Need a new a64 board and processor, need suggestions...

[SammieC]

I am looking for a new board and processor, and am really not up to speed on the new stuff. Here is what I have now that might stay

9800 pro A!W
Ocz platinum 3500 2x 256

Now would I be better to buy a pci express board, or a regular AGp board? I was planning on getting the Msi Neo2 Platinum and keeping the agp card for now, would this be enough video to tide me over?

Also, what is the difference between the Venice and Winchester cores, and what heatsink to get? I was planning on a thermalright xp-90, as I have several of thermalrights now, slk900. sp97...etc..

Thanks for all the help!

John(SammieC)

 

[exar333]

id go with the newer cores if you can...either a 3000 venice (budget) or a 3700 San Diego (power)

that card is pretty good if you play most games...if you want to be more "up to date" you could try and sell it and get a pci-express card...but a 939 board (MSI is a great choice) with AGP would make sense...there are plenty of power cards to get for AGP...so agp is far from old...

 

[Vegitto]

It all depends on your budget. If you're rich, go with an MSI K8N Diamond, buy some new nVidia PCI-X cards, and an FX-55 P). If I were you, I'd go for a 3700+ (San Diego) paired with the MSI K8N Neo2-FIR. Also, you might wanna get some new memory, and a new PSU.

 

[SammieC]

Well I have an Aerocool aeropower 550, so that should be ok, but where do you find this new San diego core?

Also on a budget, so I need to keep the video, but want to overclock somewhat, is my memory no good?

also what is the new hot mem?

Thanks for the answers guys.

 

[Necrolezbeast]

Your memory will probably work just fine for you...but most of us would recommend 2x512 at the minimum, but that is just complete personal preference. It is not needed for you to get new memory right now, but memory is at a low right now and you can grab some decent stuff for real cheap. I just purchased 2x1024mb Corsair VS for $195 total, that is a good price, although some people here don't liek the 1gb value sticks I have read all the reviews and all that good stuff and decided for me the higher timings won't kill my performance with an A64..

 

[akugami]

If you're going to overclock, I'd go with a Venice core A64. Either a 3000+ or a 3500+. The reason is that AMD seems to be agressively speed binning these and most people are only getting roughly 2.6ghz on a 3000+ and a 3200+ while they're getting about 2.8ghz on a 3500+. Unless you are running high end applications where you know the 1MB cache of the San Diego core (Venice & Winchester has 512k) will be useful, don't bother with the cost of one. If it's for gaming I'd save the extra few hundred dollars and put that towards a video card which will help much much more than the extra cache.

Winchester used to be the latest core, it is run on a 90nm process like the Venice cores. I think the Venice cores also uses strained silicon on insulator, too lazy to look it up. Venice also has the SSE3 instructions implemented though not many programs use them and an updated memory controller. San Diego is the same as Venice except with extra 1MB of cache instead of 512k. Basically if you can get a Winchester at bargain prices I'd get that rather than a Venice as the two chips don't seem to be radially different in terms of overclockability and the updates to the CPU core seem rather minor.

The heatsink on the A64's are quite good. I get 2.56ghz on my Winchester core which is roughly the same thermal wise as a Venice core A64. The temps on it are at quite acceptable ranges using the stock HSF. Of course, I used Arctic Ceramique instead of the thermal pad that comes with it.

Your video card is a little tricky. It's still a very nice card performance wise. I'd grade it as upper mid-range. If you want you can sell it now and get a PCI-E based card. This will ensure that your motherboard choice will allow the upgrade path to dual core and any video cards that come out for the next roughly 10 years. This also allows you to get the maximum resale value possible for your video card before the great exodus to PCI-E happens with the next generation of high end video cards coming out at the end of this year.

Or you can go with a Socket 939 AGP based motherboard and keep your old board and run it for as long as possible. You'd still be able to upgrade to the X800 series and possibly the next generation of video cards. The next gen video cards are not a given since ATI & nVidia's stances seem to indicate they will only put out AGP cards if there is great demand for them. Most likely they'll just continue releasing current high end video cards for AGP at a lower price point when the next generation of cards come out. The good news is the X800, X850, 6800GT are all better than your 9800AIW. The bad news is I'm not sure how much the price will drop if there are no upgraded video cards on the AGP front to push the older cards down in price.

If you're absolutely set on upgrading your rig, my bet would be to go with an A64 of your choice, Socket 939, and a PCI-E based 6600GT, X800XL or 6800GT depending on your budget.

 

[imported_Talisman]

I completely agree to what Akugami says. Its very informational and brief. And as mobo...my personal choice is DFI NF4 SLI (future proof), along with the 3200+ Winchester or Venice.

 

[Jeff7181]

I'd go with a 939 AGP board. That way you're not forced to get a new video card right now too. That will also leave you ready for an A64 X2 if you want one in the future. Rumor has it the next generation of video cards will still support AGP... I'd say that a good 939 board right now would last you a good 2-3 years by the looks of your current setup.

 

[Wisey]

When you are at the retail shop, how do you tell a Venice from a Winchester?

 

[UhhhhRaymond]

The numbering scheme for retail box part numbers:

ADA3x00AWBOX = Newcastle
ADA3x00BIBOX = Winchester
ADA3x00BPBOX = Venice
ADA3x00BNBOX = San Diego

Venice and San Diego are also referred to as Revision "E".

In addition to the added features on the Venice core already mentioned above, don't forget a couple HUGE enhancements to the onboard memory controller:

1) Ability to configure and use different size DIMMs on the same channel.

2) You no longer have to lower your memory controller speed in BIOS from DDR400 down to DDR333 if you have all memory sockets populated.

 

[UhhhhRaymond]

2 weeks ago I was prepared to build a budget performance system for my girlfriend based on nForce4 Ultra, 3000+ Winchester, SATA and 2x512MB DDR400. She didn't need Firewire, only a mild gamer, so didn't consider SLI.

For all the reasons mentioned in this thread, when I found out the Venice core was going to be readily available last week I decided to wait for a 3000+ Venice or see which San Diegos appeared. There had been rumors Monarch didn't have all the Rev. E's they listed and I didn't want to risk a backorder. Then Thursday night ZZFly added a San Diego to their inventory. I ordered a $329 3700+ instead of a $156 3000+ Venice, and 2x1GB DDR400 and called them an early birthday present.

Early on I considered the $115 Biostar NF4UL-A9 Ultra motherboard which had all she needed plus both AGP and PCI-E slots, thinking she might not have to invest in PCI-E video right away. But GeForce3 was not on Biostar's 'xGP' list of 41 supported, so I went with the Chaintech VNF4 Ultra and a Radeon X700LE to run the couple older 2D/3D games she likes.

When prices come down I'll get her a GeForce 6800 GT or better so her son can play the new 3D games on his visits. She'll have upgrade potential with support for at least as long as the Toledo dual-core Athlon64 X2 processors, and RAIDing 2 or 4 SATAII drives when they become available; not to mention a good base for 64-bit Windows when all her apps go 64-bit.

Antec SLK1650B
OCZ ModStream 520W
Chaintech VNF4 Ultra
Athlon64 3700+ (San Diego) Retail Box
Rosewill 2x1GB DDR400 CAS2.5-3-3-7
Western Digital Raptor 73GB SATA
Asus Radeon X700LE 128MB PCI-e
Plextor PX-712A DVD±R/RW
Zonet 56K Fax Modem
Windows XP Home OEM
Office 2003 Basic OEM

$1374.00 + free slave labor

 

[UhhhhRaymond]