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[Kleegamefan]

So it seems like Socket 754 Athlon 64 mobos don't support dual-channel memory, ala the nForce2 and looking at the benchmarks, even an overclocked Mobile Barton isn't that hot (pun indended) compared to the Athlon 64s...

I decided I will just bypass both of those compromises and spend the extra $$$ with a socket 949 Athlon 64!!!

I will be buying the parts piece by piece anyway, so I will just take my time and get the better CPU...

OK

So...which do you think is a better value; an Athlon 64 3500+ ($342) or an Athlon 64 3800+ ($627)

I am not gonna spend the money for an FX-53 no matter what....I am really leaning towards the Socket 949 Athlon 64 3500+ at the moment...the 3700 is nearly double and $600+ dollars seems a little outrageous to me(hell, $342 bucks was waaay more than I was willing to spend at first, but you only live once)

Is the Athlon 64 3500+ OC-friendly?

Also, which is the best Socket 939 Mobo.....I guess I will now be going the PCI-E route too...and I am even willing to get a mobo with dual-PCI-E slots in case I can pick up a second nVidia 6800U and use the SLI arrangement....I would like to at least have that option...are there any Athlon 64 mobos with dual PCI-E slot on the horizon?

I figure I might as well spend the money and go for the PCI-E platform now.....I still plan on building an even faster comp. next year....maybe I will go with a Pentium 4 next time, or whatever Intel has out by that time....

Thank you all for the valuable info...

 

[ravingloon]

I could have swore I read Athlon 64's were multiplier locked, with the only unlocked version being the FX. Did a quick google search, and the 1st article I found seems to confirm this:

http://www.ocfaq.com/reviews/AMD/athlon64-3000/4

Maybe there are mods out there if you do research, but it's not as easy as otherwise would be. And if you're overclocking FSB only, you need good RAM.

My opinion on your 2 choices, unless you have a hole burning in your pocket, get the 3500.

 

[Slo]

Don't waste the money on the 3700.

 

[Kleegamefan]

Yeah, the 3700 is a socket 754 part, it seems..

Judging by those benchmarks, the 3500+ seems to be the "magic" Socket 939 chip with a vast majority of the 3800 and FX53 performance at a fraction of the price....

No way to overclock a 3500 then?

 

[ravingloon]

I wouldn't. It's not worth spending the extra $$$ getting RAM that's gonna guarantee you some flexibility when the process is complicated, slightly dangerous (From a fryout POV), and unceccessary from a FPS viewpoint.

 

[Kleegamefan]

Any news on dual PCI-E socket 939 mobos on the horizon?(The new nForce3s?)

BTW, how do nForce3 chipsets compare to the K8T800s?

Lastly, when do you think we will see the next ATI/nVidia video cards?

This year?

 

[DaCocoBrova]

^^

New != better

PCs are scaleable, so you can add as you go. All you need to determine at this point is the motherboard.

 

[Kleegamefan]

Yes, and what I am trying to figure out is when PCI-E mobos for Athlon 64 are due and if anyone has heard if anyone has solid plans to introduce a socket 939 mobo with two PCI-E slots in case I decide to add a 2nd nVidia GF 6800 in an SLI setup in the future...

 

[teh_pwn]

I have no idea how well the Socket 939s overclock, but I do know that with any CPU OC, the motherboard and RAM should be chosen very carefully.

Go lookup some mobo manufacturer forums and see what everyone else is doing.

That's how I OCed my P4 from 3.0 to 3.5 GHz. I went to Abit's forums and asked around and everyone helped me out. I found out that RAM could only be applied a max of 2.8 Volts unless you mod the mobo (abit IC7 max III), so they recommended some OCZ gold that worked up to PC4000 with 2.8 Volts (other sticks need like 3.0).

Edit:

I've never heard of this XP going to crap with OCing. I've been on an OC for 3 months and have had no instabilities. I've tried to OC more and the worst that's happened is I've had to reset CMOS on my mobo. I've never increased my CPU core voltage because that's where it gets dangerous.

Though, I do agree that new != better. According to the most recent Sandra, my P4 Northwood 3.0 GHz at 3.5 benches between the new LGA precotts 3.8GHz-4.0 GHz stock.

DDR2 and PCI-E are just names at the moment. My memory outbenches a lot of DDR2 RAM.

 

[Biff Hardbody]

At any rate, what do you guys think about these cases?

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=11-119-058&DEPA=0

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-119-030&depa=0

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-119-042&depa=0

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-141&depa=0

First, any of those cases would probably be excellent. I've heard nothing but good things about the Wavemaster and the Antec. I've heard the Antec is very cool. I would have bought it, but I found it ugly. Cooling should be first though.

I just did something to my system I wish I had known about prior to my system building, because it could have saved me some money and time. I'm using a Lian Li PC 65. Beautiful case, and extremely easy to work with. However, it runs hot. People I spoke to who had similar setups were 5-15 degrees cooler then mine. Since I spent allot of time and effort building my system, I wanted the temps to be more then safe.

Some advised me to buy a new heatsink, while others said I should change cases. In the end, I went with a costly alternative. A window mod from Frozen CPU. I bought a red tinted window with holes cutout for two 80 mm fans. I bought 2 coolermaster red led fans to go with it. Definitely costly, I could hvae bought another case for what it cost me. But, I really like this case and wanted to be done with it.

I was extremely surprised to see that the case and cpu went down a good 10+ degrees idle and under load. I finally felt safe. However, I noticed two more things.

One, which I am definitely sure of is the sound is better. I thought the music sounded really good when I started listening to it, but I didn't catch there had been a change. When I booted up Far Cry, I noticed explosions and sniper rifle shots sounded much fuller. I tried Battlefield Vietnam, and all the rifles sounded much more meatier. Doom sounds much more full in general. A really nice surprise.

I also noticed my performance went up in game. Not by much, but I didn't get the same drops in BFV I did before. I also ran the Doom flyby demo and got a better score then all the other times I tried before.

I'm guessing the sound is better because my sound card has a fan directly over it. The more stable frame rates are most certainly a result of the cooler cpu. I was surprised to see any performance increase from cooling, as I'm not OCing. So, a case with good cooling won't just make you able to OC more, it'll make your equipment perform as best as it can.

 

[Warrior]

I would recommend you go for the Antec SX1040BII. I had the pleasure of working with this case when I built a PC for family and I was extremely impressed at how much space this case has to offer and the ease of use. Thanks to its excellent internal design it keeps the Athlon-64 3000+ really cool (Around 40 Degrees Fahrenheit 100% load.) Sure it’s not as flashy as Lian Li cases, but I would rather performance over looks. And for the price it's very hard to beat.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-120&depa=0

 

[ravingloon]

Nobody's posted this yet (And I don't feel like it), but here's an article that should be of interest to you:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/01/nvidia_nforce_4_launch/

 

[Kleegamefan]

thank you ravingloon....

So the nForce4s support SLI configurations....this looks like the one to get....who is a good nForce vendor??

Abit?

ASUS?

DFI?

 

[ravingloon]

I'm assuming you've listed DFI because you've heard good things. Abit and Asus are the two old standbys that are always the safe picks.

Curious, I went to the Nforcer web site and read some of the speculation on the sound chip. Speculation seems to be it could be like NForce2 (With regards to vendors having options to pick... some better than others). Best bet, as always, wait for them to come out, read the reviews, and wait a little bit to see what pops up on the NForcerHQ forums to see which seems the most stable.

 

[Kleegamefan]

Thankx