most overclockable 754 board?

[subzero813]

here's my situation. i currently have an Athlon XP 3200+ and a Radeon X800 XT 256MB AGP card.

the card rules. the cpu does not (particularly w/regards to Quake 4).

my EVENTUAL system will be:

some nice overclockable dfi 939 board with X2 4400+ oc-ed to hopefully 2.6ghz or better (haven't bought either yet)
pc3700 ddr466 ram that has 2-3-2-5 timings ( already have )
whatever the newest/hottest vid card is next spring (obviously dont have yet)

but i can't hold out until next spring to buy the new vid card/mobo/cpu. here are my two choices for right now:

scenario 1
buy DFI sli-dr expert board when its out, or next best thing. this will be part of my system for next spring when i can afford the X2.
get an Athlon64 Venice 3200+ and oc it to 2.5-2.6ghz (temporary)
run my current low-latency pc3700/ddr466 ram
buy a GeForce 7800GT (probably temporary or i might buy another for SLI next spring)
^^
note: i'd have to sell my current cpu/mobo AND vid card, even though the X800XT with cat 5.10a has proven to be quite enough for my current Quake 4 needs.

scenario 2
buy cheap overclockable 754 board
buy Athlon64 3400+ clawhammer w/1mb l2 cache and oc as much as i can
use current ram
use current Radeon X800XT 256MB AGP
^^
in this case both cpu/mobo would be temporary and i'd have to sell off my x800xt eventually anyway.

so scenario2 is much cheaper cuz i dont have to buy a $300 video card, and don't have to sell my current card. the asus k8n is like $60-$70 at newegg, and the processor is $150 or less at eBay. that's all i'd be spending. would it be faster than the venice 3200+ on 939 board oc-ed to similar speeds? (probably a few hundred mhz less than the 754 i'd imagine?)

 

[Zap]

Why do you have to get a new S754 CPU? Is your 3200+ a Newcastle? Just overclock it. YMMV but I think most Newcastles will do 2.4GHz. My 2800+ will do 2.5GHz and will POST at 2.7GHz. If you want a cheap overclockable board, the Epox 8NDAI is $49 at Newegg, NF3 with all overclocking settings. IIRC the 1MB Clawhammers didn't overclock much, and clock speed is #1 with AMD chips (#2 and #3 being cache and dual channel).

 

[subzero813]

in that case i guess i will just keep hunting for good deals on 939 combos.

how is the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe? can it overclock as well as the DFI Lanparty series? (using a 3700+ San Diego and probably an X2 4400+ sometime next spring). i would like to hit 2.6ghz or higher on both those.

 

[2kfire]

If you're gonna buy a new mobo either way, just get the s939. You can get a used CPU to hold you out, maybe a 3000+ winnie and OC it. You can trade/sell your vid card on the FS/FT forum. The only major expense would be the mobo, which you will use next spring anyways. The CPU should be cheap (maybe $100 MAX!!!) and you should be able to get a good deal for the vid card.

If you chose to go the s754 route, then: get the cheapest s754 mobo you can (from FS/FT ). Get a Sempron and OC it (from FS/FT again, save $$$). Get a 7800GTX, so in the spring you could just get another one and buy the greatest mobo/cpu you could.

Either way, whatever you will use in the spring, buy the best. Whatever you will replace in the spring, buy the cheapest. Good luck with your decision!

Edit: Barton chips, though old, aren't too bad really... How does it 'not rule' in Quake 4? Just wondering, haven't really seen any reviews on Quake 4 so I don't know how CPU limited it is compared to GPU limited.