Athlon 64 or not yet?

[Holysmoke2]

I am getting bored with my 1800+ ASUS nforce board with crucial pc2100 ddr. I would like to build a new pc and give this one to my kids. I am using anand's midrange guide a little, but wondered if I could do better. Should I buy the Athlon 64 3000+ now or wait? I am leaning towards buying one with the K8V. My question is what memory should I buy? I don't want to slow it down with cheap memory. I have always used whatever crucial.com recommended but lately have noticed ocz and corsair. Do I need 2 sticks of ram and is 512 enough? I also wanted to know if the special edition wd drives are still good enough for athlon 64.
If now isnt time to buy athlon 64 should I even bother with upgrading?
sorry for so many questions.

Thanks for any help. I need it.

 

[Dman877]

Running a A64 3000 with 512 mb on a K8V and I like it. No you don't need 2 sticks, A64's aren't dual channel. Whether the A64 is worth it or not is really dependant on your budget. It's a great cpu at stock speeds but won't oc with current chipsets. On the other hand, you could grab a mobile barton and nf2 board for less then just the A64 and oc to 2.5 ghz+.

Corsair value select pc3200 is adequate for these chips, ocing isn't much of an option so super high quality ram isn't a necessity. I also don't notice much dif between ram timings on my system (dif between 2.5/3/4/6 and 2/2/2/5 in 3dmark was like 40 pts (and obviously not noticeable at all in games).

 

[boyz]

well if you have spare cash then blow it, i am sure that 64 bit processors have alot of bugs that they didn't work out yet. The technology is still fairly new yet, i would wait till intel comes out with a 64 bit processor to push the prices down.

 

[NFactor]

I don't think the processors have bugs. Processors having bugs is very rare, the last one i remember was the Itanium's bug. The Athlon 64 is nice and if you were building a new PC today it would be the processor I would recommend.

 

[boyz]

Originally posted by: NFactor
I don't think the processors have bugs. Processors having bugs is very rare, the last one i remember was the Itanium's bug. The Athlon 64 is nice and if you were building a new PC today it would be the processor I would recommend.

true but you never know, the technology is still new and expensive.

 

[Boonesmi]

the athlon64 is a great cpu even with current apps

plus a nice bonus is the additional headroom from 64bit windows (to be released fairly soon) and 64bit apps

 

[Holysmoke2]

Do you really think it is expensive? Its only 40 bucks more than a 2.8C and correct me if I'm wrong, it's much better than 2.8c.
I think I'm gonna buy these parts.
Athlon 64 3000+
K8V
512 MB Corsair Value Select PC3200 (DDR400)
128MB PowerColor Radeon 9600 Pro
CaseEdge TS1 (plus $30 360W PSU)
Western Digital 1200JB (80GB)
CD-RW Plextor 52x24x52 (2MB

Any more comments? Thanks for the replies so far.

 

[newb54]

I just built the 3200+ system in my sig a few weeks ago. I am very happy with it, however if you can hold off for a month or so I would wait and see how the 939 chips and PCI-E video cards are priced.

 

[Luthien]

Holysmoke why not get the Nvidea 5900 XT at newegg.com for $159 instead of the 9600 your getting. I think they are pretty close in price and the 5900XT would be faster...

Here is the link: Text

AWW Crap sold out already, lol. I would certainly check around on other prices for it at that price though.

 

[Holysmoke2]

Originally posted by: Luthien
Holysmoke why not get the Nvidea 5900 XT at newegg.com for $159 instead of the 9600 your getting. I think they are pretty close in price and the 5900XT would be faster...

Here is the link: Text

AWW Crap sold out already, lol. I would certainly check around on other prices for it at that price though.

oh really? ok, I was just using anands midrange guide, not real up on video cards lately.

 

[Holysmoke2]

I have read when using A64 to chose your board and memory carefully. Can ne1 else comment on the memory?

 

[LouPoir]

Originally posted by: Holysmoke2
I have read when using A64 to chose your board and memory carefully. Can ne1 else comment on the memory?

A64 is a super processor. Very ram sensitive. Current M/B's are first generation and dont overclock well cause they dont have a PCI/AGP lock. My A64 3200 runs at 3400 and it performs like a P4 at 3.0 to 3.2.

I would wait for the next generation boards due out in the next few weeks - IMHO

Lou

 

[LiquidChill3d]

I would follow LouPoir's advice...get the 64bit, but wait a few weeks or a month or two for the next generation to arrive. I'm currently waiting on a boutique rig with the 64FX-51......Three weeks after ordering it, prices fell and the next generation components are right around the corner!...Uggghhh.
I don't think you can loose with the 64bit technology. The people I know that already have them...love'em!!

Good Luck...Liquid Chill3d

 

[Holysmoke2]

Originally posted by: LouPoir

Originally posted by: Holysmoke2
I have read when using A64 to chose your board and memory carefully. Can ne1 else comment on the memory?

A64 is a super processor. Very ram sensitive. Current M/B's are first generation and dont overclock well cause they dont have a PCI/AGP lock. My A64 3200 runs at 3400 and it performs like a P4 at 3.0 to 3.2.

I would wait for the next generation boards due out in the next few weeks - IMHO

Lou

Would you please suggest what ram to use? I will wait a few weeks, but still need an idea which ddr to buy. Thanks.

 

[Boonesmi]

oops

 

[Boonesmi]

if you buy an asus board you can head to asus.com and they have a list of tested memory modules for both of the new opteron boards i was looking at yesterday

 

[MrCodeDude]

The nForce3 250 chipset debuts tomorrow, the boards should be out in April.

Wait until then

Oh and don't skimp on the PSU.

 

[Holysmoke2]

Originally posted by: Boonesmi
if you buy an asus board you can head to asus.com and they have a list of tested memory modules for both of the new opteron boards i was looking at yesterday

PERFECT! Thats what I needed. Thanks.

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: MrCodeDude
The nForce3 250 chipset debuts tomorrow, the boards should be out in April.

Wait until then

Oh and don't skimp on the PSU.

Don't skimp on any part of the computer


Well- I'm sure you could skimp on a floppy and not get one

 

[Boonesmi]

http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket754/k8v-d/overview.htm

i just checked and they also have a bunch of tested memory modules for the athlon64 mobo too


***edit*** oops looks like i was to slow in responding and you had already checked

 

[Boonesmi]

Originally posted by: MrCodeDude
The nForce3 250 chipset debuts tomorrow, the boards should be out in April.

Wait until then

Oh and don't skimp on the PSU.

why wait for an nforce3 250?
of the current boards the nf3 is the worst choice

and via, sis, nvidia will all be coming out with the next gen boards shortly. no reason to think nvidia will then be the best choice (but at least they should have fixed the problems hyper transport )

from what ive seen it looks like sis will probably be the best... but time will tell

 

[Markfw]

Use Kingston Hyperx PC3500 CAS2. Works great, and OC's OK.

 

[Holysmoke2]

Which one should I get?

Athlon 64 3000+
K8V
512 MB Corsair Value Select PC3200 (DDR400)
SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -BULK

or

2 Mushkin Level One 184 Pin 256MB DDR PC-3500 - OEM

ABIT nForce2 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "NF7-S" -RETAIL

AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2600+, 266 MHz FSB, 512K L2 Cache Processor - OEM

SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -BULK

Please help soon as I'm afraid Newegg will run out of mobile Bartons.

 

[EngenZerO]

the a64

 

[InlineFive]

Wait for the new revision to come out. It has less electricity leakage and it's Cool n' Quiet is more more developed. The new version will run at a minimum speed of 1GHz with 12w less heatoutput then the old version at 800Mhz. Current boards should support this with a BIOS upgrade.

-Por