940's do
