Opteron socket 939 mobo

Hey,

If I had an Opteron socket 939 cpu, would I have to use a mobo specific to the Opteron? Or would any (cheaper) socket 939, most likely built for an Athalon or Semperon mobo work just the same?

Thanks,
phrygius

anyone will do, though i would suggest double checking the manufacturers site

I would imagine it would work - although, wouldn't imagine you would be able to utilise the cpu to it's optimum performance out of it.

Thanks for the advice. Newegg sells "server motherboards" specifically for the opterons. They're much more expensive than the "regular" 939 mobo's. Is this because they are somehow able to utilize the opteron like aitken325i was referring to? The specs between the two types are almost identical.

I'm new to AMD technologies, but the disparity of prices to specs for these two types of mobos seems a little off to me.

Can you post links to the mobo's you are looking at so I can have a wee look ?

Here is newegg's cheapest "Server" motherboard built specifically for an Opteron.

and this is just a cheap socket 939 motherboard rated for an Athalon 64

But, the specs are almost identical, and the "server" mobo is almost 4 times the price.

socket 940 supports registered RAM and multiple sockets per board, that's why it costs more (combined with the fact that server are usually brought by people with money to burn)

the one you linked to however is a 939 server board, so the price increase is because of the brand (its a TYAN, a very good server board maker) and it includes a video card (something that server people don't want to bother with, where consumers want their own high end one), the TYAN board also has 2 gig nics instead of 1, server boards are also a little better designed because reliability is often more important then speed in the server world

i would say that if you want an opteron, then go with a cheap 939 board with PCI-E for later upgrades, however the opteron was designed for socket 940, which offers registered ECC RAM support (most consumers don't know/care about this), the opteron also allows you to have multiple sockets (the main reason a consumer would wan an opteron) and allows you to make a very fast computer (TYAN makes a 8 socket board that can take dual core opterons...that 16 cores! but that needs at least $10K and you can't run windows)

Thanks for all the info!

I was trying to spec out a cheap-as-can-be server, but like I said, I'm new to AMD technologies. You said that the opteron was designed around socket 940, does that mean that the 939 Opterons are not as good? Does the ECC-RAM make a big difference in the server world?

Opterons are fine in 939, the ECC stuff is only for mission critical stuff, its needed when an error in the program can cause huge problems, its kinda like raiding hard drives to protect the data, this does the same concept but in RAM, and ads quite a bit to the price and doesn't do anything that most people would need

i would not get an opteron unless i wanted a board with 2 sockets, if your going with a 939 board then get an Athlon XP/FX

Thank you so much for the advice. Very friendly and informative and gives me plenty to think about and research .