*** Official Athlon 64 Motherboard Thread ***

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: TDon
Agreed mechBgon. Holding out for the NForce3 250.

From Anandtech's Computex Day 5 Coverage:
http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.html?i=1888&p=5

Jetway also had their nForce3 motherboard on display, the N3KA. This board is based on the nForce3 150 chipset and is of the Socket 754 variety. Around this time, we learned from a manufacturer close to NVIDIA that the graphics firm was attempting to ship their new South Bridge, MCP-S1000, next month. The ?S? in <i>MCP-S1000</i> stands for native Serial ATA support, and the ?1000? stands for 10/100/1000 GbE (Gigabit Ethernet) support. nForce3 chips with these two new technologies are expected to hit the market in November.

It sounds to me like they may be referring to the NForce3 250. I can hold out till November or soon thereafter, I guess. It isn't that far away..... I hope.

TD

Wow. At that point, AMD users will have the same benefits that the Intel 875 users have been enjoying for awhile now. Sounds good to me. SATA and GbE right on the chipset...bandwith baby. Heh, it's getting to the point that the PCI bus is fairly useless, methinks.

I'm almost tempted to NOT buy an Abit NF7-S for my still-in-the-Box 2500 Barton and wait for NF3. But then in addtion to the (probably) $200 mobo, I'd have to by a $400 CPU...still too rich for me.

 

[BoomAM]

On the top mobo picture on this page;
http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.html?i=1888&p=5
What is that connector next to the AGP slot. On the right of it. It looks similar to a PCI Express slot, but it cant be, can it?

 

[solofly]

Originally posted by: Wesley Fink
I am very concerned that no one else is talking much about NO AGP/PCI lock on any VIA A64 boards. To me this is a major issue that could kill the board's sales to Enthusiasts. If any of you see reviews that show evidence of a PCI/AGP lock on VIA, please post the info here. The chipset is excellent otherwise.

This is my BIGGEST concern too. At this time the ONLY board I can find for sale is Asus' K8V but the thing don't have no PCI/AGP lock. How true is this rumor that future Bios' will include PCI lock on Via boards?

 

[jesseschulman]

Well I can pretty much guarantee that I could use as much RAM as any mobo could offer. I like to use VMWare alot to run multiple OS's at the same time. We have a Win2k Adv Server at work that has 8 GB of RAM and dual 2.8 Ghz Xeons and I have spiked the utilization at about 92% and under 200 MB of free memory. Its fun to play with high end stuff before it goes into the production environment.

So thats why I am looking for a board that supports over 3 GB of RAM. So far this is what my new PC is looking like:

Asus K8V Deluxe Socket 754 with Athlon64 (3200+) CPU & Fan - $570
(3) PC3200 DDR 1GB RAM - $148x3=$444
(2) Maxtor 160 GB HDD Serial ATA (RAID 1) - $148x2=$296
NEC ND-1300A 4X DVD±R/±RW DRIVE - $118
Samsung 12x DVD / 40x CD Drive - $29
ATI RADEON 9000 Dual Display AGP - $68
Black Aluminum ATX Case w/ Blue Case Light (3 Case Fans) - $85
Power Magic by Xcase 550W Dual Fan Power Supply - $18
2 Serial ATA Cables - $14
Speakers - $40
Total = $1682
(2) Acer BenQ FP747 17" LCD Display - $313x2=$626
Grand Total = $2308

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: jesseschulman
Well I can pretty much guarantee that I could use as much RAM as any mobo could offer. I like to use VMWare alot to run multiple OS's at the same time. We have a Win2k Adv Server at work that has 8 GB of RAM and dual 2.8 Ghz Xeons and I have spiked the utilization at about 92% and under 200 MB of free memory. Its fun to play with high end stuff before it goes into the production environment.

So thats why I am looking for a board that supports over 3 GB of RAM. So far this is what my new PC is looking like:

Asus K8V Deluxe Socket 754 with Athlon64 (3200+) CPU & Fan - $570
(3) PC3200 DDR 1GB RAM - $148x3=$444
(2) Maxtor 160 GB HDD Serial ATA (RAID 1) - $148x2=$296
NEC ND-1300A 4X DVD±R/±RW DRIVE - $118
Samsung 12x DVD / 40x CD Drive - $29
ATI RADEON 9000 Dual Display AGP - $68
Black Aluminum ATX Case w/ Blue Case Light (3 Case Fans) - $85
Power Magic by Xcase 550W Dual Fan Power Supply - $18
2 Serial ATA Cables - $14
Speakers - $40
Total = $1682
(2) Acer BenQ FP747 17" LCD Display - $313x2=$626
Grand Total = $2308

You might want to check out the Opteron/A64FX motherboards at Monarchcomputer.com. If staggering amounts of RAM are what you're wanting, they've got the Tyan Thunder K8W on the way. Up to 16GB of RAM!

By the way, with a system like that, I'd suggest getting a highly-respected power supply. Power Magic ...?

 

[jesseschulman]

Does any board that supports the Opteron support the A64FX also? Even in dual configurations?

Yea I have been looking around alot at power supplies, But I thought for the price of the expensive ones, I could buy like 4 cheap ones, just keep them around incase of faliure, heh. Still debating that there though.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: jesseschulman
...But I thought for the price of the expensive ones, I could buy like 4 cheap ones, just keep them around incase of faliure, heh. Still debating that there though.

Not a good idea. If your PSU dies, you can loose some or all of your other components as well. It is a very bad idea not to get a good PSU.

<-- now that the K8W is starting to show up, I just have to come up with about 8 more Benjamins before I can afford a full dual Opteron system.

 

[Turin39789]

any word on any non-pro nforce 3 150 from abit,asus, etc?

 

[rjain]

Originally posted by: jesseschulman
Does any board that supports the Opteron support the A64FX also? Even in dual configurations?

The FX is an opteron 1xx-based CPU, so it doesn't have the I/O channels needed for being put in MP systems. Even the 2xx series is limited to dual-processor configurations.

Yea I have been looking around alot at power supplies, But I thought for the price of the expensive ones, I could buy like 4 cheap ones, just keep them around incase of faliure, heh. Still debating that there though.

A bad power supply can kill more than just itself.

 

[ArborBarber]

Evan and Wesley,
So far so good or at least it seems...AMD has upped the ante it seems with 64 bit...awesome as far as I'm concerned, however they(AMD) better convince MS and other software vendors of the virtues of 64 bit computing or they'll be "dead in the water." What about Intel's response with the release of the P4 EE ? It seems the addition of onboard memory cache has reclaimed alot of the gains made by the AMD camp...I didn't see a review on this new chip by Intel..? Is that because there are none to be found, or just no testing done on this chip as of late?

 

[Wesley Fink]

Anand included benchmarks of the P4EE chip in his Athlon64 Launch article.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

It seems the addition of onboard memory cache has reclaimed alot of the gains made by the AMD camp

Reclaimed??? You can build an FX or 3200+64 system right now, where's the Emergency Edition at? Oh, that's right, it's still a paper launch!

 

[ArborBarber]

Hey Da?
How's YOUR AMD 64 FX working out for you? What mobo did you go with? The 150? What did the chip cost you? $700...what? Listen DA, don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining ok? I wish nothing but success for AMD and I seriously hope AMD's new chip takes off like wildfire, it would be a losing scenario for all of us if AMD blows this release. I was asking a serious question about Intel's Emergency Edition(P4 EE), however I'm not so sure Westley answered it. Help me out with a link if ya could wes... I have no loyalty to either chip manufacture, I'll build which ever system is fastest for the buck, as we all do.

 

[phpdog]

hi ,

Will you be testing the EPoX a64 board ?

EP-8HDA3+

VIA K8T800/8237 Chipset Spec

Supporting Athlon? 64 Processor 754 pins

Supports DDR PC2100 / PC2700 / PC3200 from cpu's internal memory controller

AGP 8x for 1.5v graphics cards

Total 6 SATA Drive Connections
Onboard native Serial ATA support for 2 drives (including RAID) through VT8237

Gigabit Ethernet / Dual LAN
Onboard Dual LAN by 3COM 3C 940 (GBe) and VIA PHY (10/100)


I really need the Dual LAN for my connection as i share internet connection with my other PC .

 

[phpdog]

hi ,

Will you be testing the EPoX a64 board ?

EP-8HDA3+

VIA K8T800/8237 Chipset Spec

Supporting Athlon? 64 Processor 754 pins

Supports DDR PC2100 / PC2700 / PC3200 from cpu's internal memory controller

AGP 8x for 1.5v graphics cards

Total 6 SATA Drive Connections
Onboard native Serial ATA support for 2 drives (including RAID) through VT8237

Gigabit Ethernet / Dual LAN
Onboard Dual LAN by 3COM 3C 940 (GBe) and VIA PHY (10/100)


I really need the Dual LAN for my connection as i share internet connection with my other PC .

 

[phpdog]

hi ,

Will you be testing the EPoX a64 board ?

EP-8HDA3+

VIA K8T800/8237 Chipset Spec

Supporting Athlon? 64 Processor 754 pins

Supports DDR PC2100 / PC2700 / PC3200 from cpu's internal memory controller

AGP 8x for 1.5v graphics cards

Total 6 SATA Drive Connections
Onboard native Serial ATA support for 2 drives (including RAID) through VT8237

Gigabit Ethernet / Dual LAN
Onboard Dual LAN by 3COM 3C 940 (GBe) and VIA PHY (10/100)


I really need the Dual LAN for my connection as i share internet connection with my other PC .

 

[UCSDHappyAsian]

should i kick back about this motherboard til it lower down, or 64 bit wont low down too much in newar future????

 

[UCSDHappyAsian]

cause i m thinkin of gettin one....... i have amd 1800+ its decent already... is it worth it for me to upgrade?

 

[BoomAM]

Originally posted by: UCSDHappyAsian
cause i m thinkin of gettin one....... i have amd 1800+ its decent already... is it worth it for me to upgrade?

Does the XP1800+ do you for what you need? Is it fast enough for what you need to do on it? If so, then no it aint worth an upgrade.
Im in a similar situation myself. I have a XP1800+ and am planning on a A64 3200.
I`ll be upgrading to one for several reasons. My CPU is holding me back in some stuff that i do(Mainly games. lol), i plan to use the A64 3200 for about 2 years, so futureproofness is the key for me.

I`ll probably buy in february. Thats when i`ll have £1000 saved up, £700 of which will buy me;
AMD Athlon64 3200+
2x TwinMOS PC3200 512mb DIMMs.
Whatever the best A64 mobo is.
AseTek WaterChill CPU/NB.
Cant wait!!!

 

[phpdog]

hi ,

Im SORRY about the triple post ... i have no idea how i done that ... sorry