Help choosing new mobo/CPU

[Matt2]

So my CPU is fried and I'd like to upgrade to something up to today's standards in order to take advantage of the 6600GT video card I've got my eye on.

Since my budget is extremely tight I was looking at the Athlon 64 2800

I noticed it is socket 754 as opposed to the newer 939. Is it worth saving the extra $60 or so considering that I won't be able to upgrade the CPU without getting a new motherboard?

How well does the 2800 overclock? This is important because I plan to over clock the shite out of this new rig in order to save myself some money. (College student with part time job)

Can you guys reccomend a good, cheap motherboard for the 2800??

I'm always open to suggestions for a better setup!

Budget is around $200-$250, $300 at the max

 

[imported_Kensai]

With 300$, you could probably get a decent setup based off the S939 platform.

If you really have to go with a 2800+, I suggest the MSI K8N Neo Platinum or the MSI K8MM-ILSR.

 

[flatblastard]

Yeah, if your willing to go $300 you can get s939 for sure. If your real serious about OCing, then DFI has what your looking for.
Here's what I found on Monarchcomputer.com

DFI Lan Party UT NForce4 Ultra-D $129

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 512K 90nm Rev. E Venice (939) (Retail Box-w-Fan) $156

TOTAL: $285.00

If you buy the mobo/cpu combo from monarch they give you FarCry, Half-Life 2, and Napster 4 month subscription......all that and they even install the cpu/hsf for you no charge. Not bad, huh?

Edit: BTW, you should be able to OC that 3000+ up to 3500+ speeds, and even higher if you spend more on cooling and ram.

 

[dunkster]

These suggestions are well-intended, but don't consider incompatability with your AGP video card.

If you wish to stay with AGP, perhaps consider an NF3/939 mobo such as the MSI Neo2.

Hope this helps!

 

[theMan]

definately get the 3000+ venice, and i would get the msi k8n neo2 platinum for an agp car.

 

[Vee]

By the time you will have to replace things again, the thing to get may very likely be M2 socket, ddr2/ddr3, PCI-e and AMD X2 cpu, so normally I would have no qualms about recommending staying on s754 for now.

Abit NF8 754 $88 (has firewire too)
Athlon64 3400+ 754 $205

It's compatible with your current ram and agp videocard. And likely your PSU too. You will not need to match ram for dual channel operation. And agp videocards, as good as PCI-e cards, are going to remain on the market for some time. If you would need another upgrade on this machine.
NF8 (NF3-250 chipset) is a pretty new s754 MB, and I think that might be a good thing. But there's not much experience with it around.

The 3400+ Newcastle is slightly hotter than s939 Winchesters and Venices, but not something to cause problems. It also lacks SSE3 support. Again something I wouldn't worry about, in your situation.
Observe that the 754 3400+ is faster than the s939 3500+, most of the time. For most applications, except media coding apps, it's faster than a 3.6GHz P4, and almost as fast as a s939 3800+.
But also, you can cut your budget substantially, without dropping more than a fraction of performance, by going with a s754 3000+ or 3200+, if that suits you. Or use the money for additional 512MB ddr400.

However: You did say your CPU was "fried", and mentioned OC.
In both cases, if you're in the habit of frying CPUs, and if you want to OC, s939 seem a better choice. Replacement 939 CPUs, at least A64s, are likely to be more available in the close future, and 90nm cores seem to OC better. I'm no OC'er though, so that's all advice you get from me.

 

[flatblastard]

Originally posted by: dunkster
These suggestions are well-intended, but don't consider incompatability with your AGP video card.

If you wish to stay with AGP, perhaps consider an NF3/939 mobo such as the MSI Neo2.

Hope this helps!

I did take his AGP card into consideration but the OP say he had his eye on a 6600GT and did not specify AGP or PCI-e. I just hate to see someone spend $250.00 on yesterdays technology when they can have todays tech for $300. I was offering a better setup for the money, as requested by OP.

 

[Matt2]

Hmmm....

Decisions, decisions....

You guys have just about talked me into the Athlon64 3000+ and the DFI NF4 mobo.

Only thing is I definately do not have enough money to get the CPU/mobo AND a PCI-E video card. So the new CPU and mobo with have to sit for a while until I can afford a PCI-E 6600GT.

So, worth it have upgradability or is socket 754/AGP gonna hold me over until AMD changes sockets again???

Just to clear things up, my current CPU is not fried, it just doesn't overclock anymore

 

[Reapsy00]

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3400+ Retail - $219 2.4 Ghz!
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-K8NS - $69

Ok so it is socket 754 but at stock would trounce a 939 3000+ and dfi board.

 

[imported_miahallen]

Forget all that, get the Venice with a motherboard based on the ATI XPRESS 200. That way you can get the newer 939 and you'll have temp graphics until you can afford the 6600GT you want to buy.

 

[dunkster]

If the XP1700 is the root problem, why not simply replace it with an XPM mobile CPU?

I replaced my XP1700+ Mobile with an XPM2600+, and find it's a better overclocker than the XP1700+. In addition, you gain on-board cache memory for additional performance in some apps.

In my system:
- XP1600+ Mobile best-combination of 218 X 11.
- XPM2600+ best-combination of 220 X 11.5.

 

[x31234]

Originally posted by: miahallen
Forget all that, get the Venice with a motherboard based on the ATI XPRESS 200. That way you can get the newer 939 and you'll have temp graphics until you can afford the 6600GT you want to buy.

if you get a pci express mobo you can still use regular agp right? which graphics are better ati express or using an AGP based videocard?

 

[imported_miahallen]

Originally posted by: x31234

Originally posted by: miahallen
Forget all that, get the Venice with a motherboard based on the ATI XPRESS 200. That way you can get the newer 939 and you'll have temp graphics until you can afford the 6600GT you want to buy.

if you get a pci express mobo you can still use regular agp right? which graphics are better ati express or using an AGP based videocard?

The ATI XPRESS 200 graphics are by no means good by today's gaming standards (QIII era and prior will play beautifully, but newer games like Far Cry or Doom 3 won't make it)...but he said he wants to upgrade to a 6600GT, which is not a blazingly fast card either. This leads me to believe that the XPRESS 200 would be as good or better than his current card.

Matt2 - Maybe you would help us out and let us know what card you're currently using.

Anyhow, if he gets the ATI mobo now, that would allow him the combination of a buget rig that has great potential for future upgrades.

 

[flatblastard]

Originally posted by: miahallen
Forget all that, get the Venice with a motherboard based on the ATI XPRESS 200. That way you can get the newer 939 and you'll have temp graphics until you can afford the 6600GT you want to buy.

:thumbsup: This is good advice and I recommend that chipset all the time. I smelled an overclocker though, that's why I recommended the dfi board.

 

[Matt2]

I am definately going to be overclock and my current rig is in my signature. I'm using a ATI Radeon 9700NP OC'd.

I refuse to buy onboard graphics, I may be on a budget, but I'm into playing games with settings turned up.

 

[Chosonman]

Chaintech - K8T800 & AMD64 3000Combo

K8T800MBoard with cpu - Socket 754 - 8xAGP - Serial ATA - DDR400 - 6 Chan Audio Lan with CPU AMD Athlon 64 3000 DDR Soc 754 and heatsink fan
Dealer # - CB643080
Read more at Portatech
TotalCost
$158.98 SHIPPED

I bought 2 of these combos from this company and I've built 3 AMD 64 3000 (754) systems YTD. I absolutely love my systems the best bang for the buck right now.
I have had no problems with Portatech they ship on time and the products arrived in great condition. The chaintech board is about as good as my Soltek SL-K8AN2-GR

 

[imported_miahallen]

Sorry, I missed your sig. So your talking about upgrading from a R9700PRO to a 6600GT??? The 6600GT might give you a 10 to 20% advantage at best! For that matter, the mobo/CPU upgrade your talking about is only going to do about the same....with the budget you're on I'd say it just about pointless. Save up some more so you can do a real upgrade.

 

[Chosonman]

if you have $300 for a mobo and CPU and more for a GPU I suggest getting the one I mentioned for $159 and then use the $140 you saved plus whatever money you have left over for a top notch graphics card.

Your question on 754 vs 939.. performance wise they're almost identical. The 754 can multitask better than a 939 of the same level because they're clocked higher.
The 939 has slight better memory system to compensate for slower clock speeds.
Also the 939 runs a little cooler becuase is 9nm tech vs 13nm tech of the 754