what a mess

[JackWhite]

Hello there

After reading the CPU buyers' guide, which I found really useful as a handy compilation of data and also brought to light some facts I felt a bit confused about, I am still in a dilemma. Thankfully, it's a two-faced dilemma.

I was pretty sure a P-4 3,2 was my CPU of choice until two things happened. First, I discovered the 3,4 was going to be the last Northwood processor, so upgrading would probably mean a new motherboard (I am going to have to stick to what I buy for God knows how much time). Then I saw the Athlon64 were similarly priced and performed quite better, especially in games, which, to be honest, is what I really care about.

But when I was almost sure AMD was the road to take, I read that the current Socket-754 will be soon replaced by the 939. Considering that going for an AMD could be (I don't really know) potentially more expensive in terms of motherboard and maybe a couple of things more, and I am not willing to overclock my computer (something Athlon processors seem more suitable for), things become a bit unclear for me. Hell!

I think I need your help...

 

[peteroy]

754 sockets are already replaced by the 939 sockets.

What kind of help do you need?

All what you said is true and now it is up to you to make a choice, different people in this people have different opinions, most people here will tell you to go with the AMD Athlon 64.

I say go with a Pentium 4 Northwood or Prescott which is also available on 478 motherobards.

Use your judgement and make your choice, either choice you make, go with a good motherboard from companies like Intel, ASUS and MSI, Abit and Gigabyte.

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[pickxx]

Whoa, socket 754 hasn't been replaced.
Socket 754 will be the value socket for AMD.
Its true the sockets only support up to a 3700+ but lets be real for a moment....When a 3700+ isn't cutting it in like 2-3years you will WANT a new socket with DDR2 RAM, PCIe, and other hardware that is on the brink.

So even if you had socket 939, you will WANT a new mobo in 2-3years.

An A64 2800+ 145ish with a 6800GT will be VERY VERY fast. P4, you need low latency dual channel RAM.
A64 socket 754....single channel value ram will run just as fast and at 160bucks for a gig insted of 400bucks.

Bascially with the gaming speed landslide, the ram saving you 200bucks for EQUAL power, and cool and quiet keeping your system temps low....its a no brainer.

Price it out....for $1000 you could get a VERY BIG increase in gaming by going with A64 rather then Intel.

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[xeenrecoil]

From what i can tell by reading the technical documents of the A64-939, it can take much better advantage of low latency modules then the P4 in the dual channel memory configuration. Because of the A64 on-die memory controller and hyper transport bus the A64 is a speed demon waiting to be loosed.
The P4 in dual channel memory mode only requires matched modules for performance and gains virtually no performance Between timings of 3-3-3-6, and 2-2-2-5.

So now that you know the truth, make your decision.

 

[pickxx]

Um....maybe you ment to reply to the creator and not me.

I just dont see, for a 754 socket, reccomending low latency ram for nearly $400 a gig insted of 160 a gig.

I know you will see increases, but 100% increse for 100% more price?
Even with a 939board....will you see 100% increase for 100% more price? For 939 which can use the dual channel that all low latency dimms come in, then its easier to reccomend. but unless you have an unlimited budget.................why should someone spend twice as much for about 20% increase?

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<font color=blue> I am on an express train to hell. I hope I'm in the front row, the ride is ALWAYS better in the front. </font color=blue>

 

[JackWhite]

So what you all mean is though Socket-754 has a more limited support in terms of clock speed, Socket-939 will not prevent me from having to upgrade my motherboard (which is what i wanted to avoid) since in a couple or three years there will be new features that will make that option interesting...

Well, that's possibly true, but let's face it: I may not get an upgrade until late 2006 or 2007 (in the best of cases), and replacing my by-then obsolete 3400+ with an Athlon64 4000+ looks like a significant perfomance improvement, and probably quite cheap.

I guess it all depends on the prices. Does anybody know what the difference between an Athlon64 3400+ S-754 and S-939 is?

Which motherboard would you suggest? Are nForce3 ones terribly expensive? What's happened with those problems in VIA K8T800 chipsets? I'd like a fast motherboard but one without thousands of great-sounding features that I am never going to use. A 'lite' version, you know.

 

[endyen]

Dual core is coming, as is usefull PCI-exp, Sata 2 and DDR3. All that aside, I just bought a socket 754 Asus K8N-E Deluxe, and the A64-3200+. It will see use for a long time, and should be ok for most things until late 07. More ram will be helpfull, and a second hand 6800ultra in a year or two will help, but the mobo, and chip will still be like a 2 gig rig today.

 

[Crashman]

Most boards that support the 3.2 Northwood also support all the Socket 478 Prescotts. I think they'll go to around 4GHz. But you can get faster processors right now from AMD, and Socket939 is a done deal.

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[JackWhite]

Thank you, then I'll go for AMD. Can anyone suggest which fast S-939 motherboards under 150$/€ should I consider? I know there's a specific forum for that but now we're already engaged on it... :lol:

I have thought of getting 512Mb of RAM first and upgrading to 1Gb in a month or two to make the Athlon64-with-a-good-motherboard option affordable. Is that moreless sensible, or will I notice it too much in games?

 

[Crashman]

MSI has the K8N Neo2 series, but I'm sure you'll hear other suggestions if you wait long enough.

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