I need HELP!!! Choosing a budget Athlon 64 mobo combo

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BPiersol

Member
Dec 17, 2002
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I am going to upgrade my home pc. I saw this deal at tigerdirect:

A64 combo at Tiger Direct

How is the chipset on that board? I want to have 5 pci slots for future upgradeability, and I want the socket 939 3200+. Only reason I havent bought it yet is because I don't know if the mobo is a pos.

I am upgrading from an Athlon XP 2100+ on a PC Chips M830LMR (ECS K7S5A). I want to keep the price right around $250.00
 
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Buz2b

Diamond Member
Jun 2, 2001
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I'm by far not an A64 expert but if you are going to upgrade, you should really do so. The MB seems to be missing PCI express, which is getting pretty commonplace now. This MB is actually kind of outdated already. I'd look for a deal with a better (more current) MB.
A couple of cents worth...!;)
 
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BPiersol

Member
Dec 17, 2002
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Thanks for the reply! I've never delt with pci express. Is it replacing pci? I really am looking for budget upgrades right now. I have everything I need on my pc, I just want more speed. What about the chipset on this board? OK, or totally awful?

Chipset
The S1689 motherboard is based on the ULi M1689 Northbridge chipset. It supports AMD Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX and Sempron Processors, with Hyper-Transport Technology Processors. Supports 2000MHz Front Side Bus.
 
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o1die

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
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I would suggest the gigabyte k8ns for about the same price (pricewatch). Also, try using just 2 memory slots for better stability. Lots of athlon 64 boards don't run too well with all 4 slots filled, or run at the lower 333 speed. The ecs nforce4 board runs ok if pci-e is your video choice, but isn't a great board. Ecs still has a long way to go to provide the kind of customer support that asus, msi, and abit have.
 
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BPiersol

Member
Dec 17, 2002
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another question. Will these mobos work temporarily with my old ram? I have pc2100 ddr ram. 1 stick of 256 and 1 stick of 512. I plan on buying 2x512 pc3200, but I dont have the cash to do all of this at the same time.
 
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Peter

Elite Member
Oct 15, 1999
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Generally that's a Yes. Athlon-64 runs any RAM from PC1600 to PC3200. With two DIMMs that aren't identical, you won't be able to run dual channel on socket-939.
 
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BPiersol

Member
Dec 17, 2002
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so my ram will in fact work with a dual channel 939, it just will not be dual channel until I buy the correct ram. OK. I think I will go for the Gigabyte K8NS-939 Athlon 64 3200+ combo. Sound like the right choice for what I am looking for?
 
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mdchesne

Banned
Feb 27, 2005
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i hate chaintech. VERY BAD socket A motherboards. I only trust MSI DFI and ASUS now. packaged deals are real sketch, ya'know. Why would they bundle a mobo with a processor if one doesn't sell by itself but the other is in high demand? put the loser with the winner and viola!, someone buys it because of the deal. IMHO
 
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BPiersol

Member
Dec 17, 2002
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Why do you wonder if I'm stuck on a 939 board? Isn't it the better of the two? I was under the impression that 939 was the way to go.
 
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ChineseDemocracyGNR

Senior member
Sep 11, 2004
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Any of the boards listed here will do fine at stock speeds, including the Chaintech. I have experience with ULI's M1689 and I like it very much.

To answer your question about PCI Express: it's coming to replace both PCI and AGP.

Socket 939 is the way to go in my opinion.

Between the Gigabyte and EPoX boards I would choose Gigabyte. Many people report fluctuating voltages with the EPoX, which makes me a little uncomfortable with it.
 
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BPiersol

Member
Dec 17, 2002
120
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Well, I went with the Gigabyte K8NS-939 Athlon 64 3200+ combo package from BZBOYZ. Looks like a winner to me! Thank you everyone for your input! :)
 
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