Best AMD System to go for at the moment...

[KRiSX2k4]

Hey all

I'm currently looking at getting an upgraded system, my first purchase is going to be a new video card (looking at the Gainward 6800GT Golden Sample). My current system is an AthlonXP 2400+, so as you can guess a card like the 6800GT most likely won't be working to its full potential. Anyways, my question is what is the best socket to go for at the moment? I know nforce 4 is coming out and all that but i'm really not interested in PCIe at the moment (mainly because i want to buy a new AGP card now) so i need to know what is going to be the best to go for in a long term point of view.

I've been told many different reasons for S754 and others for S939.... i've been close to getting a S754 setup based on the DFI LanParty UT board, but then i think to myself whats the point seeing as the last (as far as we know) S754 CPU to be released is the 3700+, which highly limits my future upgrading posibilities. S939 on the other hand seems to have a much longer life span... my only problem is that i keep hearing the current boards arent all that great compared to the S754 boards around, and when i'm spending the kind of cash i'm looking at spending on a video card alone.... i want something that is going to last and something that is going to perform well.

So what do you all think would be the best?

1. Go for a S754 setup? (no questions asked i'd be getting the DFI board for this one)

2. Go for a S939 setup using <insert board name and model here>?

3. Don't buy the 6800GT and wait for PCIe boards to become "stable"? (nforce 4 already has many problems that won't be fixed straight away...)

As far as i can work out.. these are my options..

I'm going round in circles trying to decide and i'm getting fairly sick of this current system of mine... the FX5200 is annoying me like crazy, and yes i could just get myself a cheap video card to last a couple months, but i'd rather get myself a new system that will last about 2 years (if thats even possible).

 

[JohnAn2112]

Socket 939 is the way to go now. I would say go with the MSI K8N Neo 2 board. Get the 6800GT now and you'll be very happy.

 

[cyberknight]

my opinion is that if you do decide to go S939, don't go for it just for "upgradeability". Unless you are one of those ppl who upgrade their processors every year and a bit.

Cuz really, if htat's the way you are thinking what would you do if you when you do decide to upgrade your CPU? then there'd be a whole slew of new technology. PCI-Express, dual 939's, DDR2. nForce 183x and probably a few others since I can't predict the future. Oh and guess what? you're gonna want a new motherboard! Kinda shooting yourself in the foot.

 

[PleasurePaulie5]

I agree.

You cannot buy a system and really plan to have full upgradabiliy. You should buy what offers the best performance to price ratio now.

 

[dguy6789]

Socket 754. It will last longer then 939.

Socket 754 will remain amd's value line for a few years, with lots of new semprons.

Socket 939 dies sometime in 2005. Once the socket 900 comes out, they will stop making all 939 cpus and motherboards.


No system can be future proof, but socket 754 will last longer then 939.

 

[uOpt]

Fact is that if you want a 2.4 GHz CPU you get it by far cheaper for Socket 754. And no matter what you do with cache and RAM bandwidth, there are few applications benetting from more than 512 KB cache or from 800MHz RAM.

Also, for Socket939 on newegg, you are pretty much forced to get a board with a Via chipset. For 754 I can get a new generation NVidia chipset with that non-PCI Gigabit Ethernet.

Actually I think the 939 board situation is not really sorted out yet, there are very few boards, and I try hard to get an Asus board with whatever chipset I trust that moment.

 

[iwantanewcomputer]

754 is stilla better value because the extra ram bandwidth doesn't make a huge difference. there won't be any more good revisions of nforce 3 boards out for either socket cause of nforce 4, but once we get some better performing nforce 4's, i think we will see a benefit to 939

 

[Lyfer]

Do this. Wait a month and get a Socket 939 SLI board from MSI, add in a Athlon 64 3000+ SKT939 chip, mix in some Crucial Ballistix DDR400 512mbx2 ram, stir in a Geforce 6800GT. Save up your $$$$ and add another Geforce 6800GT later, and you've got one hell of a stew! That CPU should be able to do up to 2.6ghz on air with dual 6800GT's, imagine the possibilities.

 

[FullRoast]

You'll pay about $100 premium to get a socket 939 system over a 754. For $100 you get maybe 5% performance improvement with dual channel, depending on what you're doing. You also get the chance to overclock one of the new 90nm A64's and might get to 2.5+ GHz or better. You are probably on a better path for future processors, dual core, higher clock speeds.

For some people, the $100 would push them to a 754 without much debate. The 754 is currently a better value. For others, $100 is not that much for the "latest" technology and an arguably better upgrade path.

As an aside, the Epox EP-9NDA3+ is a great board, if you only plan on only using 2 dimms. Newegg is out of stock at the moment, but at $120, it is not much more than some of the better 754 boards. The difffence between a 3200+ Newcastle and a 3200+ WInchester is currently $71. That is suppose to go to $0 difference eventually.

 

[KRiSX2k4]

mmmm once again a lot of different opinions...

I was going to look at what Lyfer is saying, but theres no way i'm going to buy an nforce 4 board until all the problems are ironed out and who knows how long that will take. Plus, with the price of the SLI boards I'd be going for 2 6600GT's not 2 6800GT's...

dguy6789... i don't see how you can say 754 will last longer then 939? and anyway why would i go from an A64 to a Sempron ?


how would getting a 754 system now with say something between 3000+ and 3400+ A64... and then when the 3700's come down get one of them and o/c it as much as possible... would that last me a fairly decent amount of time?