Little confused about current processor offerings

[acemcmac]

The last time I built a computer, Northwood 478's were the hottest thing in town

Would someone please explain to me the functional differences between Socket 754, 939 and 940? I get the idea that 754 is yesterday's news and the 939 and 940 are the big AMD thing now, but I'd like someone to explain. Thanks

 

[ITPaladin]

actually 940s are not the big thing. 940 uses ecc memory.
939 comes in agp with the nforce 3 boards, while in nforce 4 you have all pci-e except for Asrock dual which has both agp and pci-e.

 

[ribbon13]

940 is VERY MUCH a big thing, just not for desktop processors. 940 is why AMD is reaking ungodly massive amounts of havoc on Intel's server market. And look at #6 most powerful super computer in the world: Sandia National Laboratories / United States Red Storm Cray XT3 10880 Opteron CPUs @ 2GHz

 

[evilharp]

Ok, quick summary

Socket 940

-Opteron and FX-51
-ECC DDR Ram (dual channel)
-Boards are expensive (server/workstation class)

Socket 754

-Single Channel DDR ram
-A64 and Sempron chips
-Boards are cheap to expensive (wide range)
-SLI is available
-Currently the "value segment" board

Socket 939

-Dual Channel DDR ram
-A64, FX, X2, Sempron (soon) and 939 Opterons
-Boards are cheap to expensive (wide range)
-SLI is available

All of these sockets are going to be replaced in the next year by Socket M (A64/FX/X2) and Socket F (Opteron). The new sockets are supposed to offer DDR2.

 

[ribbon13]

Actually, both socket 939 and socket 940 CPUs support ECC memory, but neither require it. Most socket 940 motherboards require ECC ram, while most socket 939 motherboards don't support it. Socket 940 CPUs require registered/buffered RAM. Socket 939 CPUs are incompatible with registered/buffered RAM.

 

[acemcmac]

thank a bunch guys! Exactly the info I was looking for.

My only remaining question is over the relationship between 754 and 939... is 939 the evolution or 754 and making 754 obsolete or are they paralell product lines with their own advantages?

 

[adiabaticgfx]

Socket 939 has its advantages in that the pci-express graphics bus is much better than agp. Usually anyone who would opt for a socket 754 board almost 1 and a 1/2 years after its release is to keep their current agp video cards like my brother did. Most people would recomend socket 939 because of its pci-express capability and SLi and Crossfire graphics options. Socket 939 is the future until the next AMD socket (M2) becomes a reality sometime next year.

 

[orangat]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
thank a bunch guys! Exactly the info I was looking for.

My only remaining question is over the relationship between 754 and 939... is 939 the evolution or 754 and making 754 obsolete or are they paralell product lines with their own advantages?

Long story short, get the 939, 754 is headed for extinction soon.
Read up on dual channel memory configuration.

 

[charloscarlies]

Originally posted by: adiabaticgfx
Socket 939 has its advantages in that the pci-express graphics bus is much better than agp. Usually anyone who would opt for a socket 754 board almost 1 and a 1/2 years after its release is to keep their current agp video cards like my brother did. Most people would recomend socket 939 because of its pci-express capability and SLi and Crossfire graphics options. Socket 939 is the future until the next AMD socket (M2) becomes a reality sometime next year.

There are PCI-e 754 boards. There are also AGP 939 boards.

 

[adiabaticgfx]

I didn't say there were not any pci-e 754 or agp 939 boards did I? SLi and Crossfire?

 

[Hacp]

Originally posted by: adiabaticgfx
I didn't say there were not any pci-e 754 or agp 939 boards did I? SLi and Crossfire?

Currently, epox is comming up with SLI solution, although people generally don't want to get into SLI very much. Only real BIG advantage of 754 over 939 is the dual core chips.

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
thank a bunch guys! Exactly the info I was looking for.

My only remaining question is over the relationship between 754 and 939... is 939 the evolution or 754 and making 754 obsolete or are they paralell product lines with their own advantages?

S754 means you only need one stick of Ram, and they only run the lower end processors (i.e. not the X2s or the high end A64s). If you are looking for a bargain system, this is the one to choose.
S939 is quite expandable and you can build to a much higher ranged machine. While they don't require two sticks of Ram, they run much better with 2 matched sticks as they are dual-channel memory.

 

[forumposter32]

I focused a lot on the socket 754 since it's the "value-priced" board and some of the CPUs lately were real bargains (price for performance). The 3400+ 2.4 GHz Newcastle from what I read overclocks better than the 3700+ but both are starting to be more expensive. Newegg is the only place right now where you can get an OK deal on a 3700+. Tigerdirect had a CPU/mobo deal several days ago that they changed by $132 CDN!!! The 3700+ is no longer made.

So, in my opinion, the only powerful single core CPUs left that aren't insanely expensive are the socket 939 3800+ and 4000+. But these might still be expensive for a while.

Odd thing is, I got a socket 754 3700+ and Asus KV8 SE Deluxe for a total of $370 CDN with taxes and shipping BEFORE $90 CDN in rebates. So, if I get the rebates and sell that Asus motherboard on eBay for $50 CDN, my total cost would be $230 CDN. That's a darn good deal for a CPU that beat the socket 939 3800+ in some benchmarks. (I actually bought that CPU to build a new machine once I move. I might be selling my current setup in the next few weeks.)

Anyway, all this to say that for the best deal in performance, is almost gone since the 3700+ are no longer made.
http://www23.tomshardware.com
If you click on the UT2004 benchmark then click on the green bars there, you'll see what kind of setup they used (the 3700+ right below those fast FX chips is a socket 754, FX chips are for gaming, actually, it might just be a name to give them expensive prices).

 

[GOREGRINDER]

Originally posted by: Hacp

Originally posted by: adiabaticgfx
I didn't say there were not any pci-e 754 or agp 939 boards did I? SLi and Crossfire?

Currently, epox is comming up with SLI solution, although people generally don't want to get into SLI very much. Only real BIG advantage of 754 over 939 is the dual core chips.

ive had mine for about 2 months now actually ...great board btw

i got 3400+ newcastle(200x12=2.4ghz 512k L2 cache) when it first came out which is the only reason im still using it,...but im ready to ween myself off of it which is why this motherboard is great, with s939 you will have a wider variety of cpu choices so if your divin into sometin now,..go with that

 

[Zap]

The Cliff Notes version:
940 for server/workstation
754 for people on limited budget
939 for everyone else

Which socket and CPU you get depends on your budget and your needs. If all you do is email and office applications, then a socket 754 Sempron with integrated graphics will work just fine. Socket 754 with a good video card (either AGP/PCIe) works great for gaming on a budget. If you need faster-than-PCI for certain RAID cards and such, then socket 940 may be your only option. If you are doing super-CPU-intensive-mutlithreaded stuff, then dual socket 940 with dual-core CPUs may be your savior. Everyone else (most of us) should just get socket 939.

940 - If you need server/workstation level boards with potentially onboard SCSI, dual CPU, PCI-X (I do not mean PCIe).

939 - Mainstream/Performance. If you want "budget dual CPU" then you can get socket 939 dual cores. If you want to aim for benchmark glory, then you'd want socket 939 with SLI (SLI for 754 isn't out yet AFAIK). If you have a budget of more than $200 to spend (well, closer to $230-250 after tax/shipping) then may as well get socket 939.

754 - Budget. Everyone says it is outdated, not being made anymore, doesn't have PCIe, extremely slower than 939... all lies. If you honestly do not have at least $200 to spend on just a CPU/motherboard combo, then socket 754 is a perfectly sensible choice. What else would you get at that price, a Celeron combo? WTF people! The fastest socket 754 chips still in production (assuming all 130nm cores are discontinued) are Sempron 3400+ at about $125 (256k cache, 2GHz). Combine that with a $60 Geforce 6100 board to make an awesome office/internet/mild gaming rig (integrated video of Geforce 6100 is basically... take a 6600GT which is still pretty good, halve the pipelines, halve the clock speed and 2/5 the RAM speed... okay not the greatest but it will play stuff). Add a PCIe video card to make it play any game you want. If $185 is too much money, the Sempron 2500+ (256k cache, 1.4GHz) is $60 so you have a $120 combo. Still too much? Get in on a Fry's deal. I just picked up a Sempron 2600+ with a motherboard (Nforce3 with AGP, not PCIe capable unfortunately) for $70 plus tax. Yes, a $70 motherboard/CPU combo.

 

[Hacp]

Originally posted by: Zap
The Cliff Notes version:
940 for server/workstation
754 for people on limited budget
939 for everyone else

Which socket and CPU you get depends on your budget and your needs. If all you do is email and office applications, then a socket 754 Sempron with integrated graphics will work just fine. Socket 754 with a good video card (either AGP/PCIe) works great for gaming on a budget. If you need faster-than-PCI for certain RAID cards and such, then socket 940 may be your only option. If you are doing super-CPU-intensive-mutlithreaded stuff, then dual socket 940 with dual-core CPUs may be your savior. Everyone else (most of us) should just get socket 939.

940 - If you need server/workstation level boards with potentially onboard SCSI, dual CPU, PCI-X (I do not mean PCIe).

939 - Mainstream/Performance. If you want "budget dual CPU" then you can get socket 939 dual cores. If you want to aim for benchmark glory, then you'd want socket 939 with SLI (SLI for 754 isn't out yet AFAIK). If you have a budget of more than $200 to spend (well, closer to $230-250 after tax/shipping) then may as well get socket 939.

754 - Budget. Everyone says it is outdated, not being made anymore, doesn't have PCIe, extremely slower than 939... all lies. If you honestly do not have at least $200 to spend on just a CPU/motherboard combo, then socket 754 is a perfectly sensible choice. What else would you get at that price, a Celeron combo? WTF people! The fastest socket 754 chips still in production (assuming all 130nm cores are discontinued) are Sempron 3400+ at about $125 (256k cache, 2GHz). Combine that with a $60 Geforce 6100 board to make an awesome office/internet/mild gaming rig (integrated video of Geforce 6100 is basically... take a 6600GT which is still pretty good, halve the pipelines, halve the clock speed and 2/5 the RAM speed... okay not the greatest but it will play stuff). Add a PCIe video card to make it play any game you want. If $185 is too much money, the Sempron 2500+ (256k cache, 1.4GHz) is $60 so you have a $120 combo. Still too much? Get in on a Fry's deal. I just picked up a Sempron 2600+ with a motherboard (Nforce3 with AGP, not PCIe capable unfortunately) for $70 plus tax. Yes, a $70 motherboard/CPU combo.

The 6100 has 2 pipelines

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Hacp
The 6100 has 2 pipelines

Seriously? My bad... okay, take a 6600GT, rip out 3/4 of the pipes, have 2/5 of the memory bandwidth...