buying a 939 board & chip in 2hrs! should i...

[THESANTINI]

i've been reading reviews and it seems like there have been a few issues as of February with mnay of the 939 boards. I can't find relevant information as to whether these issues have been corrected or not.

Also, is buying a 2800+ w/ 512 l2 cache be a great fit? Thx

 

[ryanv12]

Correct, I wouldn't buy the K8T890 yet. They're having issues with putting in dual core processors, but the ones being shipped now have a revised chip. I doubt you'll see them yet, though.

Also, they don't make a 2800+ chip for socket 939, so just make sure you're buying the right processor. The lowest you can get is a 3000+ from either the Winchester or Venice core.

 

[peleejosh]

stick with nforce 3 or nforce 4

 

[THESANTINI]

the only difference with the nforce3 / nforce4 is support for dual graphics cards?

However, if I have a dual output graphics card, I'm good?

 

[the cobbler]

You misunderstand what SLI is.

SLI is a system whereby nvidia NFORCE4 SLI owners ONLY can insert two identical video cards into who identical PCI-E x16 slots in order so that both cards output to the SAME SINGLE OUTPUT. This nearly doubles GPU processing power and has absolutely nothing to do with how many displays the actual images are being sent to.

SLI only works on nVidia GeForce 6600GT, 6800nu, 6800GT, and 6800ultra. And it ONLY WORKS on motherboards equipped with TWO PCI-E x16 slots and the board MUST HAVE an NFORCE4 SLI CHIPSET. That's IT. It is not available in any other GPU cores, period. It is not available in another other chipset maker's chip (via). Your PCX 5300 having dual outputs for dual display has zilch to do with SLI. As an example, my SINGLE 6600GT PCI-E card has DUAL OUTPUTS, but I only have ONE CARD on a NON-SLI motherboard, so that clearly doesn't qualify as SLI.

If you don't know what SLI is, then you DEFINITELY don't need it.

And there are a ton of differences between the VIA and nVidia chipsets, but SLI is not primary among them, at least not as a reason for the average buyer to choose one over the other.

Just forget SLI and look at the other features of the chipsets you are choosing among.

My advice: futureproof yourself and buy a socket 939 NForce4 Ultra-based motherboard. NON-sli .

 

[sreams]

Originally posted by: THESANTINI
the only difference with the nforce3 / nforce4 is support for dual graphics cards?

This is not the only difference. nForce3 supports AGP (for video only), while nForce4 supports PCI Express (high bandwidth for video cards and other devices). nForce4 also supports SATA2 at 300MB/sec.

-S