Should I be feeling performance envy?

[Megatomic]

Ok, the performance envy I am speaking of is bang/$. This is what I have and what I spent on it:

Retail Soltek K8AN2E-GR NF3-250Gb s754 mobo - $70 shipped
Retail AMD Athlon64 3400+ 2.2GHz 1MB L2 s754 - $219 shipped
Retail GeiL 2 x 512MB Ultra Value DC PC3200 - $140 shipped

Could I have spent the same or less on a s939 combo and while running at stock settings (as I currently am) have better gaming/multimedia performance? My gut tells me no but some of you guys are pretty damned savvy in this regards. Help me out, if I could have done better I still have time to fix it.

One note: I need to stay with AGP for a while, I have an X800 Pro that I really like and have absolutely no desire to get rid of. So NF3 Ultra or K8T800 Pro boards are all I'd possibly be interested in at this point. Thanks to you all. :beer:

 

[Farmer]

No. S939 has dual channel DDR. You would notice slightly better performance, but since you already spent your money, its a sunk cost. No regrets. That system will last you a few years.

 

[CheesePoofs]

Originally posted by: Farmer
No. S939 has dual channel DDR. You would notice slightly better performance, but since you already spent your money, its a sunk cost. No regrets. That system will last you a few years.

:thumbsup:

 

[Megatomic]

I know s939 has DCDDR, but the chips are more expensive. I am wondering if the increase in memory performance due to DC offsets the performance due to the higher frequency of my CPU. (same $$$ spent on s939 CPU gets a slower chip)

Or maybe there is another facet I failed to consider from the getgo.

 

[Markfw]

stick with the 754. You already have it, and the difference os so small, you would probably only see a diff in benchmarks.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
Ok, the performance envy I am speaking of is bang/$. This is what I have and what I spent on it:

Retail Soltek K8AN2E-GR NF3-250Gb s754 mobo - $70 shipped
Retail AMD Athlon64 3400+ 2.2GHz 1MB L2 s754 - $219 shipped
Retail GeiL 2 x 512MB Ultra Value DC PC3200 - $140 shipped

Could I have spent the same or less on a s939 combo and while running at stock settings (as I currently am) have better gaming/multimedia performance? My gut tells me no but some of you guys are pretty damned savvy in this regards. Help me out, if I could have done better I still have time to fix it.

One note: I need to stay with AGP for a while, I have an X800 Pro that I really like and have absolutely no desire to get rid of. So NF3 Ultra or K8T800 Pro boards are all I'd possibly be interested in at this point. Thanks to you all. :beer:

No that's smoking. You know that 3400 beats a 3500 in everysingle benchmark?

And you paid $100 less for processor. 939 mobos kinda suck... kinda expensive.

 

[DragonFire]

Originally posted by: Zebo
939 mobos kinda suck... kinda expensive.

I find that remark rather amusing after reading your system specs....

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: DragonFire

Originally posted by: Zebo
939 mobos kinda suck... kinda expensive.

I find that remark rather amusing after reading your system specs....

Well I'll tell you I had much better time of it with 754. No bios hacking needed, no drive issues, all memory slots worked etc with cheap Chaintech vnf3... I've gone though 3 939 mobos all had major issue.. Even most popular MSI (and 140USD mind you) has major issue.

 

[Megatomic]

That's one thing for sure, my Soltek board was cheap and has been flawless so far. Not one issue to report.

 

[uOpt]

For most applications you get more benefit out of the larger cache that cost you much less money than the dual-channel upgrade.

 

[Farmer]

Zebo:

MSI always has an issue...

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Nah! You did good. Just juice that 3400+ a bit if you got ants in the pants

 

[Megatomic]

I've been thinking about that DP, but I need to wait until I can afford an o/cer's heatsink for the chip before I do that. The stock cooler is nice at stock speed, but I don't trust it much to keep an overclocked chip properly cooled.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

See what she'll do without any extra vcore, the extra mhz *within reason of course* doesn't seem to increase temps much and the fan can ramp though many complain their's won't. Heck, 2.4ghz 1.55v shouldn't be an issue for the stock cooler.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
See what she'll do without any extra vcore, the extra mhz *within reason of course* doesn't seem to increase temps much and the fan can ramp though many complain their's won't. Heck, 2.4ghz 1.55v shouldn't be an issue for the stock cooler.

ditto.....

 

[djdube]

I was wondering... where did you find the Soltek mobo for $70 shipped? Hasn't it been $89 for quite some time at New Egg? Hope I didn't miss out on a good deal. I've been eyeing this mobo for sometime while trying to decide between 754 and 939... for $70 my decision will be made.

 

[Jayavarman]

You guys are cool. I like my s754.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: djdube
I was wondering... where did you find the Soltek mobo for $70 shipped? Hasn't it been $89 for quite some time at New Egg? Hope I didn't miss out on a good deal. I've been eyeing this mobo for sometime while trying to decide between 754 and 939... for $70 my decision will be made.

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