Futureproofing: AM2 or 775?

[Oracle]

Hey there,

I've been out of the loop for a while, but I'm planning an overdue upgrade of my Athlon XP platform, which served me well for the last 4 years.
So, I'd like your constructive comments on the future of sockets AM2 and 775.

Thanks.

 

[qcmadness]

Hey there,

I've been out of the loop for a while, but I'm planning an overdue upgrade of my Athlon XP platform, which served me well for the last 4 years.
So, I'd like your constructive comments on the future of sockets AM2 and 775.

Thanks.

Both of them will not support new CPUs in 2008 or later.
But if you wait for a few months for Socket AM2+, then the socket can be used in 2009...

 

[Oracle]

Socket AM2+ CPUs will be backward compatible with socket AM2, so I'm not too concerned about that.

 

[qcmadness]

Socket AM2+ CPUs will be backward compatible with socket AM2, so I'm not too concerned about that.

If the transition to DDR3 is fast, Socket AM2 will become obsolete rather fast.

 

[Oracle]

So will Socket 775.
I don't want to build a PC in 2008 or 2009, but in the next weeks.
So I guess either one (AM2/AM2+ or 775) is good since they will both get phased out at about the same time.

 

[qcmadness]

So will Socket 775.
I don't want to build a PC in 2008 or 2009, but in the next weeks.
So I guess either one (AM2/AM2+ or 775) is good since they will both get phased out at about the same time.

Yes if you will not change CPU before 2009.

 

[halbhh]

For AM2: I think there's an easy upgrade path for those that are conservative with money, but want to be in the upper tier (top 20%) all the time.

If you built with AM2 right now (for the cheap MBs and $110 X2 3800 for instance), or already have it, and except for constant video encoding or big screen play on just a couple of games, a low end dual core (3800 or 4200) are fine, or an opty if you like to overclock, then....

In a year you could upgrade to one of the low end quad cores from AMD via drop-in into your AM2 board, because....in another 6 or 12 months you buy an AM3 MB (skip the AM2+)....and another 6 or 12 months after that, finally an AM3 type cpu. This avoids buying too often, and when you get the AM3 board, at that point, your other component purchases could be future proofed at that level (this is why you'd get the AM3 board earlier than the cpu). etc.

This is a path that reduces costs, but keeps you reasonably up there with a powerful system.

 

[ajfink]

With AMD's known plans for socket shifting and Intel's still very unknown plans with 45nm 775 chipset support, I'd say AMD has the minor edge for platforms right now, simply because we know what they're going to give us, and it's shaping up to be pretty decent. There is still the possibility, though, that current 775 chipsets (some of them, anyway) may support 45nm. Early test samples worked on them, but we don't know about the final revisions.

edit - but current C2D are very good anyway,

 

[Oracle]

Thanks for your input guys.
I was leaning towards AMD, but wanted to see other people's views.
I know C2Ds are top notch, but I don't particularly need over the top frame rates.
I think I'll see a fairly good difference anyways when switching my Barton 3200+ for an X2 5200+.
Thanks.

 

[bunkgoats]

If you get a good intel motherboard it will support a quad core chip. You could put an E4300 or E6300 in there for now and go quad when it comes down in price. Also, the core 2 duos are amazing overclockers.

Note that the E4300 and E 6300 are sub $190.

Also, you are contradicting yourself a little. You state that you don't need over the top framerates, yet you want something future proof. Correct me if I am wrong, but shouldn't your build give you some room to grow?

What games are you playing and do you plan on playing? I understand that Supreme Commander has just made the 8800 gtx video card "just enough" We should look at benchmarks relative to what games you are interested in to determine if your custom build is good for YOU.

PS I did upgrade from an athlon xp 2100 back in october to a core 2 and I love it.

Also, what is your budget? How are you going to allocate your budget among RAM, video card, and processor? Do you plan to do video editing and encoding?

 

[Oracle]

I don't think I'm in any contradiction. I just wish to have some room to upgrade down the road. I'm not going with FX-76 right now.

Budget wise, I'd like to keep it around CDN$2000. I want to go with a decent CPU, 2 GB RAM and an upcoming X2xxx card (in March). To leave cash for the R600, I was contemplating going with an inexpensive but reliable AM2 platform like the Asus M2R32-MVP with an X2 in the 4000+ to 5000+ range.
Keep in mind that I also need an X-Fi soundcard, a new case (Antec Nine hundred), a new PSU (PCP&C Silencer 750) and that I want a Raptor 36Gb for fast booting. The hell with Vista though, I'm sticking with XP (wishing Linux would get more love from game publishers)!
Oh yeah, I'm not really into overclocking!

I mainly play Guild Wars and NFS Carbon, but the main reason for this upgrade is (you said it) Supreme Commander. I play at 1600x1200 on a Samsung 225bw widescreen and would like to keep it that way.

 

[halbhh]

Look at the new version of the Raptor at 74 Gigs also, to compare, and check the review of it here on Tom's Hardware.

Personally, I don't think Raid is worth the bother, but for $2000, you can surely have 2 or 3 drives, and use one for video storage, and if you'd like to save some movies or seasons of shows, don't think less than 320gigs on the video hard drive. I have 2, and 1 is full of things I want to keep.

 

[Oracle]

I currently have three 80Gb SATA HDDs (all the same from Seagate) which I will set up in RAID0 once I get that Raptor, which will be used solely for fast booting. Don't really need the 74Gb Raptor for the purpose intended.
I save some TV shows for future viewing, but not much more than that, except for music download.

 

[halbhh]

sounds like you'll do fine. enjoy!

 

[bunkgoats]

The X2 5000 is a good value, its close in preformance and in somethings faster than the E6400. They seem to be equally priced, that being said you'll be happy with either. It wasn't long ago that the x2 5000 was overpriced and the core 2s killed it in terms of value. The price has really come down on AMDs.

When I first read the thread I thought you were getting an x2 3800. Hence the current room for improvement remark. Good Luck.

 

[srgess]

Go Socket LGA775, def better then the AM2 wich its always discontinued ( amd made the Quad FX on their Socket F ) LGA775 can deliver lots of performance, Quad Core Extreme edition , you can OC it to get the max performance and ( i think it will be good for years because even the new intel cpu incoming, there no software that can use really 4 core ) So its going to be useless and Core Quad will be good for a long time. Get that and Vista and 4GB ram and 8800gtx or ati 2xxx when it come, i think this will fit into a 2000$ budget and you will keep that for like 5 year and more. Yes DDR3 will be coming soon but again, ddr2 will be just fine for a bit.

 

[croc]

Since none of the compelling reasons to go with 775 are compelling enough to you, one can safely conclude that you are a fanboi of AMD. So why did you even bother to post this, when you already have a closed mind on the subject?

 

[ICEMAN_50]

Yeah,... you should choose any brand of LGA775 either 975X, 965P or G, Nvidia 680i motherboard because they are long term till likes 2009 or 2010 because they will work new 2008 processor at 1333 MHz FSB with 45nm. Eventhough 975X and 965 motherboards are 1.066 GHz FSB, you can overclock these motherboard to 1333 MHz but have to have least 667 MHz of RAM because u have to decrease 133MHz the RAM speed. Then it will work properly. I just have heard from the review about that. Please don't think I am wrong,..... it's just from Review, sorry I forgot which site.

Anyway, in the case, I suggest you to buy LGA775 either 975X, 965P or G, Nvidia 680i motherboard and buy entry-processor E4300 or E6400. Then you will be fine with it long lasting before u want to buy quad cores processor.

I still have ASUS P5W DH and E6400 since last fall. Lucky, I can get quad cores processor when price goes down in future. More quad cores processors should come in 2008.

AM2+ is okay, but you will always have to replace motherboard when there is new socket and buy new processor,... waste too much money.

LGA775 saves your money and your time.... when u want to buy better motherboard and u can use the same processor,... then buy better processor later.

It's up to you.

 

[cal7]

Since none of the compelling reasons to go with 775 are compelling enough to you, one can safely conclude that you are a fanboi of AMD. So why did you even bother to post this, when you already have a closed mind on the subject?

Are you people searching posts to reveal some small detail so you could call someone a fanboi?Why dont you just ignore him?And anyway someone might have decide but needs confirmation from lots of other people (quite common in the forums , several posts are all about it).That doesnt make him a fanboi or anything. :?

 

[abw]

go for the low end dual core x2 3800+....so it will be possible to upgrade with a k8l dualcore part...going for the c2d don t worth it, as the next intel processor will not bring much better performance than the c2d...

 

[srgess]

go for the low end dual core x2 3800+....so it will be possible to upgrade with a k8l dualcore part...going for the c2d don t worth it, as the next intel processor will not bring much better performance than the c2d...

Why going into am2 ? for about the same price or lower you can get a e4300 that you can overclock stable and get a better performance of any amd proc on the market. The C2D is upgrade from K8L not downgrade. Going for K8L would be a big loss, because you can get c2d for the same price.

 

[qcmadness]

go for the low end dual core x2 3800+....so it will be possible to upgrade with a k8l dualcore part...going for the c2d don t worth it, as the next intel processor will not bring much better performance than the c2d...

Why going into am2 ? for about the same price or lower you can get a e4300 that you can overclock stable and get a better performance of any amd proc on the market. The C2D is upgrade from K8L not downgrade. Going for K8L would be a big loss, because you can get c2d for the same price.

I don't think the prices are similar. Check the price online.

 

[srgess]

Not the same but about 50$ difference. 50-70$ for 4x,5x speed.

 

[qcmadness]

Not the same but about 50$ difference. 50-70$ for 4x,5x speed.

Where do you find 4x or 5x speed? :?:

I just bought a x2 3600+ at ~$95.

 

[srgess]

E6300 OC benchmark ( couldnt find the e4300 ) on those benchmark you see that its outspeeding the X6800
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/11/core-2-duo-overtakes-core-2-extreme/page8.html

Now you just have to compared the x6800 stock to what ever amd processor to see that amd is slower and for 50-60$ extra it worth it to swtich to intel and have a 600$+ processor speed~ performance oc.