Thanks all for the advice. I'll try to answer everything in one go because that's just too many messages to respond to indivdually. Sorry.
Let me clarify a couple of things.
Since this is a build it myself system, I'll have no warranty. Because I may need this PoS box for years to come (look how long I've been stuck on my 300MHz PoS) what I feel is important is to get parts with good warranties. For the same reason, I also have no intentions of overclocking, nor of picking up a corner-cutting OEM box with a 30 day warranty that'll probably break down in six months.
And yes, I know single-channel memory split between the CPU and the onboard GPU sucks. But that's why I'm getting a mobo with a 16x slot, so that I can ditch the onboard GPU once I can save up enough money for a decent video card.
As much as I like Linux in theory, in reality I'm just not that skilled. I tried it once. I'm good, but I'm not THAT good. There's a reason why Linux hasn't replaced Windows yet. Besides, I want better software compatability than that. If I buy a game, I want to know that it will work. So I'm sticking to Windows. The student copy is an interesting thought, but unfortunately I'm not a student and I don't know any students. But honestly, I don't mind paying for Windows.
Nor do I mind paying twelve bucks for a floppy drive. Honestly, twelve bucks isn't going to make or break things like a proc that costs $137 over one that costs $76 is.
And I suppose that if I REALLY had to, I could re-use my old monitor, for a little while anyway. Unfortunately there seems to be something wrong with it. The colors go all wonky sometimes. But it still mostly works. Maybe I could try using it for another couple of months and then replace the monitor at a later time. If I really had to.
But can someone point me to a definitive source that proves the much higher cost of going S939 is worth it? Or is this just all hype that you're working on? Because I find it hard to believe that single vs dual channel memory makes all that much of a difference for AMD. For Intel, sure. They were always so memory bandwidth crazy. But for the leaner designed AMD chips? I'd like some proof please. Because someone who's using onboard video and 1024x768 resolutions is not going to care all that much about a 3 FPS difference. It's easy to claim that it'll bottleneck the graphics card, but once I upgrade to a 16x card, just how much of a bottleneck will that be, really? Maybe it'll bottleneck the onboard graphics, sure, but I'm not going to stick with that forever anyway.
And just how much does S939 matter for future proofing anyway? I mean AMD is about to replace all the sockets, aren't they? So isn't S939 just as screwed as S754 in that respect? If I could wait that long I'd consider it, but my computer is driving me crazy and I really need to replace it now.
But I came across another idea. It'll still be more expensive than what I listed, but it will give me more of a future (I hope) without being AS expensive as picking up a S939 proc to start with.
It's the JetWay GTDual-STD-G mobo, that has both a S754 and S939.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813153035
It also brings up the question, what IS the difference between S754 and S939? I'm guessing by doing the math that the only difference is one DDR channel. 754 (proc's pins for single-channel DDR) + 184 (a second DDR channel's pins) = 938. Add one more pin for a ground or something? The numbers seem conspicuously close anyway. And here's a mobo that supports both S754 and S939, and seems to do so by only offering half of the DIMM slots in S754 mode? It makes me wonder why I can't just find a S754 to S939 converter so that I can put a S754 Sempron into a S939 mobo. So I'd lose two DIMM slots while using a Sempron, I only have one DIMM anyway, so like I'd care? I'm ranting. Sorry. But it's so frustrating. I can really appreciate why some people choose Intel. They may switch sockets more often, but they put their bottom-end chips into the same socket package as the top ones, giving you a much more affordable entry point into an upgradable system. If only the modern Celerons didn't suck so badly.
Oh, and while I'm ranting on and on like a lunatic, what the heck is this 20pin, 20+4pin, 24pin crap? I get that the extra 12V 4 pin thing was needed for some strange reason. And I guess not all 20pin power supplies have this extra 4pin cable? But can you use a 20+4pin power supply in a 24pin mobo? Because looking at the pictures of these 24pin mobos, they seem to also still have that extra 4pin socket, like they're requiring 24+4pin. Is that true? And do all 24pin PSUs have that +4pin cable? And maybe I'm crazy, but it seems like it's S754 that's 20+4pin, and S939 that's 24(+4?)pin. I so don't get why they're making that so confusing and difficult and why I can't find a simple explanation online somwhere. And does that mean that I need to look for a 24pin PSU if I get a S939 mobo then? Because those seem to be a lot harder to find, especially when a lot of PSUs are being listed as 24pin when they're actually only 20+4pin.
Anyway, again, thanks all for your input. This is turning out to be a little more complicated than I'd expected, but hopefully I can make a good decision that I won't regret years from now.
Let me clarify a couple of things.
Since this is a build it myself system, I'll have no warranty. Because I may need this PoS box for years to come (look how long I've been stuck on my 300MHz PoS) what I feel is important is to get parts with good warranties. For the same reason, I also have no intentions of overclocking, nor of picking up a corner-cutting OEM box with a 30 day warranty that'll probably break down in six months.
And yes, I know single-channel memory split between the CPU and the onboard GPU sucks. But that's why I'm getting a mobo with a 16x slot, so that I can ditch the onboard GPU once I can save up enough money for a decent video card.
As much as I like Linux in theory, in reality I'm just not that skilled. I tried it once. I'm good, but I'm not THAT good. There's a reason why Linux hasn't replaced Windows yet. Besides, I want better software compatability than that. If I buy a game, I want to know that it will work. So I'm sticking to Windows. The student copy is an interesting thought, but unfortunately I'm not a student and I don't know any students. But honestly, I don't mind paying for Windows.
Nor do I mind paying twelve bucks for a floppy drive. Honestly, twelve bucks isn't going to make or break things like a proc that costs $137 over one that costs $76 is.
And I suppose that if I REALLY had to, I could re-use my old monitor, for a little while anyway. Unfortunately there seems to be something wrong with it. The colors go all wonky sometimes. But it still mostly works. Maybe I could try using it for another couple of months and then replace the monitor at a later time. If I really had to.
But can someone point me to a definitive source that proves the much higher cost of going S939 is worth it? Or is this just all hype that you're working on? Because I find it hard to believe that single vs dual channel memory makes all that much of a difference for AMD. For Intel, sure. They were always so memory bandwidth crazy. But for the leaner designed AMD chips? I'd like some proof please. Because someone who's using onboard video and 1024x768 resolutions is not going to care all that much about a 3 FPS difference. It's easy to claim that it'll bottleneck the graphics card, but once I upgrade to a 16x card, just how much of a bottleneck will that be, really? Maybe it'll bottleneck the onboard graphics, sure, but I'm not going to stick with that forever anyway.
And just how much does S939 matter for future proofing anyway? I mean AMD is about to replace all the sockets, aren't they? So isn't S939 just as screwed as S754 in that respect? If I could wait that long I'd consider it, but my computer is driving me crazy and I really need to replace it now.
But I came across another idea. It'll still be more expensive than what I listed, but it will give me more of a future (I hope) without being AS expensive as picking up a S939 proc to start with.
It's the JetWay GTDual-STD-G mobo, that has both a S754 and S939.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813153035
It also brings up the question, what IS the difference between S754 and S939? I'm guessing by doing the math that the only difference is one DDR channel. 754 (proc's pins for single-channel DDR) + 184 (a second DDR channel's pins) = 938. Add one more pin for a ground or something? The numbers seem conspicuously close anyway. And here's a mobo that supports both S754 and S939, and seems to do so by only offering half of the DIMM slots in S754 mode? It makes me wonder why I can't just find a S754 to S939 converter so that I can put a S754 Sempron into a S939 mobo. So I'd lose two DIMM slots while using a Sempron, I only have one DIMM anyway, so like I'd care? I'm ranting. Sorry. But it's so frustrating. I can really appreciate why some people choose Intel. They may switch sockets more often, but they put their bottom-end chips into the same socket package as the top ones, giving you a much more affordable entry point into an upgradable system. If only the modern Celerons didn't suck so badly.
Oh, and while I'm ranting on and on like a lunatic, what the heck is this 20pin, 20+4pin, 24pin crap? I get that the extra 12V 4 pin thing was needed for some strange reason. And I guess not all 20pin power supplies have this extra 4pin cable? But can you use a 20+4pin power supply in a 24pin mobo? Because looking at the pictures of these 24pin mobos, they seem to also still have that extra 4pin socket, like they're requiring 24+4pin. Is that true? And do all 24pin PSUs have that +4pin cable? And maybe I'm crazy, but it seems like it's S754 that's 20+4pin, and S939 that's 24(+4?)pin. I so don't get why they're making that so confusing and difficult and why I can't find a simple explanation online somwhere. And does that mean that I need to look for a 24pin PSU if I get a S939 mobo then? Because those seem to be a lot harder to find, especially when a lot of PSUs are being listed as 24pin when they're actually only 20+4pin.
Anyway, again, thanks all for your input. This is turning out to be a little more complicated than I'd expected, but hopefully I can make a good decision that I won't regret years from now.
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