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Motherboard Choice

Scoobyd00

Scoobyd00

Golden Member
I am going to build a gaming computer for my kid as a christmas gift. But I have been out of building since the days of socket 754, so I am not up to date as to whats good and whats not.
Will be a AMD chip with a ATI video card.
Wont be overclocked much.

So what is the best chipset for a gaming puter, Socket 939.

Is any board better then the rest?

Thanks for any help or recommendations
Scoob
 
Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
What parts do you already have?
Click to expand...

Only thing I have is the sound card, was going to start with the board and work up from there.
But am leaning to either the X2 4800 or the FX-55 (or a proc in that price range).
 
Well, if you're going high end, it gets no better than the Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe. This will out-perform nearly anything, and do it very efficiently. It does seem to be in short supply right now.

Are you set on the ATI vid card? Nvidia makes the best AMD platforms, and nvidia cards tend to work better with them. Also, many people including myself find ATI software, ahem, lacking to put it kindly. Don't get me wrong, my AIW 9800 was great hardware, but...
 
Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
Well, if you're going high end, it gets no better than the Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe. This will out-perform nearly anything, and do it very efficiently. It does seem to be in short supply right now.

Are you set on the ATI vid card? Nvidia makes the best AMD platforms, and nvidia cards tend to work better with them. Also, many people including myself find ATI software, ahem, lacking to put it kindly. Don't get me wrong, my AIW 9800 was great hardware, but...
Click to expand...

Well first it was the DX9 crap with them (Nvidia) FX59XX then I bought into the 6800GT with its wonderful onboard VPU, you know the one that dont work. But they would be happy to SELL you software to help the cards broken hardware. Never again will I buy another Nvidia video card. I will take the second fastest "working" card over the card from a company that will be happy to sell you a broken one and laugh all the way to the bank.

Thank you very much for the MB recommendation though, I appreceate it.

Scoob

 
Originally posted by: Scoobyd00
I am going to build a gaming computer for my kid as a christmas gift. But I have been out of building since the days of socket 754, so I am not up to date as to whats good and whats not.
Will be a AMD chip with a ATI video card.
Wont be overclocked much.

So what is the best chipset for a gaming puter, Socket 939.

Is any board better then the rest?

Thanks for any help or recommendations
Scoob
Click to expand...

Cheapest and OC-capable: Nforce3 Ultras (Gigabyte K8NSC or MSI K8N-Neo2F) and you will still be able to use your old PSU and AGP V/C
ubertop: wait till ATI RS480 Crossfire edition comes out. It's ATI with SLI-like environment. It requires you to purchase ATI Crossfire/Mastercard Video cards though and they are rare at this moment.

AMD chip:
Single core: A64 3000+ or 3200+ Venice core or Opteron 144 (1.8Ghz/1MB L2) or Opteron 146 (2.0/1MB L2). My pick: Opteron over regular Venice because of L2 cache and being a server chip, it has extra ability to deal with heat plus extra room on OC fi your son wants to OC.

Dual core: X2 3800+ (2.0/512MBx2 L2) or Opteron 165 (1.8Ghz/1MBx2 L2). My pick: Opteron is cheaper by about 20-30 bucks plus the L2 cache plus the extra heat and head room capabilities.

 
The Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe might be twice the price of nforce3 boards, but it's more than twice as good. Besides, if one is committing to a top notch machine, there's no way nforce3 will do. Even on a more modest computer nforce4 is clearly the way to go, with native SATA support, dual channel memory, dual core chips, PCI-Express, and so forth.
 
Personally i would get either the Aus A8N SLI Premium or The A8N32. I love my Premium, it's a great board, with loads of features.
 
Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
Well, if you're going high end, it gets no better than the Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe. This will out-perform ..
Click to expand...

There's no point in getting a SLI board if he's sticking with ATI graphics.

I just built my first computer with the Epox nforce 4 ultra and it's been great so far. I picked it because it was reviewed well by Annandtech for it's stability and ability to overclock - you should consider it.

 
For my personal gaming rig, I'm getting a crossfire motherboard when they come out, but if I were to get an NF4 board, it'd be the DFI Ultra-D, or if i'd have been smart and gotten a 7800 GT, a SLI-DR, so I'd have an inexpensive upgrade option for gfx in a year or so. If you're willing to wait, the Abit crossfire board or the ASUS one look pretty good, supposed to be good overclockers, nice feature set, etc. As for the CPU, unless you have money to burn, don't get an FX chip. the 4000+ SD is an FX-53 rebadged, with about $500 off the original price. for a little less you could get a 3700+ SD and overclock it. If you want the absolute best, your money would be better spent getting the latest A64 X2 chip. FXes are a waste of money unless you want to overclock with upper multipliers, which is ineffecient because it's JUST the CPU, not the FSB, so the RAM stays slower. Unless, of course, you just want your son to have the bragging rights of "yeah, that's right. I got an FX chip. EAT THAT!" or something. Just some advice. Also, if you're dead set on an ATI card, I'd wait for a crossfire board, because in a few years when that X1800XT PE can't run Quake 6, you can get an X1800 XT master card and come close to doubling the GPU power for about $50-$100.


EDIT: to answer your original question, I'd say Nforce 4 Ultra/SLI or Crossfire (in a month or so)
 
Thanks for the reply's guys.

About the crossfire is that going to be out in time for christmas?

Also your saying the 4800 (X2) toledo would be a better choice instead of the FX?
 
The DFI RDX200 is already out. More companies are planning to release in November/December. Basically just need to start checking couple times a week to see whats new. Lot of them are going to be hitting stores in time for Christmas. Assuming the demand doesnt outstrip supply.
 
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