Intel, AMD, and upgrades

I am going to be getting a new computer here very shortly and I was curious about a few things. I know that the Athlon X2s are faster than the Pentium D 9xx's BUT the Socket 939 is going to be obsoleted in June and the Socket 775 for Intel will be carried forward. So, here's my conundrum:

Do I get a new Socket 939 X2 rig because it's faster and just say "forget it" when I upgrade and get all new RAM and motherboard and not just a new CPU? Or do I get a Socket 775 board with the 975 chipset that can run Conroe chips when they come out but put a Pentium D in it now? I'd be able to keep my DDR2 RAM then.

What would you guys do?
 
I would stick with AMD because I like their products. But if you're going to be buying a high-end processor and want upgradability without having to buy new RAM and a new MOBO then the answer for you is Intel.

In June the answer will be very different though. . .
 

Grimmy

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Any High End system is going to cost you a pretty penny, either from Intel or AMD.

I really think it boils down to - how much you just want to spend, and how soon you wanna spend it - and does it full fill your needs.

Very hard to advise on products not really matured or on the market for sale, to determine what would be best for the long run.

Socket 939 is going to be obsoleted

Obsolete? I thought TandyTRS-80/x86/286/386/486/586 were pretty much getting to be obsolete.
939 is still going to be used by allot of people.. me thinks. :lol:

Okay.. maybe I took that too literally. :oops:
 

luminaris

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I was in the same dilemma even though I already had a good machine to perform tasks and game with. I went with AMD this time for several reasons.

The first is, in order to use the newer Pentium chips, you have to use the newer chipsets. They are more expensive than the current nVidia sets.

Secondly, Intel has a new chip coming out soon (conroe) which can only be used on whatever new chipsets Intel has coming out with it. The current ones will not support conroe.

I have always been an avid Intel enthusiast however, i'm not happy with what they are doing currently. I can understand they need to come out with a new chipset to support conroe. What I don't understand is why they keep coming out with new chipsets every five minutes. I mean, take a look at all of their chipsets put out in the last year and by no means, they really aren't cheap either.

So based on that, I went with an AMD/DFI/nVidia set and I gotta tell ya, I love it.
 

FlyGuy

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Socket 775 for Intel will be carried forward.

You would think that it would be that easy, eh? BBbzzz, wrong! Intel loves to make you buy new stuff. Even though it will be 775 the new Conroe and subsequent Merom will require a new chipset!

"It looks like today’s mainboards, even those built on the latest Intel 975X chipset, will not be compatible with the upcoming processors known as Conroe."

Story

Topic
 
Yes, I am fully aware that I'd have to get a new board and CPU. I accept it. I have also seen the Pentium Ds get beaten by a small margin by the Athlon X2s, but the 9xxs are much closer to the X2s than the 8xxs were.

There are two concerns of mine:
1. If I do go with an Intel system, do you think that DDR2-800 will be used in the next couple AMD and Intel chipsets (about 2 years from now) or will it be even faster than that and I STILL would have to get new RAM?

2. Are the nForce 4 chipsets really as flaky as I have read? I heard that some SATA-300 HDDs will not work and such like that. Have you had good results with the nF4?
 

luminaris

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Yes, both AMD and Intel will use the DDR2-800 RAM. Intels 975X chipset will currently use DDR2-800 RAM so you can use that now.

As far as the SATA problem with nVidia, I have not experienced any type of problems.
 

powerbaselx

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I am going to be getting a new computer here very shortly and I was curious about a few things. I know that the Athlon X2s are faster than the Pentium D 9xx's BUT the Socket 939 is going to be obsoleted in June and the Socket 775 for Intel will be carried forward. So, here's my conundrum:

Do I get a new Socket 939 X2 rig because it's faster and just say "forget it" when I upgrade and get all new RAM and motherboard and not just a new CPU? Or do I get a Socket 775 board with the 975 chipset that can run Conroe chips when they come out but put a Pentium D in it now? I'd be able to keep my DDR2 RAM then.

What would you guys do?

I suggest you to check your needs, your money and your tech abilities to help you choose a new platform.

Some factors for you to think:
1- Your PC use. Do you play FEAR at maximum quality? Or 1024x768 is ok for you?
2- Usually how much time do you use your PC until you need to buy a new one?
3- How are your OC abilities?
4- What Graphic Card to buy?

IMO AMD/MB939/DDR and Intel 3.0GHz/DDR1 CL2 are still valid configurations for the next year, especially if you consider to OC all it to get extra performance with low investment.

If you have US$5.000,00 available to spend i'm sure a state of the art PC (AMD/Intel/DDR1/DDR2/you name it) with a nVidia 7800GTX 512MB with fast DDR3 will do for the next couple of years.... or less!
:D
 
Well, my needs are a little odd for this forum. I hardly play any games at all, in fact I run Linux. Why I am getting a new computer is that my almost 4-year-old laptop just isn't cutting it anymore. I do a lot of office-app-type multitasking and some coding. I do a fair bit of compiling, which takes a fast CPU to do in any length of time. It also bogs the system down considerably when you do that and I want to keep working when I compile.

I plan to be able to upgrade in about two years if it isn't too expensive to do so. You know, spend about $300-400 on a board and a CPU to put a big boost in the otherwise fine system. I'd like to keep as much of the parts I'd get now for any future upgrades (like the Dell 2001FP I bought with a big-time student discount :D ). I want a relatively quiet unit with SMP and 64-bit capabilities. The fact that the P-D 9xxs and A64 X2s have almost the same TDP is a good thing.

I am willing to spend something like $1000-1200 on the computer as I have already gotten said monitor.

Oh and one last thing- this unit is going to be on 24/7 and is NOT going to be overclocked (or overclocked very much.)
 

powerbaselx

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<snipped> I hardly play any games at all, in fact I run Linux. <snipped> I do a lot of office-app-type multitasking and some coding. I do a fair bit of compiling, which takes a fast CPU to do in any length of time. It also bogs the system down considerably when you do that and I want to keep working when I compile.

<snipped> I want a relatively quiet unit with SMP and 64-bit capabilities. The fact that the P-D 9xxs and A64 X2s have almost the same TDP is a good thing.

I am willing to spend something like $1000-1200 on the computer as I have already gotten said monitor.

Oh and one last thing- this unit is going to be on 24/7 and is NOT going to be overclocked (or overclocked very much.)

For your type of use, i believe any CPU with 64bit support and multitasking support is good. Depending on how much you have left to spend at end you decide what velocity to buy. Maybe AMD is a better option in terms of heating and power comsumption as it works with lesser voltages, spends less electricity and produces less heat. Intel already uses DDR2 ram modules which are slightly better in terms of reusing them a couple of years later. Then there is that question that AMD will be changing the cpu slot type in a couple of months or so, but if you buy now with current configuration and assuming it works in the next couple of years, does it really matters?

You should bet from 2GB to 4GB RAM as you do a lot multitasking and compiling. The ram low latency isn't really a need but a good ram modules with heat sinks/dissipators should offer more stability since the system will be up and hot 24/7. Maybe DDR2 should be a better option for you now, despite DDR is still also a good option for this year.

A good motherboard like ASUS or other should have also your focus. Don't save much in here...

Consider buying also an UPS if it fits in your budget.

Looking back at the technology recent history, it changes a lot very fast. So, my personal bet is to buy what i need today, not the state-of-art, and upgrade some components in the following years until i need a brand new PC.

Hope this helps
 
After some looking, here goes:

CPU: Intel Pentium D 930 Presler 65nm ($334.00)
Motherboard: ASUS P5WD2 955X ($156.99)
RAM: Patriot 2x1GB 4-4-4-12 DDR2-800 ($255.99)
HDD: Hitachi Deskstar 7200rpm 250GB 8MB cache SATA-300 ($104.99)
GPU: ASUS 6600LE Silencer 256MB w/DVI ($90.99)
Monitor: Dell 2001FP 20.1" (already bought, $509 with student discount)
Case: Cooler Master Cavalier mid-tower ATX ($59.99)
PSU: Antec SmartPower 500W modular ($63.99)
Opticals: Sony DVD burns-anything-round burner and DVD-ROM/CD-R/RW ($37.99 and $29.99)
Keyboard, mouse, speakers: I have these already.

What do you think? The total is a little under $1650.
 

corvetteguy

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yeah get a 7800gt any type(i got the evga 7800gt co 470mhz for 390 cad) and ditch the deathstar hd and get a wd caviar SE 16 250gig 7200rmp

by the way they will still be making 939 parts 2 years from now, no new stuff but you can still upgrade.
 
The 7800s are a little rich for my tastes as they are about $300 on up. I could go for half of that, but all I really need in a graphics card is something that will allow me to run Xgl (hardware-accleerated OpenGL) on my computer without eating up a lot of CPU time and RAM.