go with the old reliable or new and unknown?

[Sniper82]

Gonna be upgrading once NF4 boards once newegg can actually keep NF4 Ultra in stock for more than a couple hours. Anyway curious should I maybe go with a NF3 and a 6600GT AGP or NF4 and a 6600GT PCI-E? In the end they will even out on price since the PCI-E 6600GT is cheaper.

Question is it it worth it to go with NF4 this early not knowing about bugs/problems with newer line of boards? Or just go with NF3 since its older and more reliable? Or would it be dumb to upgrade to AGP right now?

 

[icejunkie]

I'm in the same situation. I'm not gonna bring myself to "upgrade" to AGP, though. I guess I'm just gonna wait and wait until NF4/K8T890 boards are available...

 

[slurmsmackenzie]

for socket 939 it doesn't really matter. the options are limited either way. nforce4 has some nifty new options, so i'd go with that.

 

[Prime Beef]

stay with the old and reliable until they test drive the new one and get the bugg's out.:disgust::|:Q

 

[Zebo]

Old as in 754 and DFI UT 250GB you got the right idea. Otherwise wiat a couple months. 939 NF3 dust has'nt even settled yet, let alone NF4.

 

[JeffMD]

this is an easy question to answer with another question:

Are you going to be building a system that is cutting edge, newest cpu and video configs, with the intent on power over stability? then go with the new.

Are you going to build a system that is capable but stable that you will be trusting your data and work hours with? then go with the old. You don't realise it by looking at ad's, but most popular motherboards go through many revisions. So if you stick with a tried and true nforce 2 or 3 board, you are lible to get one that has also gone through many production revisions with the final result being a board that is more stable, and often supports all the new cpu's and ram speeds the nforce 4 board will.

 

[bradley]

Guess what? In many cases, 939 motherboards are actually slower than 754 motherboards.

http://www.behardware.com/articles/531/page1.html

Most people just assume that new technology is always faster. But at this point of diminishing speed returns, I might suggest not bothering with a 939 board just for Dual Channel, NCQ, SATA2 or PCI-e (when neither the SATA or AGP bus has reached its saturation point) - unless you're seriously considering a future upgrade to the Athlon 64 FX.

In a few months, once the newest revisions of the 90mm Athlon 64 are released, Venice and San Diego, things might change enough to consider the 939 platform, even at a slightly higher price. Otherwise, the 754 platform is going to be a lot more mature and stable than anything 939 could currently offer.

 

[ahurtt]

My dad always said of buying a new car, never buy the first year of a new model off the production line. I think there is wisdom in that and it can be applied to this case also. I am pondering the same thing as you. . .I gave away my oldest computer to my sister as a Christmas gift because it was a little outdated for me (Athlon XP 1700+) but it more than suited her needs. So now I get to build a new one to replace it. But now I'm suffering a little "givers" remorse because this seems like a bad time to build a new machine with regards to PCI-X or AGP. Is PCI-X really going to take off or be a flash in the pan? How long will it take to iron the kinks out? Do I really need to pay the extra for all the other extras that inevitably come with the PCI-X system like DDR2 RAM, SATA. . .do I really NEED Gigabit Ethernet in my house? Do I wanna pay the premium and put in that Athlon 64 with the 2GHz Hypertransfer bus? It's gonna add up in cost fast. On the other hand, I could build a more than adequate, tried and true stable AGP based system for less money and I don't have to be the guinea pig who tests out the new technology. So that leaves me with the options of wait and live with what I have for maybe 1 more year, build the latest and greatest and spend more $$ but risk bugginess, or build a new box based on current more mature offerings out on the market today. . .decisions decisions. How do you decide?

 

[bradley]

Originally posted by: ahurtt
My dad always said of buying a new car, never buy the first year of a new model off the production line. I think there is wisdom in that and it can be applied to this case also. I am pondering the same thing as you. . .I gave away my oldest computer to my sister as a Christmas gift because it was a little outdated for me (Athlon XP 1700+) but it more than suited her needs. So now I get to build a new one to replace it. But now I'm suffering a little "givers" remorse because this seems like a bad time to build a new machine with regards to PCI-X or AGP. Is PCI-X really going to take off or be a flash in the pan? How long will it take to iron the kinks out? Do I really need to pay the extra for all the other extras that inevitably come with the PCI-X system like DDR2 RAM, SATA. . .do I really NEED Gigabit Ethernet in my house? Do I wanna pay the premium and put in that Athlon 64 with the 2GHz Hypertransfer bus? It's gonna add up in cost fast. On the other hand, I could build a more than adequate, tried and true stable AGP based system for less money and I don't have to be the guinea pig who tests out the new technology. So that leaves me with the options of wait and live with what I have for maybe 1 more year, build the latest and greatest and spend more $$ but risk bugginess, or build a new box based on current more mature offerings out on the market today. . .decisions decisions. How do you decide?

I'm in the same boat as you. My motherboard is a victim of bulging capacitors, so it's only a matter of time.

But you're right; this is the worst time to upgrade. We're on the threshold of so many significant new advancements and standards... some with no real benefit, and others with no immediate benefit. SATA2, PCI-e, 64-bit computing, and DDR2 are all the real deal, but will take a year or so to truly realize their potential. For home computing, ATX12V and strained silicon are a must, but things like dual channel memory, Gigabit Ethernet, NCQ, and the impending Athlon dual-cores are probably a wash.

I'll probably go cheap now, and in a year commit to a more permanent bug-free solution. I think the ground floor currently is a 64-bit 754 socket cpu, and will be for some time.

 

[Sniper82]

Just feels odd upgrading now and going with something older when I can get a newer tech board for not to much more. Also if I went with a 754 CPU and board. Say 6-8 months down the road and decide to get a Nforce 4 board I would then have to buy a new board and CPU(939) right? Wheres if I went with a Nforce 3 939 now I wouldnt have to get another CPU. But I would then have to buy a PCI-E video. Da*n this sucks.

 

[mrscintilla]

just buy the god-damn asus sli board. It's been out for a while. It's not exactly new and unknown.

 

[Sniper82]

Originally posted by: mrscintilla
just buy the god-damn asus sli board. It's been out for a while. It's not exactly new and unknown.

can't afford sli and it is way more than I will ever pay for a mobo.

 

[SPD2171]

I bought the Gigabyte NF4 board, it's on it's way. Since I needed a new vid card anyhow and the PCI-E 6600GTs were cheaper than their AGP counterparts, I figured that the money I saved there I could mount the Winchester on a new board.

Hopefully 4 months from now I am not relocating all these parts to a new Nforce 6.67SuperDuperUltraII mobo!