Need Advice

[lanemyer]

Hi everyone! Need advice on which mobo I should buy? I want the new quad core AMD barcelona proceesor but don't know which mobo will support it? Help plz!

 

[o1die]

Pcnation has a Tyan model s3970G2N-U-RS server board for $242 that has 2 sockets and 8 ddr2 slots that should work fine. You have to use bios version 2.02. Don't know if the board will post using barcelona without a bios update first. Registered ddr2 memory is required. Crucial carries a 2 gig kit of registered ddr2 pc4200 for $140. This board isn't designed for overclocking. If you want to overclock, wait for phenom. Server boards in general are designed for stability, not performance.

 

[lanemyer]

Do you know when the phenom will be released?

 

[lanemyer]

And i'm definitely looking for performance

 

[aevm]

Just curious, how much does that processor cost? Is it faster than a Q6600?

 

[o1die]

Newegg has the 1.7 ghtz barcelona for $239. It runs at 55w, which is about half of a b3 stepping q6600. But I haven't compared benchmarks. Hopefully, phenom will be out in early 08. The tyan board I quoted was one of the cheapest available. So you're looking at about $620 mimimum for the cpu, board, and 2 gigs of memory. Heatsink is extra. Msi has a single socket barcelona board due out soon, but I doubt if it's cheaper than the tyan.

 

[lanemyer]

But is the Msi going to perform better than the Tyan?

 

[o1die]

It's possible, but it will still use registered memory, which will cost you more. I would spend the extra $40 for the go q6600 and save on memory, or wait for phenom.