Help with selection dilema!

[John_LocKe]

Well, I've been saving for a new computer for a while now and have been following the upcoming technology for a while. I put a computer over at newegg but haven't ordered it yet. I ordered a Radeon x800xt from gateway for $398.

Here is my dilema... I want to go with an athlon processor as my main use for this computer will be gaming. With the introduction of the socket 939 I have to look at the longevity of the socket to choose what mobo/processor combo I should get. I want this computer to be able to handle games decently for at least 2 years or so.

Initially I had a newcastle 2.2 GHz processor picked out but that socket seems to be going out, and the 939 coming in. Right now the cheapest socket 939 processor is 200 bucks more than a amd 64 3200 however.

How long do you think the socket 939 will be around?

I could possibly hold off on this purchase until august or september, do you think the price will fall at all until that time?

does anyone know how OC'ing is with these new processors?

and lastly, If you were in my shoes, what would you go with?

 

[Cybercraig]

You should see better deals on socket 939 as the summer progesses, but if your time frame is two years you might want to wait for the FX stuff to come down. If it was me? I'd grab the last 1gb cache Clawhammer available and O'C the pants off of it on a MSI KN8 Neo Platinum. With that Vid-card it would be a killer!

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!

 

[endyen]

That Radeon is an agp card. The next step in mobos will be pci express. The new pci express will be a waste of money for at least two years.
The 2.2 newcastle A64 3400+ will keep you gaming good for at least 2 years with that video card. Get it soon, you will enjoy it longer.

 

[Zeekfu]

Not an expert. Here is what I am doing:
amd athlon 64 3200 clawhammer (they can still be found)
msi k8n neo plat mobo

gonna run the athlon 64 at stock for a while then maybe when it gets cooler overclock it to a64 3400+ speed. $280 was about $180 more than I wanted to spend on a cpu.

otherwise I would have gone p4 2.8 c (or maybe 3.0c if it is starting to get down closer to 2.8 price) with the abit is7 mobo.

All of the above were recommended by the knowledgeable and helpful people on this forum.

As far as upgradability and the like....The cpu is by far the most expensive component I purchased and every thing else is interchangible except for the mobo. No way I would buy the "latest and greatest" and pay 3x what it is worth as far as cpu goes. I don't know what all the buzz about the pci express video cards is at this point...

On the other hand since I had been planning this build for about 6 months I didn't want to wait another 6+ months for something new to come out, be tested and refined and then wait for the price to drop...

I wouldn't sweat too much about the clawhammer if you can't find it easily. I believe the stock 3200 newcastle core will beat the stock 3200 clawhammer core at many applications. I am planning to clock that mutha up 200 mhz and get the same 2200mhz (as newcastle) out of it at some point in the future though.

Clawhammer cores can still be found if you want em...

<font color=black>yippie ki ya, m..........<font color=black>

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Go for Socke-754 A64 3200+ (2.2 GHz, Newcastle), if you don't plan to upgrade within 1 year

------------
<A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86" target="_new">My Website</A>

<A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86/myrig.html" target="_new">My Rig</A> & <A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86/benchmark.html" target="_new">3DMark score</A>

 

[xeenrecoil]

heya Zeekfu:

The P4c 3Ghz retail shipped is about $220 right now, a retail Is7 is about $90 shipped right now, $310 is pretty cheap for a core that fast in my oppinion, if i wouldnt have just bought my woman a new R9800 Pro so she can play FF11 online i prolly woulda replaced my current core, which is a P4b 2.4Ghz (OCed to 2699Mhz)on an Asus P4G8X-D, Running in dual channel mode with 2x512 Samsung pc3200 modules, and an Hercules R9800 Pro, although i have to confess, i went ahead and spent the money on the card to get her to quit complaining about graphics lag, and more importantly to give me an excuse to wait for LGA, DDR2, and PCIe, considering my current system is no slouch heheh


<font color=blue> <Archer> Cant this thing go any faster, I thought this was a Warp 5 engine?
<Trip> Yeah, on paper... </font color=blue>

 

[Phinek]

Not to highjack a thread, but a quick question: Which version of the is7 are you guys talking about? I'm getting ready to build a system as well, and would like to go with a p4 system, so this sounds right up my alley. After looking though, there are about 5 different versions of the is7, just wondering which is the one most are recommending.