Socket 754 or 939?

[dutchMasta]

I'm planning on getting a new cpu+motherboard, and have decided to go with amd, because of the price. Getting either a 3200+ or 3400+ Athlon 64, but there are two versions, socket 754 and socket 939 (both can have 1mb l2 cache). Just wondering if it's worth it to spend the little extra on 939 and nforce 4, or just stick with nforce 3 and 754. Looking to spend around $320, if someone could tell me which to pick, or a better combination or cpu+mb? Thanks

EDIT: Also, would they bring out the full performance levels of the Geforce 6800 GT 256mb ddr3?

[Toshiro]

All I will say is that you go to S939, that will be the standard replacing the AMD64 line of chips. Basically the S754 was like a stepping stone and so will probrably be gone by the end of this year. Besides the new AMD64 w/ 90nm core are from what I recall only for the S939 systems.

[eternal11]

with the nforce4, you'll be able to have SLi, and you can get two 6800GT's! im sure that you'll never be able to unleash the full capabilities, but im sure knowing you're being powered by two 6800GT's is enough to make one faint.

[Hydra]

Yeah, go for the 939, that way you can secure yourself well for future upgrades.

[Mikakev1@aol.co]

Firstly if your 6800 GT is agp forget Nforce4 it doesn't support AGP
The S754 A64 3200+ is faster than the 939 A64 3200+
Why?
Memory access in 764 is 64 bits theorically Memory Transfer rate is limited to 3.2 GB/s the 939 use a controller that work with 128 bits so it's 6.4 GB/s
The hypertransport bus speed is 800MB/s for 754 and 1 GB/s for 939
So amd add a little 200+ to a 939 CPU

example a 2800+ (754) is clocked at the same frequency as a 3000+ (939)

BUT Future generation of AMD 64 (the double cored one) may be designed to support 939 (conditional will be removed if AMD doesn't change socket as often as I change mine), As toshiro said forget the 754 It will not last long.



So if I were you I would choose a s939 even if the 754 is a bit faster.
I don't recommend you to buy a MB that support both 754 and 939 chipsets

A Nforce 3 250 would be a good choice, whatever you choose a 754 or a 939
If your 6800 GT is PCI express based GFX card you can choose a NFORCE 4
Sometimes AGP cards are a bit faster than PCIE cards sometimes not.

A faster CPU will always improve things, but there won't be a great difference though

That is my point of view
Sorry I know that my english is perfectible

[Kane]

>example a 2800+ (754) is clocked at the same frequency as a 3000+ (939)

Indeed, but owing to the memcontroller, it isfaster. It performs faster than the 3000 754 by a small margin accross the board, and in 3dMark05, it even outperforms a 754 3200+

>A faster CPU will always improve things, but there won't be a great difference though

I'd disagree, having just come from a AXP 2400+

[dutchMasta]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that my card is AGP. I wouldn't have enough money to purchase another 6800gt, although that'd be awesome (if I had bought PCI-E, even though it's cheaper).

I'm not really looking to play high-end pc games that come out. Just want to play emu's and want to maintain a consistent speed over the long periods that my comp is left on (I'm sort of a server). I also run several programs at once (like 5, and 1 big one). Basically, I won't really need to upgrade to better CPU's if the one I get meets those needs, which is why I was thinking about socket 754.

I have loads of HDs, but most are 5400rpm and 2mb cache i think, including the one holding my OS. Would it drastically improve performance if I, ie. raided two 10000rpm satas (would have to wait a long time).

BTW, right now I have a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz with 1 GB (2x512mb) of RAM. Just to let you know, in case you think I'm actually purchasing something that doesn't really improve things. Also planning on getting a new heatsink, one that is silent, but mainly effective.

Thanks so far

[Kane]

I personaly am all for the 939 as it's an upgradable architecture. Say you get yourself a 3000+. A year or so down the line, you can upgrade to a PCX board and retain your CPU.
I did build a 754 based machine for a friend, but my reasoning htere is that the next time he upgrrades, it's gonna be a complete cuts removal anyway.

[dutchMasta]

Okay, but which motherboard should I go for? I have a AGP card, so it needs to have AGP. And I'm going to have 1 SATA, and 1 IDE HD, and maybe another SATA in the future, raided.

I looked at a few sites, and found GA-K8NS Ultra-939, priced at around $120. Here are the specs:
http://www.giga-byte.com/Motherboard...Socket+939.htm
Does that look ok, or would you recommend something else?

[Kane]

Well the AV8 sounds good. 2xSata RAID, 2(4)xIDE, AGP. It's the board I got, and I'm relatively happy with it (I'd have been happier if the Soundstorm was avaliable for A64 boards, but...)

[Toshiro]

You can also try the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, I heard a lot of good reviews for this board and should the bill for you as well. It is a hot seller at our store next to the A8NSLI (they have a lot of money to blow just for that board).

[dutchMasta]

I looked for reviews, and there was a socket 939 round up, and the MSI K8N came 1st, and AV8 came 2nd, hehe, seems like you guys really recommended the best. I think I'll go for the MSI though, although slightly more expensive, it was clearly better than the others, in terms of gaming and workstation performance, mainly due to the nforce3 chip.

[james.miller]

the msi is the cream of the crop overclockers board, as far as the nforce3 chipset goes. They are very good boards.

My board will do 265fsb, but thats actually a bad example. most do better than that.

[dukenukem]

Doesn't msi boards come with their own oc settings and will oc automatically?

[james.miller]

The kt8 neo2 has the ability to automatically overclock ASWELL as using manual user-defined settings.

[dutchMasta]

nice, thanks for giving me more faith in my decision

[INCA]

Wow im glad that the new 939 still support agp. I have the 754 and glad i got chance to get it for such low price. Well i hope your happy when you get your system. Just make sure you get 1gig of memory b/c you'll have some problems with certains games that need it.