What's the difference between these 2 cpu's

Athlon 64 4000+ (2,4 GHz) OPGA "Clawhammer"

Specs of above cpu

Athlon 64 4000+ (2.4 GHz) OPGA "San Diego"

Specs of above cpu

I need a good CPU for my new mainboard (ASUS A8V Deluxe) and I have my eyes on these 2.
The difference in cost is only 20,- euro but is there a special reason why I should take a particular one.
In the specs I only noticed that the top one has SSE3 :sick: (whatever that may be)

I'd like to know which one I should choose, or shouldn't I buy any of these two, should I buy a completely different cpu?

Any advice is much appreciated.

 

the difference i can spot is that the san diego has sse3, which to my knowledge is a built in "setting" that can imrpove performance when running applications that support it, eg counterstrike source supports "3dNow!" coding, if you turn it on in game (r_3dnow 1).

also note that the san diego is a newer chip, and so therefore will be better to get, and for only 20 euros, cant go wrong.

 

As far as i can remember the San Diego is a 90nm SOI chip while the clawhammer is 130nm and will will have a lower heat output than clawhammer.

SSE3 is an extra instruction set which should help with media encoding and the like.

 

Yeah, go with the SanDiego, once overclocked, if you're into that, to 2.6 GHz it will be faster than the FX 55 and still be cooler:good:. With that minimal a price difference go with the best.

 

One more question then, with the CNPS7700-AlCU cooler from Zalman which I'll be installing I'll have no risk of damaging the CPU when oc'ing?

I heard AMD CPU's are more unstable when oc'ing than Intel CPU's, is this true? Otherwise I won't go the extra length to overclock it.

 

Overclocking is usually easier with the P4 chips because of NetBurst, however AMD CPUs can still be overclocked. Read an overclocking guide and it will tell you to go in small increments only and step back from the max clock your CPU will take. As long as you have a good cooler and you're sensible your CPU should be fine.

 

but remember as amd proved

raw clock speed is not everything

 

Nope but theres not many other ways of boosting your CPU performance.

 

Will I be fine with that cooler then?

 

Yep that cooler will be OK.

 

I think what he meant is to oc the FSB too, and find the sweet spot between the highest achievable FSB and the highest achievable clock speed.