What Do You Make of This Bundle?

Captain LeChuck · 29 Jul 2006 at 19:55

Hi guys what do you make of this bundle?

Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-131-AS)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM)
Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 (MY-079-CS)
Total price - 408.85 plus VAT

I was thinking avbout getting the 4600+ as it is only a fiver more expensive

I was particulary thinking about the new AM2 socket type, how long do you think before 939 proccessors are hard to get? Will an AM2 based system be any more expensive?

Monstermunch · 29 Jul 2006 at 20:02

Don't bother with the 4600, the 4400 is a better chip cos it has 1mb l2 cache per core instead of the 512k per core on the 3800, 4200 & 4600 chips.

As for AM2, there is no performance gain whatsoever to be had by buying it, personally for the price i'd either stick with s939 or go for a Conroe rig.

semi-pro waster · 29 Jul 2006 at 20:06

Monstermuch is right, there is next to no difference performance wise between AM2 and socket 939 but socket 939 as a platform has been more extensively tested at this point so any bugs should have been smoothed out hopefully. If you have no brand allegience you might want to consider Conroe but the X2 4400 is still a very good chip.

The 4400 is a better chip due to the 1mb L2 cache so he is right there as well

Also the motherboard is a touch expensive unless you are thinking about going Crossfire, I'd probably suggest something based on the Nforce4 Ultra chipset as representing better value for money.

lee87 · 29 Jul 2006 at 20:07

Don't buy a bundle, get the parts seperate as it works out cheaper.

semi-pro waster · 29 Jul 2006 at 20:13

lee87 said:
Don't buy a bundle, get the parts seperate as it works out cheaper.

Very true, I normally check that but forgot here since I was suggesting changing parts anyway. Quick look in the basket shows you save ~£40 before VAT as here.

CP-127-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM)
£139.95 £139.95
MB-131-AS Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-131-AS)
£99.95 £99.95
MY-079-CS Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 (MY-079-CS)
£129.95 £129.95
Subtotal £369.85
VAT £64.73
Total £434.58

Monstermunch · 29 Jul 2006 at 20:14

Try this instead:

CP-127-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM)
£139.95 £139.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF)
£74.95 £74.95
MY-079-CS Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 (MY-079-CS)
£129.95 £129.95
Subtotal £344.85
VAT £60.35
Total £405.20

Same Money, but inc vat instead of +

Captain LeChuck · 29 Jul 2006 at 20:23

Thanks all for replies very good suggestions!

Monstermunch your bundle looks very good, however what do you make of the DFI board as i have not researched it much. I am biased towards ASUS as the only upgrade i have ever bought was an ASUS 9600xt for my dads pc and have had a good experience with it!

I defiently think I will go for the 4400+ you have all convinced me!

Pizzaboy2003 · 29 Jul 2006 at 20:41

for that price why not look at Intel C2D setup. Mine cost me £430.00inc Vat
best move i have ever made from a Amd setup running 3ghz opteron.

Monstermunch · 29 Jul 2006 at 21:01

The DFI Ultra-D is probably the best nForce4 mobo on the market

Naffa · 29 Jul 2006 at 21:43

CP-170-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4600+ 2.40GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-170-AM)
£144.95 £144.95
MY-034-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL)
£104.95 £104.95
MB-144-AS Asus M2N-SLi Deluxe (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-144-AS)
£89.95 £89.95
Subtotal £339.85
VAT £59.48
Total £399.33

Why don't you go AM2? :confused:

It's slightly cheaper and will be more future proof as it's the chipset AMD will release future CPUs on.

semi-pro waster · 30 Jul 2006 at 02:14

naffa said:
Why don't you go AM2?

It's slightly cheaper and will be more future proof as it's the chipset AMD will release future CPUs on.

The only thing is that the 4600 has 512kb per core rather than the 1mb of the 4400, you can make up the speed difference(which is minimal with the extra cache anyway) with overclocking but you can't make up the missing cache

The best argument I can see for AM2 at the moment is DDR2 which means that you could easily swap the Ram for a Conroe system if you choose but other than that there is nothing that makes me think AM2 is any better right now.

Naffa · 30 Jul 2006 at 21:45

Me neither, there is no performance gain whatsoever. All I'm saying is it would be a lot wiser as it will be more future proof. Thats the platform AMD will be releasing CPUs onto from now till their next socket. So its more future proof...

iraiguana · 30 Jul 2006 at 23:16

am i missing something? why not try and get the E6300 and mobo + ram as better performing and get decent overclocks.

Sir Random · 31 Jul 2006 at 00:58

iraiguana said:
am i missing something? why not try and get the E6300 and mobo + ram as better performing and get decent overclocks.

Agreed,
The 4400+ is a good upgrade option for anyone with an existing socket 939 rig, but anyone building a new £400+ system should be looking at conroe. Skt 939 is old-tech, whereas conroe offers the best bang for buck, good o/clocking, and future upgrades.

Naffa · 31 Jul 2006 at 01:32

iraiguana said:
am i missing something? why not try and get the E6300 and mobo + ram as better performing and get decent overclocks.

Umm.. Yeah... What was I thinking Lol.

trojan698 · 31 Jul 2006 at 01:51

Indeed.

MB-061-GI Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI)
£94.95 £94.95
CP-135-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN)
£114.95 £114.95
HS-017-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-017-AR)
£14.95 £14.95
MY-012-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-5400PHU2-2GBLA) (MY-012-GS)
£99.95 £99.95
Subtotal £324.80
VAT £56.84
Total £381.64

Naffa · 31 Jul 2006 at 10:33

taz488 · 31 Jul 2006 at 10:46

what are you talking about? the reason to go am2 is that 939 is just about dead, they will all be gone by the end of year at latest then youll only be able to buy second hand from the bay or summat if you want an upgrade cpu, and if am2 is the same price and there is better memory available for it (ddr2) then when getting a new pc there is NO reason whatsoever to go 939. (oh yea and there is a small performance increase but only a few % from 939 to am2).

but thats besides the point get conroe cos everyone raves about it 24/7.

BottledDog · 31 Jul 2006 at 12:28

trojan698 said:
Indeed.

MB-061-GI Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI)
£94.95 £94.95
CP-135-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN)
£114.95 £114.95
HS-017-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-017-AR)
£14.95 £14.95
MY-012-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-5400PHU2-2GBLA) (MY-012-GS)
£99.95 £99.95
Subtotal £324.80
VAT £56.84
Total £381.64

So do you have this set up and running?

It is basically what I was hoping to get as soon as I can get the cash together (apart from I thought going for the G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NR PC2-6400 might be worth the extra, though to be honest I don't have a great deal of a clue).