AMD Systems

[TheSaint]

I have been looking to buy an AMD system and dont quite know what all the terms mean but i was looking at the AMD Athlon™ 64 FX -57 (Socket 939) CPU

the amd site has alot of info and is helpful but they dont really tell me what i want to know which is

which motherboard is the best to run they just give a list of Recommended Components so can anyone tell me which is the better one and why ?

http://www2.amd.com/us-en/recmobo/ResultsHandler/1,,30_182_869_9480^9481~73948,00.html

[Juggy]

Look for a nForce4 with SLI, I assume if you can afford the FX-57 proc you can afford 2 6600 or 6800 in SLI.

Asus make very good ones as do MSI.

[Scooby_Doo]

They coming out with new amd chips pretty soon if u wanna wait. they will be like $1000 but it should push the current chip prices down.

[Toxin]

The new ASUS A8N32 SLI-D is out. That's what I'm trying to get my hands on. If you're running SLI, both g-cards run at 16x instead of splitting it up into two 8x.

http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=0&model=744&modelmenu=1

[TheSaint]

@ Toxin i was looking at the same kind of thing from Abit

http://www2.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMODEL_NAME=AN8+32X&fMTYPE=Socket%20939&pPRODINFO=Specifications

now who would like to take a shot at which one is better and why?

[Toxin]

I think we can call it a draw. Why? Cause they both start with the letter A. :) Unlike some other ones that start with a G..... *cough*Gigabyte*cough* :p :D

*Edit* If anyone does go with an Asus board, don't go for the A8N SLI-D. There might still be ones with the faulty northbridge fan. Rather go with the A8N SLI Premium or the A8N32 SLI-D. They've got heatpipe technology.

[Juggy]

Don't buy gigabyte, I've had nothing nut problems with my K8NS-Pro-939

[TheSaint]

They've got heatpipe technology.
yeah and i looks way cooler too "no pun intended"

now i cant make my mind up i think i should sleep on it for a few days i have prints of both motherboards on my desk and i think i have just fallen in love with them both

dont call me a slut its not my fault the are beautiful, beautiful i tell you :p

@ JUGGY i agree with you 200 % GB is no good IMO

[TheSaint]

They coming out with new amd chips pretty soon if u wanna wait. they will be like $1000 but it should push the current chip prices down.

Hey Scooby what are they going to be bringing out do you have a link please

[rburley]

They are doing away with 939 next year for the new 940 socket.
BTW the fx57 is about R9k with little performance difference to the 4000+ (R3k)
not worth it imo. If you got that kind a cash get A x2 4800+( thats 2x 4000+ cpu's) MUCH more future proof

[useless]

SLI isnt too hot to look at really, it just gives you better AA & AF... heck, in the HDR benchmarks for Valve's Lost Coast a X850XT PE beat 2 x 7800GTX's in the benchmarks...

SLI is too young as yet to offer much over a single powerful card IMO... and extremely expensive too.

[Scooby_Doo]

AMD processor details suppressed
In Computer Hardware, submitted by sendekyo on 10/30/2005 2:13:04 PM

The Adrenaline Vault, a well-known web site got itself in hot water over an internal document it obtained. The document specified the prices and estimated release dates of two upcoming products that AMD will use to try and take attention away from upcoming release of Intel's i975X chipset and its 65 nano baby codenamed Presler.
It is obvious that AMD or one of its minions applied severe pressure in order to make the story dissapear from the face of the earth. However, the internet isn't limited to only one site, so pressuring one site lead to a multitude of stories elsewhere.

So, since AMD decided to pressure one site into not publishing news which were not very detailed, here is more info than was originally published.

The products in question are AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ and Athlon 64 FX-60. AMD isn't going from 57 to 59, but rather from 57 to 60, then to 65 and so on, to catch up with the Opteron numbering scheme and prepare for M2.

The clock speed wasn't specified in the leaked document, but you can expect 2.6 GHz for the 5000+, and here are the details of the last CPU to debut on Socket 939 platform: The FX-60 will run at 3.0 GHz and mark the end of single-core for FX CPUs.

The prices of the products were over a 1K dollars per piece. A very "nice price" for zero upgradeable platform.

And did we say that AMD will introduce 940-pin Socket M2 with DDR-II 667 memory at CeBIT? Of course, expect a whole hell breaking loose over same naming conventions. Two 5000+ CPUs, two 4800+, two single core 4000+, two 3800+ and two 3500+ will be on the menu.

Pure SKU frenzy and distributors/consumers scratching their heads. Socket M2 CPUs are currently being codenamed Windsor dual core and Orleans single-core. FX-60 will replay the role of FX-53, which was available in both Socket 940 and Socket 939 flavours.

Source: The Inquirer

[rburley]

I think if you going to buy a high end PC wait for next year...
The Fx-60 is around the corner plus also wait and see how ATi crossfire works in full force.
If you have to by now get X2 4800+

[useless]

Link for comparison between Crossfire, SLI and X850XT benchmarks with Valve's Lost Coast (http://www.amdzone.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=195&page=1)

[killadoob]

well i think if you double the speed of a card using amazing cooling and it can beat 2 7800's what does that mean?

geez if you overclock a 2.0ghz intel p4 cpu to 4 ghz and it beats an amd 4000+ what does that mean?

nothing


whats my point hmmm dont actually know

[rburley]

can a GTX beat 2 Crossfire x1800xt's
I dont think so, not even on jet fuel...

My opinion obviously....

but one fact is that the new ati's are really overclockable, so if you know what you are doing go ati

[useless]

well i think if you double the speed of a card using amazing cooling and it can beat 2 7800's what does that mean?

geez if you overclock a 2.0ghz intel p4 cpu to 4 ghz and it beats an amd 4000+ what does that mean?

nothing


whats my point hmmm dont actually know

lol.. it basically means you get 2x more performance for 2x less the price... :D

[eye_suc]

erm, i dont like SLI, not impressed by it at ALL. the price vs performance makes it only a nice gloating mechanism. "Ooh, mine is bigger than yours and also cost me a liver."

Strange that nobody has mentioned the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum... That board absolutely ROCKS! check out tomshardware for the benching. it compares favourably to the abit fatal1ty boards. they also come in SLI and non-SLI flavours

hmmmm

[useless]

is there any Nforce4 mobos which dont have problems with the Audigy 2 series of cards by the way?

[Juggy]

Strange that nobody has mentioned the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum... That board absolutely ROCKS! check out tomshardware for the benching. it compares favourably to the abit fatal1ty boards. they also come in SLI and non-SLI flavours

hmmmm

That's why I said MSI, I couldn't remember the model number though:doh:

[Angellus]

erm, i dont like SLI, not impressed by it at ALL. the price vs performance makes it only a nice gloating mechanism. "Ooh, mine is bigger than yours and also cost me a liver."

Strange that nobody has mentioned the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum... That board absolutely ROCKS! check out tomshardware for the benching. it compares favourably to the abit fatal1ty boards. they also come in SLI and non-SLI flavours

hmmmm

I have the MSI K8N SLI Platinum and it has given me no problems at all. Also runs nice.

[Angellus]

is there any Nforce4 mobos which dont have problems with the Audigy 2 series of cards by the way?

I run an NF4 SLI and an Audigy 2ZS and I have had no problems? What problems are you talking about?

[bin3]

I have to be different: Buy a Gigabyte - I have not used anything else than a Gigabyte on any of my AMD's. I have been using AMD's since the first 400MHz ones come out.

Currently running an AMD64 with a Gigabyte NVForce Chipset. Don't have the exact specs on me, but can find them for you if needed.

She runs like a dream. Have not had any problems at all.

I feel the 939 is a bit expensive for the performance you gain, but if I could afford it, I would definitely have done it.

Would still have bought a Gigabyte MB though. Just don't buy the cheap MB's. You really need to spend a bit of money on the MB, it is really one of your most important components.

Just make sure you give it enough RAM. 1GB is the bare minimum for a 64 I feel. From 2GB you start really performing.

SATA would be excellent;

A Gigabyte with a NForce chipset and a GeForce card, oh mummy ...

[rburley]

I have to be different: Buy a Gigabyte - I have not used anything else than a Gigabyte

same here, i have been really impressed with mine

[useless]

I run an NF4 SLI and an Audigy 2ZS and I have had no problems? What problems are you talking about?

well, from reading the Creative forums there are some problems with getting Nforce4 mobos to run with Audigy or Xi-Fi cards, some hardware or software issues.

I run an old Nforce2 mobo without issues, but seeing that you have an Nforce4 mobo without any Audigy issues would you care to let me know the make and model? If it had already been posted my apologies as i might have skipped it. :o

[Angellus]

well, from reading the Creative forums there are some problems with getting Nforce4 mobos to run with Audigy or Xi-Fi cards, some hardware or software issues.

I run an old Nforce2 mobo without issues, but seeing that you have an Nforce4 mobo without any Audigy issues would you care to let me know the make and model? If it had already been posted my apologies as i might have skipped it. :o

I have the MSI K8N SLI Platinum.

Here is the product page Click (http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=641)

It even has an onboard Sound Blaster Live! 24bit.

[killadoob]

lol thats awesome

[mic_y]

about the whole Gigabyte discussion: what problems have u ppl ever experienced with gigabyte? I have been running 3 gigabyte boards over the past 5 years, and never hada single issue with them. I am currently running a nForce 4 Ultra - K8NSU939 - and it has been working like a charm. Only thing that is stopping me from getting above 220MHz FSB is my k@k memory... I want Corsair XMS

[useless]

Corsair XMS is yummy... :D

[eye_suc]

erm, what performance increase do you experience with the highly overpriced "performance" memory? according to toms the gains are negligable.

just got my own K8n Neo ... DROOOL!

@mic_y: I own 2 gigabyte boards, also no complaints so far. my reason for switching to MSI is the amazing performance of the K8N Neo4 boards.

[useless]

erm, what performance increase do you experience with the highly overpriced "performance" memory? according to toms the gains are negligable.

from Aquamark tests i get a combined CPU and GPU score increase of around 5000 points since i am able to overclock the FSB to 210Mhz which only translates to 420Mhz FSB. Only that small difference is enough to impress me.

Since i got a GA Nforce2 mobo the limit is 210mhz, but when one day i upgrade i can still use the same RAM and try to overclock a bit further.

[Person]

You have Pm

[rburley]

This is BS i want to upgrade sooo badly but the price is just not justified: It will be like a R8000 upgrade for like only 25% performance increase, i guess i will wait for next year....

[Chris]

@Rburley: Nothing is ever fair in life ;)

@SLI-debate: I'm sure ThisGeek can provide some info for us ;). I.e maybe a BF2 FPS test with 1 7800GT.

[Silent_Bob]

rather wait for prices to come down, or if you need the stuff now then get it, read my sig and if you want prices PM me

[Person]

Read my SIG ^^

[Afrikane]

about the whole Gigabyte discussion: what problems have u ppl ever experienced with gigabyte? I have been running 3 gigabyte boards over the past 5 years, and never hada single issue with them. I am currently running a nForce 4 Ultra - K8NSU939 - and it has been working like a charm. Only thing that is stopping me from getting above 220MHz FSB is my k@k memory... I want Corsair XMS
I have built hundreds of machines around Gigabyte mobos and never had a serious issue with any of them. Except the new 8N-SLI-R, I went through 3 boards in 2 weeks. Wierd instability problems with all of them and I was not the only one, I have heard from others about the problems they were having with the mobo as well. I don't know what the issue could be as the problems were not consistent with all the boards. To date I have built 5 machines around the AMD flavour, the K8NXP-SLI with zero problems.

[eye_suc]

from Aquamark tests i get a combined CPU and GPU score increase of around 5000 points since i am able to overclock the FSB to 210Mhz which only translates to 420Mhz FSB. Only that small difference is enough to impress me.

Since i got a GA Nforce2 mobo the limit is 210mhz, but when one day i upgrade i can still use the same RAM and try to overclock a bit further.
allright, so its overclockable :)

but, what performance increase do you have on a normal modern system (max 6months old) with no overclocking? hmmm, guess i'll have to go look for some benches again.

PS: How is CL 2.5 RAM?

[useless]

allright, so its overclockable :)

but, what performance increase do you have on a normal modern system (max 6months old) with no overclocking? hmmm, guess i'll have to go look for some benches again.

PS: How is CL 2.5 RAM?

before overclocking i had a score of 46000 and after overclocking ADN 81.85 nvidia drivers the system is currently @ 55000. Not bad for a puny Athlon XP 3200.. :p

AMD boards can only run @ CL 2.5 while Intel go as low as CL 2. So even if these Corsairs are rated CL2 the AMD mobo wont go that low.

[eye_suc]

cool! so i got cheap good performance RAM :) i dont wanna overclock em though :P

i am also building my machine this weekend with a 3500+... whats that about PUNY 3200+? GOOD GRIEF!
/me checks ninja pc getting angry...

hmmm, increase of 9000 points. yum!

[eye_suc]

oi, useless! where do you find stable 5.11 drivers? and how good are they and what are the increases in performance etc.. :)

[useless]

you mean the nForce3 drivers (http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce3_winxp_5.11)? or the ATI video drivers?

i only have a nForce2 mobo thus wont be using the 5.11 Nvidia Forceware drivers...

[eye_suc]

ah, that was my misunderstanding... i was refering to the ATI drivers.

i thought they were still in beta and when i saw you talking about 5.11 I nearly crapped myself...

/me checks out his little stain

hope the boss didnt wanna keep this chair

[mic_y]

AMD boards can only run @ CL 2.5 while Intel go as low as CL 2. So even if these Corsairs are rated CL2 the AMD mobo wont go that low.

Since where did you find that out. First of all, if your memory POSTS at CL2 then the onchip memory controller will run it at CL2. I have heard that some people have gotten OCZ to run at CL1.5 on some Athlons. The memory controller on the Athlon is much better than the controller on any of the Intel Chipsets...

[useless]

Since where did you find that out. First of all, if your memory POSTS at CL2 then the onchip memory controller will run it at CL2. I have heard that some people have gotten OCZ to run at CL1.5 on some Athlons. The memory controller on the Athlon is much better than the controller on any of the Intel Chipsets...

maybe the AMD64 mobos run @ CL2 but the pre-AMD64 mobos only run on Cl2.5

www.amdzone.com

[mic_y]

maybe the AMD64 mobos run @ CL2 but the pre-AMD64 mobos only run on Cl2.5

www.amdzone.com

Once again, incorrect. I myself had a EPoX running an Athlon 1.4GHz with an AMD760 chipset running at CL2. That was even before the AthlonXP.

[useless]

Once again, incorrect. I myself had a EPoX running an Athlon 1.4GHz with an AMD760 chipset running at CL2. That was even before the AthlonXP.

err, so you had CL2 RAM running on THAT motherboard at THAT time? wow... :eek:

EDIT :

oh well my bad, did some googling and did find articles on CL2 settings with CAS and RAS timings with various AMD mobos, i dont think i found the right website when i was placing the settings for my mobo at first. I do wonder though by how much more could i push my system....

[Gldm]

*eyerolls* lower CAS latencies aren't a new thing. My P2 300 was running CAS2 because I bought 10ns SDRAM for a PC-66 system in 1997 or so.

[TheSaint]

so i just want to find out quick what video cards are on the market that are worth having a look at for 256 MB

Forget about it

i see that there is a thread for this already my bad

[swannie]

Don't buy gigabyte, I've had nothing nut problems with my K8NS-Pro-939
:o Haven't a days problem wit my K8N Pro-SLI

[Person]

:o Haven't a days problem wit my K8N Pro-SLI You sure, those boards are dodgy