CPU for entry level gaming system

[SciPunk]

13 year old nephew is spending his own money. Will build low end gaming system together. Should be functional now and upgradable over time. All stock settings, no overclocking.

ASPIRE X-QPACK Black MicroATX
ASUS CSM Socket 939 NVIDIA GeForce 6150 Micro ATX
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice Socket 939
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-PinDDR 400 (PC 3200)
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 80GB IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive
LG Black 2M Cache E-IDE / ATAPI DVD Burner - OEM
VISON V1721DB Black 17" 12ms LCD Monitor
Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2 - OEM
$770.89 before shipping (w/ no additional video card)

From user comments at NewEgg, it seems that bios needs to be updated b4 MoBo will recognize this CPU (sounds like it won't even POST).

Option 1) Get different MoBO. Any suggestions? Really want Micro ATX and Firewire. Like the onboard video for now w/ PCIe for a few months down the road.

Option 2) Get AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice Socket 939
Option 2a) Get AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice Socket 939 E6

Which one? Will that solve the non-post problem w/ this board? Will I regret the lower CPU speed? CPU will be upgraded eventually, to X2, but probably not for a while.

Option3) Beg, borrow or steel an Athlon 64 3000+ just long enough to flash the BIOS. Then go ahead w/ the 3200+.

Again I have the choice Socket 939, or Socket 939 E6.
Which one?

Is this falure to POST w/ a 3200+ common? Does it occur on other MoBos?

 

[endyen]

According to this chart from asus the 3200s are all supported.
Even if you have a bios that does not support some chip, it will boot to dos if the chip is close. Dont worry at all over new steppings.

 

[SciPunk]

Thanks for the reply endyen.

CPU / SincePCB / SinceBIOS
Athlon 64 3200+ (CG version) (Socket939) / ALL / ALL
Athlon 64 3200+ (rev.D) (Socket939) / ALL / ALL
Athlon 64 3200+ (rev.E3) (Socket939) / ALL / ALL
Athlon 64 3200+ (rev.E4) (Socket939) / ALL / 0506

So I guess "SincePCB" is what allows booting to DOS?

Also, I notice no mention of rev.E6. When you say "Don't worry at all over new steppings" does that mean "don't get rev.E6" or "it will run just fine with rev.E6".

If this was for my own rig, I'd be more into trial and error, but since I will be traveling to the newphew's place to build system, I really want this up and running in one day. That's why I'm being so meticulous during the planning stage.