Best performing future proof AMD board

[Johnbear007]

Hey, im trying to decide between a new amd system or new intel


I understand the new intel boards, but dont have a feel for the best AMD boards right now.

I want SATA and all the new features. I have an audigy 2 so I dont NEED onboard sound but its ok if it ahs it.


I want somethign that can do dual channel DDR 400


Also, can you use slower ram on one of these boards? or must it be faster? I mean just until I can afford the upgrade?

 

[Vette73]

I have and love the nForce2 Abit NF7-S. It has everything you said and more. I am running a Athlon 1700+ (1.47Ghz) at 2Ghz 200Mhz FSB.

You can run the ram at PC2100 on up. So it supports 133Mhz FSB and up to 300Mhz FSB with the newwest Bios

 

[beatle]

Just so there's no confusion, that's 300Mhz DDR to 600Mhz. This is likely way more than you'll ever see on that socket. If you don't need firewire or SATA either, the NF7 could save you a couple bucks.

 

[Gravija]

i have an NF7-S rev. 2.0, going to have another rig with it
im hitting 2.2ghz with a 1700+ @1.625v
the ram doesn't have to be faster i don't think

and you can go up to 300FSB, ive tried it (hehe, won't boot)

 

[pspada]

The Epox 8RDA3+ goes for $119 at newegg.com. I believe it has all the features you specified, and will run any current or new Athlon XP chip until the Athlon 64 takes over.

 

[Johnbear007]

All right, now I dont want to turn this into a flame war, but I really would like to discuss the surrent athlon vs p4

How much does the P4's new 800 mhz BUS help the processor? How much life does each current processor have left in it?

Will the Athlon 64 and the Prescott make huge improvements? Or is it just another refresh?

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Johnbear007
All right, now I dont want to turn this into a flame war, but I really would like to discuss the surrent athlon vs p4

How much does the P4's new 800 mhz BUS help the processor? How much life does each current processor have left in it?

Will the Athlon 64 and the Prescott make huge improvements? Or is it just another refresh?

The prescott I think is just a P4 with more L2 cache and built on the .09 process, RUMOR is it MIGHT get either a update to SSE2 or it will be called SSE3? The Athlon 64 is well... a 64 bit CPU that will also run 32bit code even better than the Athlon XP, and has the memory controller on the CPU, more L2 cache, etc....

I think more people, including Intel fanboys, are waiting to see the Athlon64 at full speed (i.e. Retail form)

The 800Mhz Bus (200Mhz really) does help a good bit with HT BUT you need a currnet board to use it and the CPU will cost a good deal.

Both are near the end of their life as you pointed out. I am using a Athlon 1700+ overclocked to Athlon 2600+ levels on a Abit nForce2 board. It is cheaper than a P4 setup and I can save the rest for a Athlon64 OR Opteron system.

But to each his own, they are both good, I just rather get the best bang for my buck.

 

[KF]

>"It's not that I necessarily disagree when you call G.W. Bush a nazi scumbag asshole.
> I just think you're being overly insulting to nazi scumbag assholes by comparing them to Bush."

It's not that I necessarily disagree that people with stuff like this in their taglines are nazi scumbag assholes. I just think ...

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: KF
>"It's not that I necessarily disagree when you call G.W. Bush a nazi scumbag asshole.
> I just think you're being overly insulting to nazi scumbag assholes by comparing them to Bush."

It's not that I necessarily disagree that people with stuff like this in their taglines are nazi scumbag assholes. I just think ...

Yea....MK... Like are you where you are supposed to be little one, wheres you mom ??

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

"It's not that I necessarily disagree when you call G.W. Bush a nazi scumbag asshole. I just think you're being overly insulting to nazi scumbag assholes by comparing them to Bush."

I'm glad you have an understanding of history.

Idiot.

 

[Wigwam]

going back to the original question!
i'm afraid having just been though the same thought process and found it flawed there is no such thing at the moment as a current amd future-proofed system as we are sadly at the end of the line with the barton etc so with the board you wil have 1 chip upgrade max then it is athlon 64 and new board.

for the sake of completeness i should say i went with the asus a7n8x deluxe as the most feature rich board as i thought that was future-proofing [before those amd scum burst my bubble!]

 

[Johnbear007]

Ok let me put it this way:

I have an

Athlon xp 1700+ on an ECS K7S5A
512MB of Crucial pc 2100
80GB WD SE HD
Radeon 8500 128MB


I am not hugely unhappy with this system. I don't want to upgrade unless I am going to see some significant performance gains.

So I am thinking that I should wait for the Athlon 64 and the Opteron to hit retail, and see what the deal is then.


so now my question is... What are my OC options for this 1700+ Can I squeeze anything out of it with stock cooling? and how much of a performance gain could I get?

 

[pspada]

Actually you are smart to not upgrade your current system - or at least much. Then you can upgrade without qualm when the Athlon 64 is available. Or if you've been considering going to the Dark Side, Intel's 800FSB chips will have matured, along with the chipsets supporting them. And who knows, there might even be an Opteron m/b with an AGP slot on it by that time for a 3rd choice.

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: pspada
Actually you are smart to not upgrade your current system - or at least much. Then you can upgrade without qualm whem the Athlon 64 is avaiable. Or if you've been considering going to the Dark Side, Intel's 800FSB chips will have matured, along with the chipsets supporting them. And who knows, there might even be an Opteron m/b with an AGP slot on it by that time for a 3rd choice.

Hehe... the darkside.... I know what you mean. I've been guiltily thinking about it. It's like leaving the hot working girl who's dynamite in bed for the sexy rich b*tch, whos a freak.

Seriosuly though. I'm going to go by price/performance just as I always have. I'm interested in the 800 MHZ FSB P4, but it isn't showingany real benefits yet. I'm not sure I even understand the opteron. Whats the deal with the opteron?

Is this server technology? how they heck is the man stream consumer supposed to afford opterons and athlon 64's?

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: pspada
Actually you are smart to not upgrade your current system - or at least much. Then you can upgrade without qualm whem the Athlon 64 is avaiable. Or if you've been considering going to the Dark Side, Intel's 800FSB chips will have matured, along with the chipsets supporting them. And who knows, there might even be an Opteron m/b with an AGP slot on it by that time for a 3rd choice.

The nForce3 board is for Opterons AND has a AGP port and all the extras.

 

[Johnbear007]

So what will the deal on pricing be for opterons and athlon 64's? Where do they fit in?

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Johnbear007
So what will the deal on pricing be for opterons and athlon 64's? Where do they fit in?

The Barton will be where the T-Bred is now and the Athlon 64 will be where the Barton is now. The Athlon 64 should be around the same price as a P4. At first it will be much higher as it is new, but after the smoke clears should be just a hair under the P4 price, but offer more bang as usual.

 

[pspada]

The Opteron is analogous to the Pentium Zeon chips, desigend with servers in mind. But for power users like some of us, who knows where it will lead? I already want one, but I also do the price/performance analysis every time. In '96 I could have bought a IBM F50 (RS/6000) for 50 grand, but when I saw Red Hat Linux for $50, I went with that instead. And that's why I've always had an AMD chip in my boxes since the K6-2, and 95% of the machines I sell are AMD as well.

As I said, there might even be an Opteron m/b with an AGP slot on it by that time for a 3rd choice. The Nforce 3 sounds nice, but it's vaporware right now. Probably take a revision or two to work out the rough edges, too.