I hear a lot about socket 939... should I wait for it?

[Diabolus]

Hi guys,

Wondering if I should wait for a socket 939 board... but somebody please explain to me the benefits and differences from the normal A64 boards. I don't like to spend money all the time upgrading my PCs, so it would be nice to know how long of a wait it is (more than two months, forget it!!) and what kind of benefits and pricing comes from it.

Thanks!

 

[Berkut]

I was in the same situation as you last week, and went ahead and ordered a new socket 754 system.

The way I see it, socket 939 will not provide any inate superiorty in the short term, and will likely cost more. Coupled with the teething problems associated with new chipsets, and I would not be comfortable buying a S939 system immediately anyway.

I bought a s754 A64 3000. The way I see it, at some point in the future, AMD will quit making s754 chips, probably some time late this year, IIRC. At that point, I will upgrade to the fastest s754 chip available, likely a A64 4000. They should be pretty cheap. So I figure I am covered as far as MB/CPU is concerned for a couple of years.

 

[Regs]

I would just wait for Nvidia to make a 754 socket mobo with enough features, with a good sound codec, +agp/pci lock (which they've included with the Nforce 250). Like Berk said, 939's aren't going to offer superior improvement for at least another year.

 

[biostud]

If it's true that it will first turn up in 6 months or so I wouldn't wait for it, since then at that time there might be 6 more month for a PCI express based AMD solution and so on. But if the the 939 is around 1-2 months away I would wait.

 

[Cerb]

Doesn't look like your favorite sound solution will get there . Waiting for features is OK, but don't wait for socket 939. There's no way the additional performance is worth it (look at the FX).

 

[Algere]

Originally posted by: biostud666
If it's true that it will first turn up in 6 months or so I wouldn't wait for it, since then at that time there might be 6 more month for a PCI express based AMD solution and so on. But if the the 939 is around 1-2 months away I would wait.

Will probably take 6 months for wide availability. Although word is it'll come out sometime in 1-3 months from now and @ that time will initially be released in small quantities. IMO I'd shoot for the socket 754 route or if possible waiting maybe a month for motherboards based on the nForce 250/K8T800 Pro chipsets to surface if overclocking and faster HyperTransport is of any interest.

 

[Diabolus]

So an AMD 3000+ with the VIA chipset is probably my best bet for now, right? I was going to get the Asus board and the 3000+, and then upgrade the chip later on in the year.

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: Diabolus
So an AMD 3000+ with the VIA chipset is probably my best bet for now, right? I was going to get the Asus board and the 3000+, and then upgrade the chip later on in the year.

That or ECS (755-A2 technically is the best performer...by a whopping <2%).
I'd personally go with SiS, as their Athlon chipsets have had great performance and reliable drivers.
OTOH, Asus, Abit, and Shuttle don't make a SiS-based board .
I doubt you can go wring w/ any of them, though, as long as they take PC3200 RAM (watch out, as there are actually a few that don't).

 

[caz67]

Don't wait.

I agree with the general view, its not worth buying 939 for another 12mths.

 

[KristopherKubicki]

I would go with the 754 for now. As ive said before, 939 is good; but it isnt going to last you THAT much longer in the long run.

Kristopher

 

[Treyshadow]

I have a current socket 754 system, and if I were you I would wait for the Nvidia Nforce 250 boards to come out. Get a 754 version of that board.

With the clock lock and the other upgrades the Nforce 3 250 boards will have a definate advantage over the current ones.