Athlon 64 Question

[BornTwice]

I currently have an old DFI LanParty motherboard, with a socket 939 Athlon 64 3000+ CPU on it. The CPU is still good, and I'm looking for a board upgrade that will still use this CPU. I saw this board on Newegg.com, will my Athlon 64 work on this board?

Link to board:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131595

It's an ASUS M4A785-M

Here's the ASUS web page:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM2Plus/M4A785M/#specifications

In the CPU Support List, Athlon 64 3000 isn't listed specifically, but the specs do list "Athlon" by itself. So, I'm not sure if my CPU will work on this board. Anyone know??


Thanks,
BT

 

[Gigantopithecus]

No, your socket 939 CPU is not compatible with that board. "Athlon" has been AMD's name for its desktop CPUs for at least eight years, through at least four socket changes.

Your best bet to replace your DFI board is here in the FS/T forums. You'll want to get a socket 939 board second-hand. I haven't seen a new 939 board for sale at a retailer in probably three years.

Edit: Wait, you said 'upgrade' not 'replace' - what features are you looking for in an upgrade? IIRC the LanParty was about as tricked-out at as 939 boards came. It's really such an old platform that spending $30-40 to upgrade it (not just keep it running) doesn't make much sense.

 

[BornTwice]

Thanks Gigantopithecus, that's what I suspected, but was hoping I was wrong. I'll have a look around in the FS/T forum.


Thanks,
BT

 

[gevorg]

Sure you want to spend that much to use Athlon 3000+ CPU? If you live nearby Microcenter or Frys, checkout near $100 combo deals like these:

http://www.microcenter.com/specials/...ndlePROMO.html

 

[nenforcer]

The good news is that your Socket 939 motherboard and CPU still bring decent value used on eBay.

You could sell those and expect to get $30-40 for each and have nearly half for a decent motherboard / cpu combo.

 

[BornTwice]

Okay guys, I guess a little more explaining is in order.

Here's my current setup:
(I'm at work right now (a slow day), so this is all from memory.)

1) DFI LanParty mobo (Model ??)
2) AMD Athlon 64 3000+ CPU
3) 1.5 GB of RAM (1-1gb stick, 1-512mb stick)
4) Crucial/Radeon 9200 AGP 8X graphics card
5) 1 80GB Western Digital IDE hard drive
6) 1 1TB Seagate SATA hard drive
7) 1 Toshiba CD/DVD RW optical drive
8) Enermax 500W Liberty PSU
9)

Windows 2000 and Debian Lenny on the 80gb drive.
Debian Squeeze on the 1TB drive.

So, the reason I was looking at that Foxconn board was because, I am having a problem with my rig, and thought this would be a possible fix and a minor upgrade at the same time.

Okay, first here's the problem.

When I push the power on button on the front of the case, sometimes it takes about 30 to 60 seconds for the BIOS to start running. What I mean is, normally there is a single, short beep, and then the BIOS starts doing it's thing and I see messages on the monitor. Sometimes, it can take up to 60 seconds for that beep, and sometimes it doesn't. Its intermittent, and variable.

Second, the "fix"...

Since this DFI board is now kind of long in the tooth. I was hoping that my CPU would work on the Foxconn board, so I could still use my IDE drive. That way I would only have to fork out some $$ for the board and some RAM. I'm cheap by nature, and wanted to get by as cheaply as I could. A fast whiz-bang machine is not a requirement for me.

So, what can I do, (cheaply), to narrow down this problem?

 

[Arcanedeath]

If you have an agp slot that means its prolly not a socket 939 and more likely 754 board. I don't think DFI made a Lanparty board with an AGP slot for socket 939. I'd find out the model DFI board you have before looking for a replacement. You may also have a grounding issue or some caps on the board or PSU may be failing.

Your best option is to replace your MB, CPU, Ram, and Video Card with something like an I5 2500K chip or Lalano based system that has good onboard grapics that is faster than what you have and just get a PCI ATA 133 ide controler card for your PATA drives,

 

[Gigantopithecus]

So, what can I do, (cheaply), to narrow down this problem?

Take it to a local computer repair shop and see if they'll diagnose the problem for $20-30. Your PSU is solid but it's also old enough that it's probably not worth saving. You would definitely want to reuse the 1TB drive, but really, your rig is so old and antiquated that it's really not worth sinking a single cent into considering that even an ultra-budget build with modern parts will run circles around it.

To be blunt, the integrated graphics of a $60-70 AM3 motherboard (Radeon 4250) are substantially more powerful than your old Radeon 9200 AGP.

You did a very nice job picking out parts 5+ years ago, and it's always admirable to see a system last as long as yours has. But it's time to move on. You should minimally expect about $50 for your current parts - that's $250 away from a far more powerful modern budget build.

 

[BornTwice]

Thanks All - much food for thought. I really appreciate all of the comments.