Hello all, I'm having upgrade difficulties, and was hoping y'all could help.
Due to the fact that I can only spend about $500 at a time I'll have to do my upgrade in waves. I'm trying to decide whether to first upgrade my video card to a 6800 GT ~$400, or doing a CPU/Mobo upgrade first ~$450. I'm set on getting a A64 3500+ 90nm Winchester for my CPU and a nice HSF to match. However I'm divided on the mobo to get. I've narrowed it down to the two below. What do y'all think? Video card or CPU/Mobo first, and which mobo do ya think is better, the MSI or ASUS? I won't be using the onboard audio so disregard that.
MSI "K8N Neo2 Platinum" NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU
- Specifications -
Supported CPU: Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64FX/64 processor
Chipset: nForce3 ULTRA
RAM: 4x DIMM Supports dual channel DDR266/333/400 Max 4GB
Slots: 1x AGP 4X/8X, 5x PCI
Ports: 2x PS/2, 1x COM, 1x LPT, 8x USB2.0(Rear 4), 1x IEEE1394, 2xRJ45, 1x S/PDIF Out, Audio Ports
IDE: 2x ATA 133 up to 4 Devices
SATA/RAID: 4x SATA RAID with 0,1,0+1
Onboard Audio: ALC850 8-Ch
Onboard LAN: Marvell 88E1111 1000Mbps, Realtek 8110S 1000Mbps
Onboard IEEE1394: 3x ports by VIA 6306
Form Factor: ATX
ASUS "A8V Deluxe" VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU
- Specifications -
Supported CPU: AMD Athlon 64/Athlon 64 FX
Chipset: K8T800Pro + VT8237
RAM: 4x DIMM Dual Channel DDR400/333/266 Max 4GB
Slots: 1x AGP 8X, 5x PCI
Ports: 2x PS/2,1x COM,1x LPT,8x USB2.0(Rear 4),1x IEEE1394,1x RJ45,2x S/PDIF out,Audio Ports
IDE: 2x ATA 133 up to 4 Devices, 1x ATA 133 up to 2 Devices by Promise 20378 with RAID 0/1/0+1
SATA: 2x Serial ATA with RAID 0/1, 2x Serial ATA by Promise 20378 with RAID 0/1/0+1
Onboard Audio: Realtek ALC850 8-CH
Onboard LAN: Marvell 88E8001 GbE
Onboard IEEE1394: 2x 1394 ports
Form Factor: ATX
Due to the fact that I can only spend about $500 at a time I'll have to do my upgrade in waves. I'm trying to decide whether to first upgrade my video card to a 6800 GT ~$400, or doing a CPU/Mobo upgrade first ~$450. I'm set on getting a A64 3500+ 90nm Winchester for my CPU and a nice HSF to match. However I'm divided on the mobo to get. I've narrowed it down to the two below. What do y'all think? Video card or CPU/Mobo first, and which mobo do ya think is better, the MSI or ASUS? I won't be using the onboard audio so disregard that.
MSI "K8N Neo2 Platinum" NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU
- Specifications -
Supported CPU: Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64FX/64 processor
Chipset: nForce3 ULTRA
RAM: 4x DIMM Supports dual channel DDR266/333/400 Max 4GB
Slots: 1x AGP 4X/8X, 5x PCI
Ports: 2x PS/2, 1x COM, 1x LPT, 8x USB2.0(Rear 4), 1x IEEE1394, 2xRJ45, 1x S/PDIF Out, Audio Ports
IDE: 2x ATA 133 up to 4 Devices
SATA/RAID: 4x SATA RAID with 0,1,0+1
Onboard Audio: ALC850 8-Ch
Onboard LAN: Marvell 88E1111 1000Mbps, Realtek 8110S 1000Mbps
Onboard IEEE1394: 3x ports by VIA 6306
Form Factor: ATX
ASUS "A8V Deluxe" VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU
- Specifications -
Supported CPU: AMD Athlon 64/Athlon 64 FX
Chipset: K8T800Pro + VT8237
RAM: 4x DIMM Dual Channel DDR400/333/266 Max 4GB
Slots: 1x AGP 8X, 5x PCI
Ports: 2x PS/2,1x COM,1x LPT,8x USB2.0(Rear 4),1x IEEE1394,1x RJ45,2x S/PDIF out,Audio Ports
IDE: 2x ATA 133 up to 4 Devices, 1x ATA 133 up to 2 Devices by Promise 20378 with RAID 0/1/0+1
SATA: 2x Serial ATA with RAID 0/1, 2x Serial ATA by Promise 20378 with RAID 0/1/0+1
Onboard Audio: Realtek ALC850 8-CH
Onboard LAN: Marvell 88E8001 GbE
Onboard IEEE1394: 2x 1394 ports
Form Factor: ATX