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Mobo for Brisbane A64X2?

R

RobertMcDonald

Member
I'm thinking of gutting my current computer because of some issues I'm having with it. I'm going to replace my processor, memory, video card, and (maybe) power supply. Eventually, I'm going to build myself a Core 2 Duo system and turn this one over to my wife to be her WoW computer (rather than using her anemic laptop).

I don't intend to ever overclock anything and I sincerely doubt I'll ever use SLI. I want a well-built motherboard but I don't want to pay extra for features I don't need.

Would this motherboard (GIGABYTE GA-MA770-S3) work well with this processor (Athlon 64 X2 4000-Brisbane)? Or does someone have a better suggestion?

Thanks!
 
Yeah, I kinda wanted the Firewire. I've got a Firewire CompactFlash card reader I'd like to use without finding an old PCI Firewire card that my brother thinks I still have. 🙂

Also, how is Biostar as a brand? Their Newegg ratings (FWIW) don't seem to be as good as ASUS or Gigabyte seem to get.
 
Biostar makes a good budget OC board. They only advantage I see over the Gigabyte would be the eSATA ports. The 770-S3 looks like your best bet (since you need firewire).

btw - the Gigabyte webste sez the 770-S3 is PCIe 2.0 x16 (pretty much meaning there is no real difference with the 770-DS3) - might be worth an email to verify that

Be a great combo with the Opty. A nice OC might make you forget about the C2D 😛
 
Are you really tied to AMD? I've been an AMD fan/user for at least 10 years but just recently switched to the intel rig you see below. Moving the hard drives, video card, case, power supply etc from my old system I made this upgrade for under $500. And thats going with a Core2Quad and 8GB of ram. Also included but not in my signature is a USB card reader that fits in the 3.5" floppy drive opening on my case (dont use a floppy anymore and have a usb one I can plug in if I ever need one). The reader was less than $8.00 and works fine. So if thats the only thing you need firewire for...? Anyway, I spent a more to get a somewhat higher end system and you could do a similar upgrade with 2gb RAM instead of 8 and a dual core instead of a quad for a lot less than I spent.

The point is that if you are doing a complete overhaul with motherboard, CPU, and memory anyway, why limit yourself to AMD? I still like them, but you owe it to yourself to compare other options, right?
 
Originally posted by: Ratman6161
Are you really tied to AMD? I've been an AMD fan/user for at least 10 years but just recently switched to the intel rig you see below. Moving the hard drives, video card, case, power supply etc from my old system I made this upgrade for under $500. And thats going with a Core2Quad and 8GB of ram. Also included but not in my signature is a USB card reader that fits in the 3.5" floppy drive opening on my case (dont use a floppy anymore and have a usb one I can plug in if I ever need one). The reader was less than $8.00 and works fine. So if thats the only thing you need firewire for...? Anyway, I spent a more to get a somewhat higher end system and you could do a similar upgrade with 2gb RAM instead of 8 and a dual core instead of a quad for a lot less than I spent.

The point is that if you are doing a complete overhaul with motherboard, CPU, and memory anyway, why limit yourself to AMD? I still like them, but you owe it to yourself to compare other options, right?
Click to expand...

You haven't really read his first post haven't you?
 
Originally posted by: Ratman6161
Are you really tied to AMD? I've been an AMD fan/user for at least 10 years but just recently switched to the intel rig you see below. Moving the hard drives, video card, case, power supply etc from my old system I made this upgrade for under $500. And thats going with a Core2Quad and 8GB of ram. Also included but not in my signature is a USB card reader that fits in the 3.5" floppy drive opening on my case (dont use a floppy anymore and have a usb one I can plug in if I ever need one). The reader was less than $8.00 and works fine. So if thats the only thing you need firewire for...? Anyway, I spent a more to get a somewhat higher end system and you could do a similar upgrade with 2gb RAM instead of 8 and a dual core instead of a quad for a lot less than I spent.

The point is that if you are doing a complete overhaul with motherboard, CPU, and memory anyway, why limit yourself to AMD? I still like them, but you owe it to yourself to compare other options, right?
Click to expand...

This is ultimately my wife's budget computer. My computer--whenever I can afford to make it--will be a Core 2 Duo E6750, a 9600GT, and Vista Home Premium (among other things). It will be a ground-up system. This is basically a band-aid for me until I can build myself a new computer. If I could build a C2D system with better performance without spending more than $400 with tax and shipping--I'd do it in a second. But I think at this extreme end of the cheap scale, AMD is the way to go. I mean, hell, I'm not even looking at the enormously better Athlon 64 X2 6000 and I think that says where my goals are with this system. 🙂

Hell, my brother just built himself a new system and offered to give me his broken eMachine with an Athlon 64 3500 (Socket 939), 1GB PC3200 RAM, and PCI-E eVGA 6600GT. I'd be tempted to just buy a new Socket 939 motherboard for it, do the very minor processor upgrade, and finally get out of AGP on this system. But I don't think it'd be worth what a decent Socket 939 mobo would go for on like eBay to end up with so dated a system when getting this thing at least a dual-core processor would be under $400. I don't completely dismiss it, though, because my wife really only plays WoW and I can live without Bioshock, Crysis, and Mass Effect (when it comes out on PC) until this summer when I'll hopefully be making more money.
 
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