Author Topic: Considering Upgrade: New Mobo suggestions? (Read 478 times)

OIO · « **on:** March 24, 2004, 11:06:59 PM »

Currently i have :

Asus A7M266 mobo
AMD ATHLON 1.4ghz
512 pc2100 DDR RAM.

Thinking of an AMD 64 3400+ processor (gah i hate this new system..thats like 2.5 ghz?) with 1 gig of 2700 DDR RAM.

Ive read the 64 bit processors really boost gaming perfomance...

or should I go for a 3.X GHZ pentium4 with 1 gig of high end RDRAM?

LAWCobra · « **Reply #1 on:** March 24, 2004, 11:11:37 PM »

Cant go wrong with Asus:aok

OIO · « **Reply #2 on:** March 24, 2004, 11:13:50 PM »

well the mobo ill use depends on what chipset ill be using.

AMD 64 bit or P4?

i dont know enough about the 2 but I know a certain vet here loves to post page-long techie stuff that makes tomshardware pale in comparison

LAWCobra · « **Reply #3 on:** March 24, 2004, 11:16:49 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by OIO
well the mobo ill use depends on what chipset ill be using.

AMD 64 bit or P4?

i dont know enough about the 2 but I know a certain vet here loves to post page-long techie stuff that makes tomshardware pale in comparison

Asus has you covered on both counts pick yer poison LOL

Batz · « **Reply #4 on:** March 24, 2004, 11:41:00 PM »

Bloom posted this in a thread in the H & S 'ware forum

Quote

Now is actually not a good time to build a new system. None of the current motherboards for either AMD or Intel will be upgradable. AMD moves the Athlon 64 to Socket 939, with the launch scheduled for March 29th. Intel is moving to "socket" 775. (it doesn't have pins, so it isn't technically a socket) just a few weeks later. This means that anything you build now will not have a CPU upgrade path. It gets even worse though, as Intel is moving to PCI Express and dropping the AGP slot. AMD Athlon 64 boards will move to PCI Express a little later in the year as well. That means that a board with only an AGP slot will be difficult to buy new video cards beyond the current state of the art as early as mid-2005. It's also worth mentioning that even the ATX form factor for cases will likely be moving to the new BTX form factor by the end of the year as well. There's also DDR2 memory that will start to show up on Intel's next high end P4 chipset, Alderwood (i925).

Basically if you build a system now you won't be able to upgrade it (CPU, Video, and possibly memory) without replacing the motherboard and maybe the case in as little as a year.

If you can't wait, the Athlon XP 2500+ on an Asus A7N8X series board is a good deal right now.

BlckMgk · « **Reply #5 on:** March 24, 2004, 11:41:45 PM »

http://www.extremetech.com has an article out with some machines they built AMD vs Intel good read, with good suggestions.

Lizking · « **Reply #6 on:** March 24, 2004, 11:57:19 PM »

Never buy state of the art, always buy the next tier back-bugs are worked out, upgrades are in the pipe, and there is no premium just so you can say you have it.

Gixer · « **Reply #7 on:** March 25, 2004, 03:52:33 AM »

Why does everyone always just thinik ASUS?

Epox boards are just as fast if not faster, more overclock friendly and half the price. Save the money on the board and spend it on the best ram u can afford.

~~...-Gixer~~

Tuomio · « **Reply #8 on:** March 25, 2004, 07:44:30 AM »

This is as good time to upgrade your PC as any other. There is ALWAYS something revolutionary around the corner, you can add 1 year to estimates of "new super techx", unless you are rich and stupid enough to go with the first wave.

Look for MB reviews, usually Asus comes on top. The thing to look in them is northbridge and southbridge chipsets, there are few different chipset manufacturers around. Differences (usually related to stability) can be drastical especially if you drive at the edge of their limitations. And like gixer mentioned, Epox is reliable brand too, but can be harder to obtain.

lazs2 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 25, 2004, 08:26:47 AM »

If there is a huge upgrade coming that will make all the other boards "obsolete" doesn't that make it a good time to upgrade? the old stuff (twice or more as powerful as what I have now)will get real cheap and it should run AH for a couple of more years right?

lazs

Wanker · « **Reply #10 on:** March 25, 2004, 10:18:43 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Gixer
Why does everyone always just thinik ASUS?

Epox boards are just as fast if not faster, more overclock friendly and half the price. Save the money on the board and spend it on the best ram u can afford.

~~...-Gixer~~

Gixer, I think the reason a lot of people use ASUS is because they have a great record of being solid, stable and fast boards.

The last time I upgraded, I was lured to the new hotshot Abit board, and it was so unstable I couldn't even get WinXP installed on it. After three days of struggling, I finally gave up and exchanged it for an Asus P4C800, which was rock solid from day one.

If your free time is limited, like mine, it pays to stay with the brand that is stable and works straight out of the box.

As always, YMMV.

LAWCobra · « **Reply #11 on:** March 25, 2004, 10:37:01 AM »

Yeppers Im using the Asus P4P800
With a Pent4 2.4 overclocked to 3.0 @1000mgz FSB on stock intell air cooler and it is stable as a rock for the last 3 months.
Inexspensive board and It just plain works.

Torque · « **Reply #12 on:** March 25, 2004, 10:41:48 AM »

Just make sure you buy vendor certified Ram, recently i bought two new Asus mobo they ran fine on generic 512 sticks of 400 ddr but with the aggressive timing now on the boards they both needed certified Ram to get 1g without hanging.

Flit · « **Reply #13 on:** March 25, 2004, 10:43:13 AM »

Sounds like what I got cobra, mines O/C to 3.1 and no problems

1K0N · « **Reply #14 on:** March 25, 2004, 11:05:29 AM »

Ditto what banana said....
I dont want to spend my free time troubleshooting MB problems, with ASUS they just work....

IKON