Law One to be upgraded... Choice #1 The Motherboard.

[law.of.averages]

I've upgraded Law One about as far as it can go without throwing money down the dead end streets called Socket-A and AGP.

My first impression is to go with this beauty from Asus. I've had about 8 Asus boards so far, and the 2 that I've abused to the point of failure were quickly replaced, no-questions asked. I see it as a nice board, that will carry me through incremental upgrades over the next couple of years.

This would lock me into the AM2 socket for the forseeable future, as upgrades eventually trickle down to the other machines in the house. My impression (and hope) is that AM2 will last at least as long as Socket-A has.

But I'm willing to entertain other ideas. As much as possible, please confine the topic to motherboards, as that choice will determine the future path of Law One.

[Dr.Feelgood]

Umm....have you considered Intel's Conroe platform or is it flat out?

[law.of.averages]

Umm....have you considered Intel's Conroe platform or is it flat out?

Right now i'll consider anything...

[Porkinator]

The Core 2 Duo is the fastest one out there. There are several models to choose from and if you have the resources take a look at the e6700. It has 4 mg cache onboard and can be easily overclocked to out preform the Extreme model which is around the 1000.00 point.
If you gonna go that route consider getting some OC or Corsair
DDR2 800 to max out the preformance. I suggest a minimun of 2 GB .This will not be a very cheap computer but it will last for a while. The only thing I don't like about Intel is all the damn chipsets they have and they keep changing them it seems like everyday.
AM2 sockets however should be good for a couple of years as I read AMD is not going to support DDR3 Ram until 2008.
I would get a very very good power supply and the best video card you can afford but I suggest you get one with 512 of RAM . I am not sure what video cards are Vista ready but you can visit Nvidias
and ATI s' website to see.

[law.of.averages]

First up, and for the record, here's the stats on Law One in it's current incarnation:

Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
AMD 3000+ XP
2G OCZ Platinum XTC PC3200 DDR400 RAM
ATI 9800XT
Hitachi 160G SATA
Creative Labs Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer

Again I want to stress that a good upgrade path is important, and I'm willing to take less performance today if it means I can carry things forward that much longer. My plan is to try to stay around $1000, and skimp on the video card this round if that's what it takes to stay in budget ... it's still going to be better than my XT which doesn't even make the performance charts anymore

Pork, have you got a particular motherboard you are thinking of?

[Porkinator]

I highly suggest a dual core cpu.
Look at the 3800x2 or 4200x2.

[Rom]

Hello Law

Like you must know it,i have choose to built a core 2 duo set up

Asus p5w dh deluxe
Conroe core 2 duo e6400 2.13 mhz and i run it @ at 2.55
2 gig of Ocz ddr2 667mgz extrem gamer
Power supply Antec true power 2 550w 38 amp on 12 v rail
Evga 7900gtx 512 meg

I must say that i am very happy whit this set up.I dint buy a bigger Cpu cause they are overclockable very easyly this way you will save money for something else.

For the memory i have read a lot of review and they have all say that the conroe dont need to have very big memory to be fast,all test they have run have show that ddr 800 give like 2% more speed than ddr2 667,so its why i dint buy ddr 800,the price is to high if you compare the difference of performance between them.

The Cpu run very,very cold compared to the other generation of intel cpu.when i am on the desktop he is around 28 and at full load in a game he is around 31 to 32,but i dont have those temp whit the intel fan i have put on the zalman cnps 9500.

So i think you should consider to buy an intel,i have nothing agains Amd they make good product but at the moment the best buy is the conroe.

and for the Mobo like non have said,just wait some cheaper mobo will get out very soon.

[law.of.averages]

Ok this is what I'm looking at.. (using zipzoomfly as a pricepoint)

If AMD:

Asus CrossHair $239
AMD Athalon 64 Dual-Core 4200+ (65W) $190

If Intel:

Asus P5W DH Deluxe $239
Intel Core 2 Duo E 6400 $222

So Intel would be (roughly) $30 more than AMD, depending on where I buy.

Feature wise, here's the differences I see.

Code: Select all

ITEM           AMD Board     Intel Board
FSB(max)          2000          1066
PCI Exp x1             0               2
PCI Exp x4             1               0
USB Ports(max)    10               8
SATA (int)              6               6 (i think)
SATA (ext)             2               1
Audio            ADI 1988B   Realtech ALC882M
WiFi                    No              Yes?


Comments?

[myxxplyxx]

myself....I'm going to wait until 2007 is about to be released...by then there will be more motherboards for dual core and a new video card generation...my old system still runs 2004

[nonstop]

Core Duo all the way man. But in your situation where you pass them down and want to be able to upgrade them the AM2 socket is going to be around a while longer as it will support the next iteration of AM2 socket cpu's however no one knows if they will compare with core 2 duo yet and they won't be out until 2007. I don't think you could go wrong either way if your going to upgrade the AM2 board eventually but if you want to just pass it down without buying another cpu, just get a conroe as they are running 70% faster than AMDs best right now in some apps and you can o/c the hell out of them.

There is my 2c.

[law.of.averages]

In the past when things got handed down, it was usually a piece at a time...

Like when my first A7V blew out... went out and picked up an A7V133, because I couldn't wait for the RMA. When the RMA got back, that became someone's upgrade...etc etc etc.

It never ends! One of my sisters had her box here last night (oddly enough, the same A7V) needing a new hard drive.

If you could say the intel socket would be around as long... I wouldn't hesitate (well maybe a little :p) to jump on 70% faster.

I do wonder about the FSB though...

[nonstop]

Law the vid card is definately a consideration if your going to get vista. I know if you get it at all you will be smart and wait for the first service pack in 08. However all the latest games will be written with directx10 and that is only available in Vista and there are some major improvements in the graphic area.

My point is, you can't buy a directx10 vid card right now so weigh that in and maybe it wouldn't make sense to spend a ton on a directx9 card right now as they are at the end of their lifecycle. Maybe play it safe and get a 7900gs or 1900xt.

[law.of.averages]

Law the vid card is definately a consideration if your going to get vista. I know if you get it at all you will be smart and wait for the first service pack in 08. However all the latest games will be written with directx10 and that is only available in Vista and there are some major improvements in the graphic area.

My point is, you can't buy a directx10 vid card right now so weigh that in and maybe it wouldn't make sense to spend a ton on a directx9 card right now as they are at the end of their lifecycle. Maybe play it safe and get a 7900gs or 1900xt.

This thread is about the motherboard As I said earlier, I'll probably skimp a bit on the video card for now anyways... just to get me to to the PCI Express platform, and something that's not 4 years old.

[nonstop]

Law the vid card is definately a consideration if your going to get vista. I know if you get it at all you will be smart and wait for the first service pack in 08. However all the latest games will be written with directx10 and that is only available in Vista and there are some major improvements in the graphic area.

My point is, you can't buy a directx10 vid card right now so weigh that in and maybe it wouldn't make sense to spend a ton on a directx9 card right now as they are at the end of their lifecycle. Maybe play it safe and get a 7900gs or 1900xt.

This thread is about the motherboard As I said earlier, I'll probably skimp a bit on the video card for now anyways... just to get me to to the PCI Express platform, and something that's not 4 years old.

Welll... excuseeeee me mr. always ontopic!

[law.of.averages]

I'll have you know that I am always on topic... Just because the thread isn't ...well that's not my problem


Looks like I may have to make up my mind soon.. Having trouble getting 1.5 MB RAM (it's value ram) to work in the wife's system, and she needs more for her virtual machines.

Maybe I'll just flip a coin