A64 3000+; 754 or 939?

[Ketchup]

OK, so I am cruising through newegg, about to upgrade my XP2500 when I come across 2 A64 3000's. Took me a minute to catch it, but there is a Socket 754 and a socket 939 XP 3000 at Newegg. Both are clocked at the same speed, however the 939 is rated at 1.4 volts. So now I am in a quandry. First of all, is it a typo? I though a 939 3000 would be clocked lower than a 754. And secondly, which one would you recommend I go for? I would think the 939 would overclock better, and that latest memory roundup Anandtech did seems to really be a clencher for Socket 939.

 

[Zebo]

Naw that chip runs slower 1.8 and gets killed by skt 754 3000 which runs at 2.0.

http://www.amdzone.com/modules...mp;artid=63&page=1

 

[mitchafi]

If you can save a decent amount of money go with the 754 platform. You won't see much of a real world difference in performance between 939 and 754.

 

[Lithan]

Both sockets have their advantages. 939 will probably let you squeeze a processor upgrade out of it some time down the road. With 754 you might have to buy a new motherboard and cpu. 754 will be faster at stock in most instances, but just barely. 754 will have better motherboards. When overclocked 939 should be the better performer.

 

[Dman877]

Also, the 754 boards don't oc as well with 2 mem slots filled according to anand's latest article (my own tests sorta confirmed this a while a go).

 

[laurenlex]

I understand that the 939 will be about equal, or slower, than the 754 comparing 3000+ to 3000+. But I think this in in games. Will the dual channel capabilities of the 939 help more in video encoding, copying dvd's, photoshop?

I was set on getting socket 754 3200+, but then these cheap 939 processors started arriving? What to do? I will be playing some games, but will also be doing a lot of DVD backups, my kids are hard on them.

 

[El Gimpo Suave]

I just spent a week beating my head against this same quandry. In the end i went with the 754 , 3200(retail) and spent under $300(shipped) @ newegg. It came down to time for me, I didnt want to wait arround for a real selection of quality mobo's or detailed comparative benchmarking . I found that it was going to run me about $350(after shipping) to put together a good 939 with mobo and still only getting a 3000.
Heres an interesting (older) benchmark summary for the 754 cpus against other amd and intels .
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articl.../prescott-tests_9.html

Special thanks to ZEBO for some truly helpful info over assorted threads, you really helped out.

 

[Ketchup]

Hey thanks for all the info; some very good points made here. I really like to overclock (I know it's not necessary because these chips already blow everything else away, but it is still a lot of fun.) I think it will also help my 6800 run better. I bought a BFG 6800 from BB, but immediately saw that I was going to need a faster machine to appreciate this beast, as my 3dmark01 score scaled like crazy as I overclocked the CPU from 1.83 to 2.3 GHz. I am hoping an A64 will eliminite or at least relieve that bottleneck somewhat.

I am probably going to go with the Socket 754, just because I can probably get a higher overall speed with the 754 and i really don't care about upgradability since I have never bought a new CPU and kept the same motherboard.

Now to just settle on a motherboard. I have pretty much narrowed it down to the Epox and the MSI. I hear a lot of horror stories about MSI, but to be fair a LOT of people buy MSI products, I think because you generally get more for your money with them. I have had good success with Epox in the past, however my last 2 epox boards have left me wanting more in the overclocking department. I do want the nForce 3 chipset, and if Abit made one this decision would be incredibly simple.

How high are you guys getting in FSB? Any issues at the higher FSB speeds (cold boot issues, etc)? Are there any boards that an overclocker should steer clear of (no mult. adjustments, low vcore limit, etc.)

 

[El Gimpo Suave]

DFI "LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb" NVIDIA nForce3 250GB Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 754 CPU -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=13-136-147&depa=1
well reviewed board possible sweet deal...
new egg has it listed at 129.99+s/h BUT there is a pricewatch listing for the same board also at new egg for 107+s/h maybe they'll honor it ...

 

[Ketchup]

Unfortunately the board isn't in stock, at any price. Someone said this board has a cold boot issue at high FSB. Any truth to that?

 

[Nomad692000]

DFI board looks good, but I'll stick to my Soltek. Have read of a few boot issues with hi FSB but not a lot.

 

[charloscarlies]

Originally posted by: Nomad692000
DFI board looks good, but I'll stick to my Soltek. Have read of a few boot issues with hi FSB but not a lot.

Agreed the DFI looks really nice...but at that price it doesn't seem worth it to me. I have been and will keep recommending the Chaintech VNF-250. It's almost half the price of the DFI and is a solid board. My only gripe is the temps not reading correctly...but not a huge deal.

 

[SonicIce]

What about the ASUS "K8V SE Deluxe" K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU -RETAIL?

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: SonicIce
What about the ASUS "K8V SE Deluxe" K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU -RETAIL?

Its a fine board I have one. But many people think the nf3 250 chipset is better. I might try one if I was going that route again. My next cpu will be an fx55, so I can relagate my dually to all the other things I do and go for pure gaming power. A lot of people seem to like

this chaintech board for $79

 

[Ketchup]

Originally posted by: SonicIce
What about the ASUS "K8V SE Deluxe" K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU -RETAIL?

After much waiting, the Asus board is finally looking to be a good overclocker, thanks to some much needed bios revisions. To be honest though, I am not sure the Abit has much going for it that would persuade me to buy it over some other fine choices. It can FINALLY overclock as well as its counterparts, unless you are using an SATA drive in which case you are not going to get very high due to the SATA controller not having a fixed speed like that found integrated into the nVidia chipset. But for the feature set it offers, it does have a pretty attractive price, so I can see why there is such a good following with this board.

I have been very happy with my nforce 2 chipset, so I think I will keep the tradition going and go for an nForce3.

One thing that does puzzle me is the limits of the FSB though. I am learning all I can about the A64 chips, and they are indeed an impressive step by AMD. But the thing that puzzles me pertains as to why these boards can't handle high FSB? I mean, the memory controller is integrated into the CPU, releaving the motherboard of a huge burden, as well as a huge source of heat. So why can't every board handle at least 300 FSB? Just a thought.