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X2-3800, X2-4400, Opteron 170 or P4-930

Can't wait for Conroe, need a new system this week or early next at latest - current rig is deaded...

So to sum up:

Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard
Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3500LL Pro TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2
AMD Opteron UP 170 Dual Core San Diego 2.0GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939)

£519.85

Potentially the best overclocks by significant margin
No upgrade route as DDR and socket is being replaced

Asus P5WD2-E Premium Intel 975X (LGA775) PCI-Express Motherboard
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-8000 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-8000PHU2-2GBHZ)
Intel Pentium 4 930 Dual Core "LGA775 Presler" 3.0GHz (800FSB) - Retail

Good overclocker
Potential upgrade route to Conroe and supports DDR2 for future proofing

£539.85

CP-166-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-8000 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-8000PHU2-2GBHZ)
Asus M2N32-SLi-DLX nForce 590 SLi (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboad

New AM2 platform and DDR2 for future proofing
Unknown overclocking abilities

£594.85

Still struggling for a decision here... Each has their pro's and con's
 
Explicit said:
This might help you decide: How often do you upgrade your rig (I mean in terms of CPUs, RAM)?
Click to expand...


Bought my current rig in fall 2001 as a 2800 Barton and 8RDA+ mainboard. Been through 2 mainboards (1 upgrade 1 failure), 4 HD upgrades, DVD Rewriter upgrade, 1 Graphics card upgrade, 2 Cooler upgrades and 1 RAM upgrade since then.

Only original thing is the CPU and that's because I was pretty much ceilinged with the other hardware.
 
sprognak said:
Bought my current rig in fall 2001 as a 2800 Barton and 8RDA+ mainboard

Only original thing is the CPU and that's because I was pretty much ceilinged with the other hardware.
Click to expand...

So you tend to keep the CPU for a long time...so why don't you just buy the best CPU that is currently on the market. Plus you'll be buying 2GB of RAM, that's plenty of RAM - you wont need more of that anytime soon. Plus, by the time you buy your next CPU (say a few years later...2008/2009?), we might even be on DDR3, brand new mobo sockets, new CPUs etc etc. Nothing is future proof, just buy the best that is available today.

HTH :)
 
Hmmmm


Speculating for the Opteron rig here then..

Would the Asus board be the best choice? I'm currently using a Lanparty NF Ultra B for my Barton rig and it's done well.

Considerations:

Sound levels
OC Capability
 
I'm not entirely sure about the Asus board, but I can tell you that if you're looking to the best overclocking motherboards, look at the DFI range. Very stable at high fsb's, lots of tweaking options in the bios.

As for noise, the chipset fan is slightly noisy, but you can buy a Zalman passive northbridge cooler for £5 here from OcUK.
 
I have all of the s939 CPUs you have mentioned.

The 170 and the X2 4400 both clock to similar speeds (around 2.6 in my case) but the 4400 seems slightly quicker.

The X2 3800 clocks to an amazing 2.95 on air (I never tested for stability as I didn't have time so I took it back down to 2.85 whilst I'm away - no problems running F@H 24/7 so far).

I agree with easyrider about the motherboard. I tried the X2 3800 on an Asus board first and managed 2.85 , then I tried it on the Expert and got the 2.95. I love the DFI board and will be getting one for my next system (probably another X2 3800).

Stan :)
 
sprognak said:
Hmmmm


Speculating for the Opteron rig here then..

Would the Asus board be the best choice? I'm currently using a Lanparty NF Ultra B for my Barton rig and it's done well.

Considerations:

Sound levels
OC Capability
Click to expand...

The DFI expert is the best s939 mobo is the best mobo to get !

period!
 
Can the DFI hit 350 on the HT bus?[/QUOTE]

It better do as I hope to get my X2 3800 to 3.50 when I get my phase :p

I'm pretty sure it can, I'm sure I've seen posts on other forums where it is claimed that people have had them up to 350 but I can't find any hard evidence.

Stan :)
 
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