Budget A64 Advice please...

[jolancer]

Im looking for Advice about the A 64's....

Im going to keep my eye on them over the holiday season. However Im looking for a Budget 64 setup, but im not perfectly clear about a few things... noob questions i guess you could say.....

Like... for example witch of these would perform better?... socket 754, 3500 ... or socket 939 3200 ?

and... witch cores should i watch for?.. for example, witch of these would perform better?... socket 754 3200 clawhammer 1mb cache, or socket 939 3200 venice 512k cache ??

*2 things to keep in mined conserning the CPU, I dont need a HSF i already have one, so i could also go for oem.... also, im not shur if or how much of a performance diff there might be between 754 and 939, but i dont need it future proof, i wont be changing the system at all.
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Also need Motherboard Brand recomendations...
*note - im not overclocking

I already know, DFI and MSI are the popular brands for socket 939... but besides that i know nothing.... if there are other Brands that are just as good but could save me money i could use the advice... it doesnt need to be overclockable.
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Im thinking about trying to keep the CPU+MoBo $200 give or take for the budget.

and im planning on pairing it with the PCI-E 6800GS... going to see if the price on those will drop bellow 200 in the upcoming months.

Thx in advance...... i originally didnt plan on getting a A64, but the older technologys just didnt drop in price enough to make them worth while... which is why i ended up a A64 noob, i never planed on getting one b4.

 

[forumposter32]

Well, I guess it depends what you want. Right now, there is a 3700+ & motherboard combo deal at tigerdirect.ca and tigerdirect.com (rebates though are complicated and you have to follow ALL the instructions)
But, there is also a 3700+ combo with hard drive or USB memory device on newegg.

Take your pick I guess. If you can sell the other item on eBay, then it lowers the cost of the CPU.

When I got my Newcastle 3400+, it was less expensive than the 3700+ at the time but is also more overclockable than the clawhammer 3700+ because of the type of cache used (whatever). And is supposedly compatible with more RAM.

 

[ribbon13]

cheapest 939 A64 is the 3000+ venus, which won't leave a lot of money for the mobo

combos at monarch
Pick the ASrock board and the 3000+ retail with aftermarket fan set to none, and you get $194.00

 

[eXx08]

Originally posted by: jolancer


and im planning on pairing it with the PCI-E 6800GS... going to see if the price on those will drop bellow 200 in the upcoming months.

Thx in advance...... i originally didnt plan on getting a A64, but the older technologys just didnt drop in price enough to make them worth while... which is why i ended up a A64 noob, i never planed on getting one b4.

There is a deal at CubIT with the 6800GS for only $199 shipped.

Here is the link.

 

[xanis]

Keeping the Mobo+CPU under $200 is going to be a little tough without going cheap. I suggest a MSI K8N Neo4-F and a A64 3000+ Venice. THe K8N Neo4-F has only 1 PCI-E slot, but if you get an SLI mobo, it will be a lot more expensive.

 

[jolancer]

Thx for the input guy.

It'd be helpful if someone could answer my s754 vs s939 questions in the first post to.

and keep in mind, im not O/Cing, not running SLI, and never upgrading this system...

and im not buying it this miniute, im going to look for deals on the A64 parts over the Holiday season... so i guess at this point the budget would be closer to $250 maybe, and hope that theres sales on them in the upcoming months.

Some one somewere else posted that the 6800GS might only be produced temporarily and discontinued after the holidays.... can anyone else confirm or have more info?

note - $200 for the 6800GS is not significant enough of a price drop from $210... so im going to wait longer on that, unless you think they are just going to go up in price??

also note - i am willing to go cheap on parts, however not to sacrifice reliability... only to sacrifice options that i dont need, such as SLI.

Thx for the suggestions, keep'em coming...


EDIT: o yea, i have no problem with Rebate Deals... Iv done many of them. I even got those Hellish Soyo Rebates. (but im not jumping on any Deals this soon, unless there good enough)

 

[ChiPCGuy]

All of the newer A64 S939 cores are going to run cooler due to 90nm process technology (Winchester on). The absolute latest 939 A64 cores such as the Venice and San Diego support SSE3, which might become more important in the future. Generally, a S754 rating equivalent of a S939 processor will be within about 5% performance-wise. The S939 CPUs just don't need to run as fast to do it because they have the advantage of a dual channel memory controller and some architectural improvements to boot.

In the S754 A64 kingdom, it is Newcastle that you want as opposed to Clawhammer. Newcastle is a little less picky about RAM, but only slightly so. If you were going to OC, I would say the Newcastle for sure since they would be more likely to overclock better. If you want absolute performance comparisons, then I suggest checking around on the 'net as you will find a lot of them.

You want something with PCI Express, so I would start working backward off of that. There are S754 PCI-E boards. Don't saddle yourself with something AGP--bad idea.

The biggest question is what exactly are you going to be doing with the system? You could buy a Sempron64 3000+ CPU right now for S754, get the S754 PCI-E board and the 6800GS and have a pretty decent machine and then get the S754 A64 a few months from now before they disappear from the market all together. Just don't wait too long, though, as prices might increase on S754 A64s as supplies dry up, just like they did with the XP.

 

[jolancer]

Originally posted by: ChiPCGuyThe biggest question is what exactly are you going to be doing with the system?

budget gaming system.

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ok, heres a few specific questions...

Iv been looking at these parts...

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103461

MoBo's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128308
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136162
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127220

Am i correct in assuming that the s754 3700 clawhammer above outperforms the s939 3200 venice ?

and let me know what you guys think of those Mobo's.... if you heard anything good or bad about any of them... spec wise there pritty much the same, but i was considering the Gigabyte.

Im looking at those boards, because if i get that cpu im going to have to get a Mobo with it to test the chip.... and i dont know how long newegg will have that deal, because my plan would be to sell the 1gig flash drive to make the cpu about $150 + $75mobo = 225

 

[imported_andro]

I think you should go with the 939, since the venice chips are made with a more advanced 90 nm process and thus run a lot cooler.
About the mobo's I have used GIGA and DFI, but find the GIGA better in quality, but if u are going to OC then go with the DFI.

 

[jolancer]

Thx, but it doesnt matter to me if its .13um or 90nm, im not overclocking... besides in this case, compairing the 3700 754 and 3200 venice, wont the 3700 754 run cooler then the 3200 venice O/c'ed to 2.4ghz ?

If the 939 3200 venice O/ced to 2.4 runs cooler then the 3700, then i will go 939. Im assuming it doesnt though, right?

 

[forumposter32]

http://www23.tomshardware.com

 

[jolancer]

Originally posted by: thekillerjksThere is a deal at CubIT with the 6800GS for only $199 shipped.

Here is the link.

I gave it some more thought, and looked up a few things.... at this point the 6800nu 256mb is around $200, and the 6800gt is still at the least $250.. so i guess theres a pritty dam good chance that these GS's will just go up in price.. so i got that one, Thx for the link man.

Originally posted by: forumposter32
http://www23.tomshardware.com

Thx... That chat is great.