Athlon: Slot A vs. Socket A

[NinthKey]

I'm planning on upgrading my motherboard and CPU from an AMD K6-3 400 MHz system to an Athlon system before the end of the year, and I'd like to get everyone's opinion on which CPU style I should take.

Initially, I was going to get a Duron system and upgrade it to a T-bird when I had the money. However, a friend of mine who works for a PC components shop in Chicago told me that Socket A CPUs are crap, running far too hot and failing far more often than Slot A CPUs, which in his opinion are a better value. My concern, though, is that AMD will drop Slot A in the near future and start pushing the Duron/T-bird chips exclusively.

I would startg at about 600 MHz now and jump to either 900 or 1G once the prices come down. I have no plans to overclock my system. Recommendations?

 

[hominid skull]

Slot A is very much old technology now, you should definately get a Socket A processor be it Duron or T.Bird. If you can wait a little while longer you will be able to get hold of some DDR ram mobo's, there shold be here around October/November.

 

[NinthKey]

Well, Super Socket 7 is old technology, too, but unlike Slot A, I know SS7 is dead. DDR RAM isn't a big issue with me, either, unless the mobo is capable of handling the 256MB of PC100 SDRAM I already have now.

My concern with Socket A is potential for overheating, even when not overclocked, and I'm trying to weigh that against Slot A's potential for being phased out too soon. A difference in motherboard prices is also a concern -- the Slot A board I'm looking at is $40 cheaper than its Socket A equivalent. (Yes, that makes a difference for me.)

 

[Rigoletto]

Socket A looks like good honest fun to me. Overclocks and runs great at retail speed anyway. Buy the cheapest Duron and use your old RAM.

 

[DaddyG]

Slot A is limited. Only the older AMD750 Irongate boards support the TBIRD SLOT A. Depending on where you live you might get hold of an ASUS K7V-T that supports a BIRD but this is still the VIA KX133 chipset NOT the KT133. Going with a KT board now with a cheap Duron is a great way to start. Cooling the Socket chip is only an issue if you try to use heatsinks that a not designed for the job. AMD has plenty of HSF's recommended on their site. My choice is the TAISOL CEK733092, for about $11 is hard to beat.

 

[hominid skull]

Slot A is being phased out now, here in England it's very hard, exceptfor the high end, to buy a slot A cpu and almost impossible to get hold of a slot A T.Bird.

Slokets were as posibilty but as of yet not materialised.

DDR-ram fits into a different slot that ordinary SD-ram so that's out of the question.

The main problem is now that the die of the processors is getting so small there is such a small area for the cpu to disipate all the heat it generates to the heatsink efficiently. The Taisol heatsink mentioned is a good one, Coolermaster have just released a copper heatsink that looks good also.

 

[paulip88]

I would have to recommend a socket a system, especially if you are thinking of upgrading to a Athlon later. The reason is that if you are plannig to upgrade later, chances are you will have trouble finding a slot a athlon (especially if you are looking specifically for a tbird).

As for the heat issues raised for the socket a. as long as you are careful installing the heatsink and fan there should be no problem with heat.

 

[Rand]

Slot A is already being phased out, and very soon it will be hard to buy a new Slot A processor. Socket A offers a much better prospect for future upgrades. Socket A is in no way inherintly worse than Slot A, and processors for Socket A are usually NOT hotter than their Slot A counterparts. In fact you will usually find that Socket A processors run slighly cooler than their SlotA counterparts.
Both the Duron and the Athlon for either SocketA or SlotA are currently run VERY hot, but anybody saying that Socket A processors are hotter and more prone to failure than their SlotA counterparts is dead wrong.

I would most definitely without hesitation recommend that anybody that is looking to upgrade head straight for SocketA rather than SlotA. $40 is a very small price to pay when you consider just how much more upgradeable SocketA is over SlotA.

 

[Mem]

Definetly Socket A,like everybody said slot A is being phased out.

 

[urbantechie]

Sockets are easier to cool too than the Slots.

 

[Modus]

What everybody else said

Modus

 

[NakaNaka]

are Sockets hard to install>?

 

[Barny]

I have the new socket A Tbird on a ASUS A7V. Very happy with it. My son has an ASUS K7V with a slot A. Other than that, the systems are pretty much identical. Same case, PS, memory, adapters, cooling fans, etc.
We've compared temps with the ASUS PC Probe software that comes with them. My slot A runs a few degrees warmer than the socket A, but my mother board reports a few degrees cooler than his K7V. From memory, we were both around 118 F on the CPUs and 90 F on the MB.
The socket A is very easy to install. Line up the keyed corners, drop it in and cam it. It's a littly tricky putting the heatsink on though. AMD recommends you practice this manuever before peeling the cover off the thermal compound.