Chipset/Upgrade Question

[dbdynsty25]

Okay here's the deal. A buddy of mine wants to upgrade his 1.0 P3 and I was entertaining the idea of switching over to AMD 64 myself....so I was just going to sell my P4 3.0 to him and pick up an AMD 64 processor and mobo.

Is this a smart move on my part?

Am I smarter to go with a Via k8T800 Pro board since I have an X800 Pro video card? I have heard that the NForce3 boards work better with Nvidia based boards. Is there truth to that?

Should I go with a 939 or a 754 board and processor? Future expandibility is important to me so I can drop a faster processor in the system at a later time.

I was thinking 939 AMD 64 3200 or 3000 (not sure) and the Soltek SL-K8TPro-939 (Via) or the MSI K8N Platinum (if I go Nforce3).

Am I crazy wanting to go from P4 3.0 to AMD 3200/3000? Will I notice any performance increases especially in regards to gaming?

Thanks...

 

[imported_Bleh]

Yes the AMD will be faster in gaming than the p4. If I were you id get a 939 cpu and wait to see if nforce4 will support agp, if not then get a good nforce3 ultra.

 

[Ronin]

In order of your questions :

IMO, yes, it's a good move.
I've got both the VIA and nF3 chipsets, and I've seen very little difference overall in performance, so that's up to you.
939 is the better way to go. There are several reasons, such as dual on-die mem controllers, and AMD's committment to continue with that pin architecture for some time.
I prefer the Neo over the Soltek, but that's my personal preference (I'm using a K8N Neo2 Plat on my FX53 atm)
You should see performance increases across the board.

 

[dbdynsty25]

Nice, thanks for the replies. I've got a 865PE Neo2 right now so I know it's a pretty good board, albeit an intel. I'll see what I can find at a few Brick & Mortors this afternoon since I don't want to wait until next week to pick something up. Thanks again!

 

[effee]

754 right now, 939 is definetly the way to go, but just not right now, wait for the FX55 and 4000 to be released and then get a 939 if you want, prices will be lower