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Need help choosing processor/mobo. AHHH help me! lol

K

Killmenow

Senior member
Hi,

I destroyed my rig the other day so i decided that id build a new Athlon 64 system. The only thing i need is new ram, a new mobo, and a new CPU. I have boiled it down to the following. (oh yeah, and I DEFINETLY plan to overclock it, although im an AMD o/c nub 😛)

1 X 512MB OCZ 3200 Platnium Rev 2 (~240 Cdn)

Along with

1. AMD Athlon 64 Socket 754 2800+ (~190 Cdn)
DFI Lanparty UT NF3 Mobo (~170 Cdn)
[Total: ~600 Cdn]

2. AMD Sempron 3100+ (~160 Cdn)
DFI Lanparty UT NF3 Mobo (~170 Cdn)
[Total: ~570 Cdn]

3. AMD Athlon 64 Socket 939 3000+ (~240Cdn)
MSI K8N Neo2 Platnium (~190 Cdn) [or some other suggested mobo (any suggestions?)]
[Total: ~670 Cdn]

I only really want to spend around 600 Cdn........but the o/c results with the 3000+ is just too tempting........so as you can see here, i have a dilehma. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thx

-BTW, would having IDE hard drives hinder my o/c at all? (damn nub questions LOL)
 
I'd say go for the 939, since they seem to OC quite well.

IDE hard drives are fine for OCing.

RAM is not good though.

Get some PC 3500 or 3700 or 4000 depending on how much you want to OC.
 
Thx for the reply......but whats wrong with OCZ 3200 platnium Rev 2.... it can easily o/c to wayyyy above the 3200 specs, with tight timings too 😉 Oh yeah, and does anyone know how an oc'ed Athlon 64 s939 3000+ compares with an oc'ed Sempron 3100+ or an oc'ed Athlon 64 s754 2800+?
 
That's just it.

Tight timings mean nothing on an A64 because of the on-die memory controller.
Get yourself some higher rated RAM that will for sure hit DDR500 speeds, rather than wasting your money on that stuff, unless you want to run the RAM at a lower ratio like 5:4 or 3:2 or sumthin' (which means less bandwidth & less performance).
There are benches on stock A64s vs. Semprons here on anandtech.com which would be simlar to OCed.
I would go for the 939 3000+ if you can.
If not, just get the 754 2800+ or 3000+, not the Sempron (Sempron's were designed to compete with Celerons).
 
You want to get the new athlon64 3000+ that has the 90nm core.

It's a 939 and a couple people I know have gotten it to 2.4-2.5 GHz on air cooling. (It's 1.8 normaly)

Easily the best bang for your buck.
 
As far as I know plenty of people have been able to hit those same speeds ( 2.4, 2.5) with the old 130nm socket 754 2800's. It's a matter of a opinion I suppose, but I think 2800+ has the best performance/cost ratio.
 
😛 Thx for the suggestions guys, keep them coming. Anyone know if the 2800+ can easily hit 2.6 ghz on air...or is it much easier to hit 2.6 with the new 3000+? The s939 has a 90nm core......so assume that it might be easier to overclock it. I dont think the mobo or ram will be the limit, so right now, im just concerned about the processor. Oh and if I do go with the s939, is the MSI K8N Neo2 Platnium a good mobo (heard it has a glitchy bios) or should i wait for the DFI Lanparty NF3 socket 939 mobo?
 
Hmmmmmm if thats the case, then I would probably go with the s939. So, any suggestions for the motherboard? Is the MSI K8N Neo2 Platnium good??? Should I wait to see how the DFI s939 mobo turns out to be(If there ever is one)?
 
Tight timings mean nothing on an A64 because of the on-die memory controller.
Click to expand...

Erm...Actually I think you'll find the opposite is true. A64's love tight timings and this makes more of a difference on these CPU's (as opposed to a Pentium) because of the on-die memory controller. Obviously though, high bandwidth and tight timings is the ultimate, but the memory you chose (OCZ 3200 Platnium Rev 2) is supposed to have good timings and be easily able to reach DDR500 speeds.

Although I've heard more good reviews about the Crucial Ballistix (and the PC4000 is only a little bit more than the PC3200 stick). This is what I've just ordered for a 3500+. As for Mobos you'll need to check on compatibility with the new 90nm Winchester Cores (i.e. the 3000+) as currently none of the mobos recognise the CPU without a bios update. The Asus A8V rev. 2 can be flashed POST to the updated bios easily from what I've read. There is supposed to be a workaround for the MSI Neo2 Platinum, but the ABit AV8 is a no-go as far as the winchester cores go at the minute, as you'll need a working socket 939 130nm comp. in order to update the bios.

Hope this helps. I'd go for some crucial ballistix and the Asus A8V (but make sure it's the revision 2 as previous models don't have a working AGP/PCI lock). If you can't get hold of a rev. 2 go for the MSI Neo2 Platinum.
 
Yay, more suggestions lol!1 Keep them coming 😛 Hmmm, as far as i know, Intel benifits from tighter timings more than AMD does, but I think that tighter timings DO help with the Athlon 64. As for the ram, im sorta an OCZ fanboy (hehehe) so i think ill stick with the OCZ.....im already over my budget anyways. As for the mobo, im more than likely probably gonna get MSI K8N Neo2 Platnium because of the NF3 chipset, but ive been reading lots of complaints about MSI's quality control recently so that's kinda making me worried. Sigh, if only DFI could hurry up!! lol. Anyways, thanks for the suggestions guys. BTW, how does the VIA chipset compare with the Nvidia one and what about the o/c?
 
nVidia chipset for sure...as for the RAM...i have nothing against great RAM with nice timings...but considering the biggest performance increase with those awesome timings is about 5%...i can think of a lot of better way to spend your money...
 
Originally posted by: n7
...i can think of a lot of better way to spend your money...
Click to expand...

....mmmmmmmmm.......chocolate pudding........ ^_^


Anyways, hmmmm, i read a couple of reviews about the Asus A8V Rev 2, it actually looks pretty good and it doesnt have the inconsistencies of the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum. Anyone know if it overclocks as well as the MSI?
 
Oh, and this might be in the wrong place........but will Windows Xp Professional SP1a currently take full advantage of the 64 bit processor.......if not, then is there anything i can do about it?
 
Ok, after a bit of thinking, ive decided to get either:

1. AMD Athlon 64 3000+ s754
1 X 512MB OCZ 3200 EL Platinum Rev 2
DFI LanParty UT NF3 250Gb
Thermalright xp-120 or xp-90

or

2. AMD Athlon 64 3000+ s939
1 X 512MB OCZ 3200 EL Platinum Rev 2
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
TT Silent Boost K8

I am considering taking the s754 route because 1) The s939 mobos currently on the market dont seem that great/reliable; and 2) im really not concerned about upgrading at the moment nor am i concerned about dual channel DDR. So, putting that aside, the only thing i am concerned about is the maximum o/c that I would be able to get with the system..........now that this is clear, which one should i get (in other words, which is more overclockable, taking into consideration the heatsink).

thx
 
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