Chipset and Processor Types

[efliv]

Hey everyone,

I'm putting together my first machine and I was hoping you all could help me out with a few questions:

1) What does the chipset on the motherboard do? Is there any problem mixing an ATI video card with an NForce chipset? What is the difference between the different NForces's, NF3, NF4 etc.?

2) What are the advantages/disadvantages of the different processor types? Is socket 939 the way to go for an Athlon 64, and what are the differences with the other socket types? Lastly, what does the 3200, 3200+, 3400 mean and what is the + for?

Thanks

 

[nullptr]

1) Short answer, your ATI card will work fine with Nforce. The nf3 nf4 just represents the generation of the chipset. Nforce is a completely different product line from NVIDIA's gpus.

2) Socket 939 is newer (the processor you buy will dictate the required mobo, an Athlon 64 2800+ won't fit a 939 board for example) and has some advantages, including PCI Express. The NNNN+ is AMD's way of equating the performance of their chips to Intel's, which rates based on Mhz. Generally, an AMD 3000+ will perform similarly to a Pentium 3 Ghz even though the AMD 3000+ may only run around 2 Ghz.