I'm building an AMD system

[usefulidiot127]

I've seen the pricing, I've seen all the benchmarks, but as long as the new AMD prices next week are roughly around what the latest price sheet says, I'm going to go with AMD. Every system I've built has been AMD and it seems to fit my price range nicely, plus I don't like to deal with brand new technology, and I need this computer by August for sure to go away to school.

I'm going to purchase a new motherboard,processor,video card, and memory if need be.

I can't decide between AM2 or 939. AM2 makes more sense on paper given that there's barely any price difference and its the new standard. I really don't feel like dealing with lots of memory issues and bugs though which some people seem to be having with AM2. 939 seems pretty darn fine tuned at this point, but it is a discontinued socket :-/.

Either way, I really dont know what to get. I can't spend more than 150 dollars on a motherboard, closer to 100 would be super duper but I'll take what I can get. I'm thinking I'll just go with an SLI board so that I can get a good deal on a video card for now and then add another one alter. I'm not sure what my best bet is.

Processor I might go with the energy efficient x2 4200+ or something comparable to that. The latest price sheet has that at around 200 bucks which works for me.

And either way, but especially with AM2, I don't know what kind of memory to get to avoid having any compatibility problems. Thanks

 

[imported_wicka]

This might be a little off-topic, but where can I find the AMD price sheets everyone is talking about? I'd like to see what the prices are going to be like. Thanks.

I would go with AM2. For one, 939 doesn't support DDR2, which is an added performance boost. Secondly, AM2 will continue as AMD's main socket for probably a year and a half. Finally, the AM2 procs are just plain cheaper.

 

[Cali]

I want to get the same thing as you. Ive read what ppl have wrote and i think going with am2 is the better bet. the x2 4200 does look like the right buy but i dont have to much experience.

 

[Xcobra]

Originally posted by: wicka

I would go with AM2. For one, 939 doesn't support DDR2, which is an added performance boost. Secondly, AM2 will continue as AMD's main socket for probably a year and a half. Finally, the AM2 procs are just plain cheaper.

why would DDR2 be a performance boost

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: Xcobra

Originally posted by: wicka

I would go with AM2. For one, 939 doesn't support DDR2, which is an added performance boost. Secondly, AM2 will continue as AMD's main socket for probably a year and a half. Finally, the AM2 procs are just plain cheaper.

why would DDR2 be a performance boost

bah.. you ruined the chain of n00b posts (n00b as in low post count..)

 

[imported_wicka]

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: Xcobra

Originally posted by: wicka

I would go with AM2. For one, 939 doesn't support DDR2, which is an added performance boost. Secondly, AM2 will continue as AMD's main socket for probably a year and a half. Finally, the AM2 procs are just plain cheaper.

why would DDR2 be a performance boost

bah.. you ruined the chain of n00b posts (n00b as in low post count..)

Well, xcobra, because it's faster. That's basically the entire point of SDR -> DDR -> DDR2 -> DDR3. It's not just for the funky names.

And thanks for the distinction Dave. I'm no n00b.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: wicka

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: Xcobra

Originally posted by: wicka

I would go with AM2. For one, 939 doesn't support DDR2, which is an added performance boost. Secondly, AM2 will continue as AMD's main socket for probably a year and a half. Finally, the AM2 procs are just plain cheaper.

why would DDR2 be a performance boost

bah.. you ruined the chain of n00b posts (n00b as in low post count..)

Well, xcobra, because it's faster. That's basically the entire point of SDR -> DDR -> DDR2 -> DDR3. It's not just for the funky names.

And thanks for the distinction Dave. I'm no n00b.

Sorry, but your post is like one. DDR is virtually the same speed or slower for an Athlon64. They went for a long time before they could get AM2 even faster at all, and thats with exspensive DDR2 (as in the low latency stuff).

 

[Xcobra]

yeah, sure DDR2 is faster, but its got rediculous latencies, so whats the difference between the two in terms of performance, may i ask?

Anyways, sorry for being off-topic...i would go with AM2 as it is future proof and almost the same price as s939 and almost identical performance...tho DDR2 might be the expensive one here...

 

[imported_wicka]

Well, for one, there still is DDR2 that doesn't have ridiculous latencies, and though it is few and expensive, it still exists. Secondly, why buy into a dead technology EVER. 939 is out. AM2 is in. Regardless of the current state of DDR2, it will be faster at some point, and it's far better to buy AM2 now, and get faster DDR2 later, than sticking with 939 now and having to buy an entirely new system when DDR2 hits it's sweet spot.

 

[Furen]

Originally posted by: wicka
Well, for one, there still is DDR2 that doesn't have ridiculous latencies, and though it is few and expensive, it still exists. Secondly, why buy into a dead technology EVER. 939 is out. AM2 is in. Regardless of the current state of DDR2, it will be faster at some point, and it's far better to buy AM2 now, and get faster DDR2 later, than sticking with 939 now and having to buy an entirely new system when DDR2 hits it's sweet spot.

Here's the golden rule: DDR2 latencies will always be greater than DDR1's, the extreme low-end of DDR1 may overlap the extreme high-end of DDR2 but at a huge price difference. This is just because DDR2 uses lower-clocked chips with a prefetch of 4 while DDR1 uses higher-clocked chips with a prefetch of 2. Sometimes DDR2 is faster than DDR1 because the raw bandwidth overcomes the latency penalty but you probably need DDR2 800 at very low-latency to match what you can currently get out of DDR400 at 2-2-2. AM2 is useful for two reasons. First, 2GB DIMMs (good luck making DDR1 2GB non-registered-DIMMs). Second quite a bit lower power draw, better manufacturing process, on die-termination for cleaner signaling, and extremely high bandwidth potential that will very likely be useful for quad-core.

You are quite correct in saying that buying s939 is not very smart, however, especially considering that AM3 chips will (supposedly) work with socket AM2.

 

[imported_wicka]

Originally posted by: Furen
You are quite correct in saying that buying s939 is not very smart, however, especially considering that AM3 chips will (supposedly) work with socket AM2.

...I'm usually right about at least one thing.

 

[usefulidiot127]

Anyways, back on topic, any recommendations

specific recommendations that is, so if AM2 is the way to go then what kind of memory and motherboard?

 

[imported_wicka]

I was looking at this memory, it's 2GB, I don't know how much you need but if only 1GB just cut the price in half...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145590

Of course if that's not a good choice, any input would help me out as well.

 

[usefulidiot127]

Looks pretty good to me, dunno for sure though