What do you think

[webfoot]

I have been doing a lot of reading and comparing and wanted input from the board.

I want to spend $175-$185 on a new MB and CPU. I will be using it for gaming and home uses, photo editing, letters and internet and e-mail.

What do you all suggest?

TIA

 

[Flinx]

You can do very nicely with that budget for those two components. As long as your ego doesn't get in the way of selecting the components. If you need bragging rights ur going to have to find it in how shrewdly you chose your components.

The loving are the daring!

 

[Cybercraig]

It's going to be tough, but A64-2800+ and a decent NF3 board should be within reach.


Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

 

[Prof133]

Would probably be looking at motherboard with nForce3 250 chipset and Socket 754 CPU.

 

[endyen]

The best cheap S754 board would be the Asus K8N. It still costs $85, so that only leaves $100 for the chip.
Interestingly enough, that is neweggs price for the new s754 sempron 3000+ <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-104-222&depa=0" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-104-222&depa=0</A>

 

[webfoot]

Thanks.

What do you think about this one?

http://www.partspc.com/store/product3259.html

 

[Cybercraig]

I'm not real big on Via chipsets. If I was going to sink money in a Socket A rig I would buy the one I just sold on E-bay. A NF7-S with an XP-2500+ running at 2.1ghz. However, I just don't think socket A's are good investments right now with Win64 right around the corner. The value system right now is Socket 754. I'll even go with Endyen's idea of starting out with a Semperon and upgrading later. At least you'll have something upgradeable. That socket A rig will be worth 50 bucks next year.

Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

 

[webfoot]

Thanks for that insight. I had not considered the Socket A issue. Have you had troubles with the VIA chipset? The MSI Board I have now with the 1600+ seems to be okay even though the CPU is only at 1.3 GHZ.

I did have trouble with a ECS board that had a VIA chipset.

 

[webfoot]

Any preference on where to find the board?

 

[webfoot]

Sempron 3000+ versus Athlon 64 2800+? Which will perform better, ah faster?

 

[endyen]

The s754 sempron will be 10% faster, more OCable, and more upgradeable. Really no point in buying dead tech, especially not at the same price.

 

[Spitfire_x86]

The best cheap S754 board would be the Asus K8N. It still costs $85, so that only leaves $100 for the chip.
Interestingly enough, that is neweggs price for the new s754 sempron 3000+ http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-104-222&depa=0

Very interesting

Have you seen any reviews?

------------
<font color=orange><b><A HREF="http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox" target="_new">Rediscover the web</A></b></font color=orange>

 

[webfoot]

From the checking I did today it looks like the Sempron is rated at 1.8 GHZ, while the A64 will do 2.0 GHZ. Is that inaccurate?

 

[Cybercraig]

Not specifically. I recently built an ASUS k8V-SE for a guy that had to have one. Everything was great at stock speeds. No overclock on that puppy because no AGP/PCI lock!

Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

 

[endyen]

If you have the extra $20, get the A64. I think the extra cashe is well worth it. They bothe run @ 1.8ghz.

To Spitfire. The K8N perfs the same as the K8N-E deluxe. I have yet to see another board of that quality, at that price.