Athlon 64: Which Socket?

  • Thread starter Shannon
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Shannon

Shannon

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Well, my old(ish) computer died the other week so I'm in the process of gathering parts for a new computer. I've decided to go with 64 bit to avoid having to upgrade in the near future, so an Athlon 64 was the obvious choice. Well, now I'm stumped about something.

I see they offer both Socket 754 and Socket 939 Athlon 64s. What is the difference between the two exactly? Should I choose one over the other or does it not really matter? I did notice the Socket 754 range ends at the 3400+, whereas the S939 range goes all the way up to the new fancy 4000+ models. So, the only reason I can see to go with S939 is that S754 is already dead.

Also, if S939 is the way to go, would anyone be able to recommend a good, but not overly expensive mobo (boards with SLI, for example, cost a fortune and I have no need for it really).

Thanks. :)
 
754 is for the low-end market and 939 is for mainstream and high-end. Also, 754 does not support Dual Channel memory or Hyper Transport. Get 939 if you want to upgrade later on to a higher clocked CPU or a dual core CPU.

Check out this roadmap: http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2303

754 stops at 3700+, while 939 is inching closer to 3 GHz at 4200+.

A motherboard with the nForce 3 chipset would be the best.
 
Viper Zero
754 is for the low-end market and 939 is for mainstream and high-end. Also, 754 does not support Dual Channel memory or Hyper Transport. Get 939 if you want to upgrade later on to a higher clocked CPU or a dual core CPU.

Check out this roadmap: http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2303

754 stops at 3700+, while 939 is inching closer to 3 GHz at 4200+.

A motherboard with the nForce 3 chipset would be the best.
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Hmm, interesting roadmap. I guess it's not long before 754 drops off the face of the planet, so 939 looks like the go. Thanks. 👍

I've seen boards with nForce 4 chipsets, but they're quite expensive. Is they're much difference between the nForce 3 & 4 worth the price gap?
 
The main difference between the nForce 3 and 4 is PCI-Express. Some minor improvements like 1000 MHz Hyper Transport (instead of 800 MHz), native on-board gigabit LAN, more USB ports and SATA controllers. Other than that, they are the same.
 
Viper Zero
The main difference between the nForce 3 and 4 is PCI-Express. Some minor improvements like 1000 MHz Hyper Transport (instead of 800 MHz), native on-board gigabit LAN, more USB ports and SATA controllers. Other than that, they are the same.
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Exactly....

One thing though that makes the nForce3 the best chipset EVER - Soundstorm.. MAN do I miss that.. Real time 5.1 DD encoding with digital out.. Nothing comes close to that....
 
PCI Express is cheaper than AGP here now ... Wait another month or two and it'll probably be the same there ...

Buying a motherboard w/ AGP will completely kill the ability to upgrade/replace your graphics card ...
 
Jmac279
Buying a motherboard w/ AGP will completely kill the ability to upgrade/replace your graphics card ...
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Agreed. ATi and NVidia are already well under way to getting rid of AGP cards, so you'll definitley want a PCI express board unless you don't plan on upgrading your gfx card (unless you don't mind also upgrading the mobo at the same time). I know for sure that I'm going to be going with a PCI gfx card when I build a new comp in a couple of months time.
 
Jmac279
PCI Express is cheaper than AGP here now ... Wait another month or two and it'll probably be the same there ...

Buying a motherboard w/ AGP will completely kill the ability to upgrade/replace your graphics card ...
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God damn I hate new standards. :grumpy:

Anyway, I found a Radeon X800XT PCI-E card $30 more than the AGP8x version. 👍
 
Shannon
Hmm, in that case, the Gigabyte GA-K8NS Ultra-939 mobo looks reasonable. nForce 4 doesn't sound that interesting to me as PCI-Express is a little harsh on the wallet at the moment.
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I'd avoid Gigabyte boards. I've heard too many horror stories about them, and I haven't bought one to play with to form my own opinions about them. I can't recommend that anyone use them until I've played with one for myself. I suggest you stick to ASUS, MSI, ABIT, Tyan, ECS, Supermicro, or Intel boards.
 
I've been using Gigabyte boards for years and haven't had any problems whatsoever ... Pretty much every computer I've built (several dozen at least) had a Gigabyte board ...
 
Jmac279
I've been using Gigabyte boards for years and haven't had any problems whatsoever ... Pretty much every computer I've built (several dozen at least) had a Gigabyte board ...
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*shrug* And you can find people that hate MSI boards because every one they've ever had has been "strange." There are always flukes... statistically speaking I hear about more Gigabyte boards with problems than any other manufacturer.

I'm not saying they're bad boards... I'm just saying that I've heard too many bad things about them to recommend them to anyone until I can get my hands on one and see for myself.
 
Geeky1
I'd avoid Gigabyte boards. I've heard too many horror stories about them, and I haven't bought one to play with to form my own opinions about them. I can't recommend that anyone use them until I've played with one for myself. I suggest you stick to ASUS, MSI, ABIT, Tyan, ECS, Supermicro, or Intel boards.
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Well, now that I need an nForce 4 board for PCI-E, I ended up changing my mind and going with the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum board.
 
That MSI is a great board. I'm personally looking to get the SLI version of that board for my next upgrade. It has more features than the ASUS or DFI equivalent.
 
Geeky1
I'd avoid Gigabyte boards. I've heard too many horror stories about them, and I haven't bought one to play with to form my own opinions about them. I can't recommend that anyone use them until I've played with one for myself. I suggest you stick to ASUS, MSI, ABIT, Tyan, ECS, Supermicro, or Intel boards.
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I wouldn't recommend an intel board. I fried the AGP slot on my intel board two years ago when I was upgrading from my Radeon 7000 to the Radeon 9700. I needed a whole new mobo, so I got an Asus P4P800, and it's proved to be a superior board. The good experience I've had with the Asus is likely going to push me to buy another Asus board soon.
 
Ive got a NF4 (Asus A8N-SLI) and no probs what so ever with it but, yeah they arent cheap though.
 

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