AM2 or 939

[F1shF4t]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: chusteczka


I meant from the perspective of someone currently not willing to pay the high price of anything larger than an AMD3500+ or a $100 video card, the prices of the more expensive components will decrease over the next two years. Thereby providing upgradeability.

Not so much upgradeability for what has not yet come out but upgradeability for those components currently deemed too expensive to purchase.

For example, for someone purchasing an AMD64 3000+, 3200+, or 3500+ now, they should be able to replace this with a dual core 4400+ X2 in two or three years at a reduced price.

I see the current AMD64 s939 as being useful for the next 5-6 years easily. Especially since I recently upgraded to an AMD64 3000+ s939 from a PIII 733MHz system that I put together in 2000.

Wow . . . you're a thrifty one, aren't ya? I guess if all you do in type and check email, then you'll be fine. For those who demand a little more from their systems, thats unacceptable.

A 100 video card is next to useless by today's standards, to say nothing of its usefullness in a few years. I don't consider a 400 dollar video card or CPU as being overly expensive, provided they deliver the performance they promise.

AMD is discontinuing those lower speed A64s, and eventually all single core A64s. In 3 years, they'll be very hard to come by. In 3 years, technology will have progressed quite a bit, making that 4400 X2 useless.

An A64 3000 is already useless for my purposes. In 5 or 6 years, s939, AM2, Socket F, and most likely AM3 will all be retired hardware and not in production.


Incidentally, try to purchase a s370 motherboard or CPU today, or a s423 motherboard or CPU today.

Yea i'm sure 3 year old northwoods at 3.2ghz are useless today

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Dark Cupcake


Yea i'm sure 3 year old northwoods at 3.2ghz are useless today

Those would all be s478, and tethered to AGP, therefore of limited usefulness.

 

[AlgaeEater]

Wow a lot of opinions going on in this thread.

Anyway, as for the OP's original question...

You didn't really state what the computer was going to be used for. Are you looking for performance? Or are you just looking for an all around decent rig that can handle moderate gaming and not break the bank? Failing all of this, are you looking for a computer that is going to last you 2-3 years?

Whatever the case, I would personally stick with the 939's for WHATEVER reason minus hardcore gaming. They're going to drop in price significantly once Conroe comes out, and AM2 is just what it is. It's not much in terms of leaps and bounds above the previous generation, but if you're the type who needs 200 more points out of a benchmark score, then by all means go for it.

A lot of things are on the horizon right now. I may even suggest you just wait a while and stick it out. Not because for the latest and greatest either, but simply because more things will become available and we will understand them more.

 

[The Conanza]

I'm gonna use it for gaming and music. After reading the posts I'm deciding to go with the MSI K9N platinum and a 3200. I went with the 3200 so I would have enough money for an x-fi.

I'm upgrading from a 5 year old 2 ghz Pentium 4.

 

[chusteczka]

The 3200+ is an excellent choice since it is the cheapest processor that will allow an overclock to the typical maximum speed of 2600-2700MHz with only a 5/6 memory divider (closer to 6/6 or 1 is better).

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: The Conanza
I'm gonna use it for gaming and music. After reading the posts I'm deciding to go with the MSI K9N platinum and a 3200. I went with the 3200 so I would have enough money for an x-fi.

I'm upgrading from a 5 year old 2 ghz Pentium 4.

I hope you enjoy it.

Let me know how the MSI board works for you. I've got an MSI K9N SLI Platinum on the way myself, but the X2 4200 I went with is going to take a few extra days to arrive.

 

[F1shF4t]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Dark Cupcake


Yea i'm sure 3 year old northwoods at 3.2ghz are useless today

Those would all be s478, and tethered to AGP, therefore of limited usefulness.

U do realise that there were boards with pci express avalable, and do u really think that everyone gets a 7900gt + gfx card. The MAJORITY of people have somewhere around 6600gt and lower cards and since u can easily get em in agp ur point is wrong. Sure for people here it might be slow, but AT is not a good representation of the whole comp buying comunity.

I mean my brother is using a 3.2ghz pentium 4 1gig ram and a 6200 64 bit overclocked, and hes playing Oblivion and all other games happily (at around 1024 * 768 Oblivion obviously at probably less). For me they look awfull but he does not care, u get spoiled when u get used to the good quality, then u can never go back.

 

[AlgaeEater]

Bateluer was speaking in the context of performance, in which many of us here on AT strive for. We're always focused on either "Best bang for buck" or "What will make me cream my pants" here. We have no room for the practical.

But I understand where you're coming from Dark, since many of my previous built computers run JUST FINE as they are. They're sporting hardware circa 9800 Pro era and still run crisp and flawlessly. They may not game anymore (or barely) but they're there and they do what they need to. It sucks going faster as you said, cause indeed once you go bigger and badder you can't seem to take a step back no matter how hard you try.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: The Conanza
I'm gonna use it for gaming and music. After reading the posts I'm deciding to go with the MSI K9N platinum and a 3200. I went with the 3200 so I would have enough money for an x-fi.

I'm upgrading from a 5 year old 2 ghz Pentium 4.

is there a specific reason you need the x-fi? personally i would put the $$$ towards a better gpu since you say you are going to do gaming.

also, when you say music, are you saying just listening to it or creating it? also what types of games?

 

[The Conanza]

Basically just listening. But I read the x1800xt I picked out should have enough power for any games I want.

 

[milleron]

There are several expressed opinions in this thread that socket-939 mobos are dead ends and that, for example, the FX-60 is the fastest CPU that will ever be produced for the 939.

My question is, where has AMD stated that just because they're going to support DDR2 (with the AM2), they're never going to announce a new CPU for DDR -- i.e., for socket-939? To my knowledge, there has never been a statement, either explicit or implicit, to this effect. I see nothing to indicate that AMD has abandoned DDR once and for all. In fact, I think the roadmaps suggest that in the near future, at least, CPUs released for one of these sockets, will also be available for the other.

Someone please correct me if I've misunderstood the situation.

 

[chusteczka]

I believe this impression has been provided by the Anandtech review articles although I am not sure if AMD said that or not.

EDIT:
But it is funny that last year, the main selling point of s939 was that it would be upgradeable for years to come. One year later, the impression is that it is or soon will be a discontinued product line. Socket 754 seems to have more of an impression that it will last longer than s939 due to its use in business applications.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: The Conanza
Basically just listening. But I read the x1800xt I picked out should have enough power for any games I want.

The X1800XT should provide plenty of power for any games for a while.

If all you do is listen to music though, there are a lot of sound cards that cost substantially less then the X-Fi line that will do the job just as good.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829111001
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829111002
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829118109

 

[milleron]

Originally posted by: chusteczka
I believe this impression has been provided by the Anandtech review articles although I am not sure if AMD said that or not.

EDIT:
But it is funny that last year, the main selling point of s939 was that is would be upgradeable for years to come. One year later, the impression is that it is or soon will be a discontinued product line. Socket 754 seems to have more of an impression that it will last longer than s939 due to its use in business applications.

Yeah, I stand corrected. I did a little research on this right after I posted my question. I was one of those who bought a 939 board last summer because it "should be upgradeable for years to come." I guess I'm sort of OK because I started with a 3500+. That means that I still have a decent upgrade when the FX60 becomes inexpensive, but I feel cheated. Even though not announced, I won't be flabbergasted if AMD decides to bring out a few of their new cores in socket-939 versions if for no reason other than to sell them to upgraders. It's actually shocking to realize how short-lived socket 939 turned out to be!

Ron

 

[bob4432]

not sure what you are paying for you x1800xt, but have a look at this x1800xl512 for $220 - http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=40&threadid=1867342&enterthread=y

 

[YoshiSato]

There is no need to go AM2 yet.
You can get a FX64 or A64 5000+ on 939 socket. Which means there is no need to throw out your DDR ram for DDR2.

Don't beleve me, check out AMD here

 

[milleron]

So, we're back to my original contention that AMD will, in fact, continue to release new CPU models in both configurations. It's sure hard to keep up with this, possibly because AMD hasn't truly decided for sure just how long they will continue manufacturing CPUs for DDR RAM.

 

[shabby]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Dark Cupcake


Yea i'm sure 3 year old northwoods at 3.2ghz are useless today

Those would all be s478, and tethered to AGP, therefore of limited usefulness.

Dont talk smack aboot them northwoods, there are around 3-4 magical mobo's out there that have s478 sockets with pcie. So all hope is not lost

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: milleron
So, we're back to my original contention that AMD will, in fact, continue to release new CPU models in both configurations. It's sure hard to keep up with this, possibly because AMD hasn't truly decided for sure just how long they will continue manufacturing CPUs for DDR RAM.

Ron

maybe it is amds way of telling us that they know am2 is no big deal in terms of performance and just in fact a form factor change

 

[fredhe12]

If you have to ask, then I'd say no. Early adopters don't ask, they just do. And they're prepared to deal with the headaches that usually accompany ver.1 releases. The current 939 is proven and the bugs have been mostly worked out.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: milleron
So, we're back to my original contention that AMD will, in fact, continue to release new CPU models in both configurations. It's sure hard to keep up with this, possibly because AMD hasn't truly decided for sure just how long they will continue manufacturing CPUs for DDR RAM.

Ron

The s939 FX-62 and 5000+ was a misprint on AMD's site. Link

Kinds does stink for those who bought s939 because of a possible upgrade path, but thats the life works.

Unfortunately, thats going to be one of the weaknesses of the A64 platform, their on die memory controller. While it does give outstanding memory performance; any time you need to change the type of RAM used, its going to require a socket change.

 

[milleron]

Oh, damn, back to square one.