754 vs 939

[akwizeguy]

looking to upgrade. Ive been researching these boards to find my answer. Ive really come down to two questions im not fully clear.
1: Is the 754 line of cpus going to die out soon? Many speculate that it will. I want to try to future proof my new rigg as much as I can, and if this is the case well.

2: PCI-e, are there any large gains over the AGP interface? Also I have read around that PCI-e will likely overtake AGP in the long run, is this true. If it is true, when will AMD boards start supporting them?

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: akwizeguy
looking to upgrade. Ive been researching these boards to find my answer. Ive really come down to two questions im not fully clear.
1: Is the 754 line of cpus going to die out soon? Many speculate that it will. I want to try to future proof my new rigg as much as I can, and if this is the case well.

i wouldn't say die (heck DFI just came out with their 754 board), however you likely won't see it going past a 3700+

2: PCI-e, are there any large gains over the AGP interface? Also I have read around that PCI-e will likely overtake AGP in the long run, is this true. If it is true, when will AMD boards start supporting them?

it will take several years for pci-e to overtake agp, and no, you likely won't see any immeditate benefits (unless this nv sli thing works out, but i'm not holding my breath just yet), however it when peripherals catch up to the technology in a few years, you're sure to start seeing them.

 

[o1die]

Socket 754 will be here awhile. Pci-e will be available soon for nforce4, but prices for the new video cards are still fluctuating, much like the new 9nm socket 939 athlon 3000. It all depends on supply. Socket 754 prices will drop in just a few days, but not by much. For future proofing, the 939 9nm is your best choice, but motherboards aren't the greatest yet. I believe DFI will have the most choices on chipsets and boards, but not until January. Via is also rumored to be working on a chipset that will permit you to use either agp or pci-e. And according to one source over at Tom's hardware guide, ati already has a chipset for pci-e support for athlon 64. But I don't know whether it will be offered for both socket 754 or just 939. The bottom line is I would wait a little longer if possible for the best deals and selection.

 

[Bateluer]

s754 will be relegated to the Sempron line. s939 is going to be where its at if you want something more futureproof.

s939 with an nForce 4 looks like it will be pretty solid.

 

[effee]

Get 754 now, wait until X'mas 2005 and get a S939.

 

[Pollock]

Quite simply, it's impossible to future proof.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: effee
Get 754 now, wait until X'mas 2005 and get a S939.

You must be rolling in the $$$.

I can't afford that.

 

[sph1nx]

Originally posted by: Pollock
Quite simply, it's impossible to future proof.

I agree with Pollock on this one. However, if you want to be ahead of the game, go with the 939 and PCIe. Personally, I don't think PCIe is that big of a deal, SLI is sweet, but that is about it. The jump from 4x to 8x did nothing, as video cards still don't need that much bandwidth, so going from 8x to 16x isn't going to make one bit of difference IMO. I would not lose any sleep over getting a socket 754 and an AGP 8x card. You may hear all this stuff about video cards only being PCIe from now on, but that is just ATI and nVidia being idealistic. Fact is, if there is a market in AGP 8x (which there will be for a long time), they will keep making cards for it. From what I understand, both nVidia and ATI have adapted bridge chip solutions so their cards can be either PCIe or AGP (although ATI ridiculed nVidia for doing this early on, they probably got slapped with the reality that not everyone is jumping on the PCIe bandwagon). I would go with the socket 939 though, that is probably very "futureproof" from a CPU perspective, it will be around for awhile. Just get whatever works for you.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: effee
Get 754 now, wait until X'mas 2005 and get a S939.

You must be rolling in the $$$.

I can't afford that.

you already know you're gonna be broke over a year from now?

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: effee
Get 754 now, wait until X'mas 2005 and get a S939.

You must be rolling in the $$$.

I can't afford that.

you already know you're gonna be broke over a year from now?

some people do NOT upgrade the entire system every few months. S939 is more futureproof and in the long-run prolly cheaper because you can keep it longer than going with S754. my $0.2