Socket 939?

[jrphoenix]

Originally posted by: Addikt
Even if you are going to wait for the next generation video cards they are still being released in AGP 8x and not PCIe (because it's not out yet). This means that even if you do wait you will still get your next gen graphics card on the older standards and upgrading the mobo will not be such a huge concern. As far as the socket 754 goes, I think that even with the release of socket 939 they will still support 754 for a while and I am not sure that the change will be as staggering as they are hyped up to be. After all this new socket allows for these improvements, and things such as taking advantage of dual channeled RAM is still under debate for the Athlon 64 series. I mean its possible on the FX but I mean that comes with a really high premium. By the time I will need to make MY next purchase I will probably be buying a whole new motherboard and graphics card with the PCIe standard and maybe even get an Athlon FX if the price comes down. We will see, but I have thought as many scenarios out as possible and I am not really interested in upgrading. Even if I wait 6-12 months I will not be able to upgrade because next gen graphics cards will not be on PCIe, or at least I don't think they will be. That might be wishful thinking, but worst case scenario is that nothing is upgradable and 939 brings about some HUGE differences (really a new socket can only bring about potential performance differences though, there is still and architectural design aspect that realizes these increases). Also I am keeping the price reasonable so I can afford for the system to be completely out of date in about 12 months. Good enough for me, I feel I have all the angles figured out.

June 1 will be the release date of the first AMD mobo with pci-e support (many more to come shortly after). Both Nvidia and ATI say they'll have their pci-e cards out by mid-June (maybe earlier??)

Socket 754 will be supported for quite a while as AMD moves their budget chip line to this platform.

I'm really waiting to see if there is a performance hit or benefit with socket 939 before buying (939 or 754). Heck, we can all see that the socket 754 3400+ performed on par with the FX-51 (dual channel)... I'm not sure how much a benefit AMD 64 will see with dual channel and they might acutally hurt from the loss of half their cache??? Hmmmm

 

[RockGuitarDude]

It makes a lot of sense to transition to 939. The production costs will be reduced by a significant amount. Cache takes up a very large amount on cpu's and therefore has more transistors on it. More transistors means more can go wrong and there will be more duds. By replacing a huge chunk of cache with a relatively smaller additional memory controller, they will get a slight performance gain accompanied by a huge savings and a better ability to bring the chip to market at a lower price. Too bad it's just taking so long to get the thing to market... I almost HAD to go 754 because my XP 2000+ fried. Thankfully I got an XP 2400+ for free .

 

[coolred]

Socket 754 will be supported for quite a while as AMD moves their budget chip line to this platform.

Yeah, but what exactly will the budget chip be? If thier new budget line is the (Paris)Athlon XP's they are porting to socket 754, that will suck for the people that bought the socket 754 board for its 64 bit capability. Does AMD have any plans for a budget 64 bit chip? I know right now they offer the 2 offerings, but thats more like crazy high priced and mid ranged, not midranged and budget.


I need to get another rig setup, but I can probablly wait a few months. I just wonder how long it will take for socket 939 parts to actually become affordable. Assuming AMD keeps current pricing scheme, the socket 939 stuff will still ahve a big premium till it can saturate the market.

 

[Kadarin]

So...

Socket 754 w/1MB L2 + single-channel memory is roughly equal or *slightly* inferior in performance to Socket 939, with 512K L2 + dual-channel memory? So then how much of a performance increase will we get if we go Socket 939 with an FX processor with 1MB L2 + dual-channel?

(I say this posting from a machine with a processor with 256K L2...)

 

[labrat25]

personally, i'm not sure...

yes, 939 will eventually be the socket of the future for the A64
but, getting a 939 board now doesn't mean your chipset won't be behind the times by the time you go to upgrade anyway

-my 2 cents

 

[Gusty987]

If you buy an OEM version of Windows XP Home and install it on a 754 board, then a few months later buy a 939 board, will you have to buy Windows again?

 

[ForceCalibur]

Nope.
Plus windows will likely boot up without a fuss anyway, and worse come to worse you will need to do an repair install.

 

[Gusty987]

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
Nope.
Plus windows will likely boot up without a fuss anyway, and worse come to worse you will need to do an repair install.

Ok. It doesn't matter that it's the cheap $80 "must buy with hardware" OEM version?

On another note, how much $ will the Socket 939 A64 3500+ (the lowest 939 chip) cost? And how much will the mobo's cost?

 

[XBoxLPU]

I will upgrade next year

I made the move to 754 back months ago ( right when the 3000+ showed up ) and I have loved it since day 1

 

[Regs]

WAIIIIT! Wait until Via updates their mobos with AGP/PCI lock at least! --K8T800 Pro's-- lol. Hopefully before 939 comes out. I could care less about the 939. Except that there is a 2.6 GHz A64 on the horizon for 939. 2.6GHz is a pretty impressive clock speed for the A64 architecture. I can't wait to see that puppy in action.

 

[Gusty987]

I read that socket 939 will be released on May 25th. Does that mean that the average guy can buy a 939 processor and mobo on the 25th?

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: Gusty987
I read that socket 939 will be released on May 25th. Does that mean that the average guy can buy a 939 processor and mobo on the 25th?

You would think, but not on that exact date. Vendors would wait until they got both the motherboard and CPU before they even tell you that they had them.

 

[XBoxLPU]

Originally posted by: Regs
WAIIIIT! Wait until Via updates their mobos with AGP/PCI lock at least! --K8T800 Pro's-- lol. Hopefully before 939 comes out. I could care less about the 939. Except that there is a 2.6 GHz A64 on the horizon for 939. 2.6GHz is a pretty impressive clock speed for the A64 architecture. I can't wait to see that puppy in action.

2.6gz :Q

* drools *

 

[Gusty987]

Originally posted by: Regs

Originally posted by: Gusty987
I read that socket 939 will be released on May 25th. Does that mean that the average guy can buy a 939 processor and mobo on the 25th?

You would think, but not on that exact date. Vendors would wait until they got both the motherboard and CPU before they even tell you that they had them.

Ok, so maybe like the first of June I could by a S939 A64 and mobo?

 

[ForceCalibur]

Originally posted by: Regs
WAIIIIT! Wait until Via updates their mobos with AGP/PCI lock at least! --K8T800 Pro's-- lol. Hopefully before 939 comes out. I could care less about the 939. Except that there is a 2.6 GHz A64 on the horizon for 939. 2.6GHz is a pretty impressive clock speed for the A64 architecture. I can't wait to see that puppy in action.

VIa already has with their 754 sockets. I doubt they'll come out with a 939 socket and NOT lock them.

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: Gusty987

Originally posted by: Regs

Originally posted by: Gusty987
I read that socket 939 will be released on May 25th. Does that mean that the average guy can buy a 939 processor and mobo on the 25th?

You would think, but not on that exact date. Vendors would wait until they got both the motherboard and CPU before they even tell you that they had them.

Ok, so maybe like the first of June I could by a S939 A64 and mobo?

I'm just saying not all vendors will receive their parts at the exact date. AMD will of course keep an open line of communication to the motherboard manufacturers as it will be good for business. Just like how Ati and Nvidia display and explain their hardware to game developers and producers before their release.

 

[XBoxLPU]

ForceCalibur, current Via 754 boards DO NOT HAVE PCI/AGP lock

The Pro version of the K8T800 will though

 

[jrphoenix]

Originally posted by: Gusty987
I read that socket 939 will be released on May 25th. Does that mean that the average guy can buy a 939 processor and mobo on the 25th?

Bad news.... the launch was pushed back a week to June 1st (not that bad)

 

[jrphoenix]

Originally posted by: coolred

Socket 754 will be supported for quite a while as AMD moves their budget chip line to this platform.

Yeah, but what exactly will the budget chip be? If thier new budget line is the (Paris)Athlon XP's they are porting to socket 754, that will suck for the people that bought the socket 754 board for its 64 bit capability. Does AMD have any plans for a budget 64 bit chip? I know right now they offer the 2 offerings, but thats more like crazy high priced and mid ranged, not midranged and budget.


I need to get another rig setup, but I can probablly wait a few months. I just wonder how long it will take for socket 939 parts to actually become affordable. Assuming AMD keeps current pricing scheme, the socket 939 stuff will still ahve a big premium till it can saturate the market.

According to the roadmap on anandtech: AMD 2004 the socket 754 will be turned over to the Athlon XP (no 64 bit extensions)... this could change but????

The last thing to note are the two Socket-754 Athlon XPs on the chart; although clock speeds have yet to be determined, you can expect these two processors to feature an on-die memory controller just like their Athlon 64 brothers but have their 64-bit support disabled. The reduction in cache size to 256KB will decrease 32-bit performance by a noticeable amount, but they will make a good successor to the current Socket-A Athlon XPs.

 

[jrphoenix]

Originally posted by: Gusty987

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
Nope.
Plus windows will likely boot up without a fuss anyway, and worse come to worse you will need to do an repair install.

Ok. It doesn't matter that it's the cheap $80 "must buy with hardware" OEM version?

On another note, how much $ will the Socket 939 A64 3500+ (the lowest 939 chip) cost? And how much will the mobo's cost?

Prices haven't been announce... My guess is that they will be about the same price as the 3200+. Supposedly once socket 939 is release there will be a release of the 3500 & 3800... there should also be a socket 754 3700 at the same time.

I would assume the 3400 will take the price spot of the 3200 (this happened to the 3200 when 3400 was released) and the 3500 should be the same or a little more?

The 3500 should be less with the smaller die size but..... in the interest of profits it will probably be the same or a little more than the 3400.

 

[KDOG]

This is exactly why I'm holding on to my current config for a while longer. I'll wait till the dust settles before plunking down $$$ on hardware. Remember, we all know about 1st generation stuff....

 

[coolred]

Yeah AMD taking the Athlon XP to socket 754 the second half of 04 has me worried baout how long socket 754 will be supplied with 64 bit CPU's. I don't really want to, but it looks like I will be waiting for socket 939, until it is of acceptable price.

I also want to find a microATX Nforce3 250Gb board, it doesn't look as though any are thus far.

 

[SickBeast]

The last time I checked, Socket 754 looked pretty solid for the next year or so. I'm pretty sure AMD has close to 4000+ chips in their roadmaps for 754.

That said, if I were buying now I would wait for 939.

 

[coolred]

Yeah I guess thats about what i heard, I would just prefer to have more room for upgrade. I don't need the cutting edge. I upgrade once every year or 2, and would prefer to get 2 CPU upgrades out of a motherboard. I am just not sure if this will even happen with socket 939, with all the other new standards coming otu soon, by the time I am ready for my second upgrade, there may be so many new things that it would be worth it to go with a new board. In that case socket 754 would suffice.


I have no idea what to do, either way I am waiting for 939, to see what happens with its prices and the prices of the socket 754 stuff. I just don't feel like waiting several months for supply to overtake demand, and the prices to come down. How long would this be expected to take? Maybe they will get the boards out quick and it will only take a few weeks or a month.

 

[Zebo]

I don't know if it is but I'm looking for a board with

1. AGP/PCI lock
2. 800 mhz HT
3. Soundstrom quality audio
4. up to 1.8 Vcore
5. up to 3.3Vmem
6. 260+ FSB

LMK when that comes out and then it's time to buy no matter what socket that board calls for.