AMD64 3700+ San Diego S939 2.2GHz

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by Greg King on September 21, 2005 in Processors

Need a CPU and want the best bang for your buck? Today, we are taking a look at the 3700+ San Diego core AMD64. It rolls in at a 2.2GHz stock speed and is also equipped with 1MB L2 Cache. The chip costs around $275US, but does does it give enough extra performance to warrent the extra money over a Venice core?

Page 3 – Conclusion

In the following graph, we have compared the 3200+ Venice to the 3700+ San Diego on similar set-ups. You can see the exact specs of the 3200+ Venice system here.

Conclusions

I can honestly say that I am excited about what I have seen during the course of this review. The overclock, while not as high as others have been getting, was the exact same as the FX-55’s stock clocks and with the same core, I now have a 275 dollar FX chip. Nothing like saving 500 dollars in the course of an evening. I am extremely excited with the way that this chip handled all that I threw at it. The Aquamark3 score was impressive, jumping up a full 10,000 point with a 400 MHz overclock.

The other tests all wielded positive gains as well. The Super Pi increase was impressive as well with a full 7 second drop in time. All in all, I would not hesitate to recommend this CPU to anyone with the desire to build a gaming machine but without the budget for a FX chip or even the new dual core chips that AMD has out now. I am proud to give this chip 9 out of 10 as well as tack on the editor’s choice award.

Robs add-in: As an end user, I would be torn in deciding whether to pick up the 3700+ Sandy or a 3200+ Venice. The 3200+ comes in at $100 less, but can keep right up with the 3700+. If you look back at our 3200+ Venice review, and especially comparing the Sandra results, it doesn’t seem that worth it to spend the extra $100 for the San Diego. For the overclocking results in that article, we reached 2.7Ghz, and keeps right up to the 3700+.

Personally, I would have to recommend a 3200+ Venice CPU or move beyond a 3700+ Sandy and get Dual Core. If you don’t have need for a Dual Core and don’t wish to empty your wallet on an FX, I can’t justify spending extra money for little performance gain. Unless you have a very specific need for an 1024kb L2 Cache, you may wish to look more into the Venice Cores.


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