Building New AMD64 System, Would You Go 754 or 939?

[JohnClark]

I'm putting the finishing touches on all of the components for a new high end gaming, web surfing, digital photography and general use pc.
I've been waiting, and waiting, for the 939's and have been pretty seriously disappointed with the results I've seen, especially here. And thats not even including the issues that plague all of the 939 based boards.
I can afford the 939 platform, but I cant see paying the price of an FX proc given the relatively small gains to be gotten in gaming. More and more, it seems that if you arent going to use an FX, there is little reason to go with a socket 939 based system, especially as the Newcastles seem like inadequate performers.
Part of the problem with going 754 is the lack of a clear choice in processor. The 3700 is almost $700.00 and thats just too much money for any processor. From there, you drop all the way down to the 3400 which is huge drop off in performance. At least with the 939 platform, you have the 3500 available, though granted, its a Newcastle. Still, in comparison benchmarks I've seen, its as fast as a P4EE mega dollar edition.
I will be using the best memory available, ultra high end HSF's, either an ATI X800XT PE, or BFG 6800GT Oc, and cutting no corners on this pc, but I also want good value for my money. I usually limit processor cost to about $500.00.
Given all of that, what would you choose as the motherboard and processor? And thanks for your thoughts and advice on the matter. The expertise of this forum is greatly respected on my part.


John

[thephenom]

I'd say S754 since i haven't seen much S939 OC-ing results. And should give you more bang for your $$$$.

[quicksilverXP]

Well, I'd go with a Athlon 64 3400+ Clawhammer as a choice of CPU. They can be had for 400 on forums or a little over retail and have much better overclocking potential than the 3500s. If you will be purchasing high end memory, than don't expect this high end memory to be so high end once you put it in an Dual Channel Skt 939 chipset, as currently it is very difficult to overclock any ram in dual channel mode.

[onethreehill]

The performance of the Athlon 64 3500+, 512KB L2 cache, Dual-Channel S939 and the Athlon 64 3400+, 1MB L2 cache, Single-Channel S754 performs at roughly the exact same level. Since there aren't great performance differences between the Athlon 64 3500+ ($500) and Athlon 64 3400+ ($417). I'd go with an Athlon 64 3400+ ClawHammer & ASUS AV8 Deluxe

[Spider]

go with clawhammer 3400+ and an epox nforce3 250 board

[JohnClark]

StormPC, pkrews and others, I need your feedback please


John

[misteroadster]

John , i think 939 is a good choice.
gigabyte k8nsnxp 939
3500+ under Hyper6
2X512 corsair LLPT 1.2 or 3500Lvl 2
It's a very good rig , you should hit 2600mhz easily without mods.
only 2 soldering point (very easy) and you ll get more than 250 2/2/2/5 and 32s superpi.

[LilGator]

StormPC = S754
PKrew = S939

[JohnClark]

Originally posted by LilGator
StormPC = S754
PKrew = S939

Charlie?

[JohnClark]

Anyone? I need more opinions. The prevalent thought is that Newcastles suck for overclocking............and I wont drop the dollars for an FX out of principle..........so?

[pkrew]

It all depends on what you want to do John. The s754 CL seem to be quicker in 2k1. The s939 NC are probably going to be better at things like video encoding. Look at the reviews and then decide whats most important. Both will have there strength and weaknesses

[onethreehill]

3700 is now 519 @ newegg

[iboomalot]

my system seems to be cranking and its a crappy new castle.

hell I even got a 9700 I can't OC over 337/371 and GEIL for ram

oh well that stuff was great 16 months ago

you want Video and high # crunching Iam over 12,110 MIPS.

for Gaming at high rez. even with my aging 9700pro I posted slightlyt higher frame rates than Phrew in high detail car and lobby. But got smoked on the low detail.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7752410

754 or 939 both nice but my Sandra is over 6600 MB/s on a 5:4 divider.

tuff choice if money is a big concern get a 3200+ CH otherwise get a 3500+ NC or wait for the FX-53s to come down in price.
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might concider this during gaming not benchmarking will YOU be able to see a difference between 100 FPS vs 300 FPS ?? No, the refresh rate on your monitor will be lower than the FR anyways. Second, when waiting for your computer to do your video editiing or crunching # wouldn't you rather get that work done faster and have less finger/foot taping ???

waiting on a computer to do its thing sucks I suggest you get a 939 on that alone. Benchmarking is great but if you are worried about FPS get a X800 otherwise get a 939 add some killer DC ram and be happy.

[Filter]

i'm not going socket 939 till pci x is on them. . unless you plan on keeping this machine for a while. go with socket 939 but if you upgrade i think like the most of us i would just get the 754 and get the 939 when pci x is out.

[HKPolice]

Go S939 since AMD just dropped prices on them, u can get a 3500+ for $345 now.

[avesta]

Do you guys think the FX-53 price will drop too?

[Sarcastro]

They most likely won't.

http://www.investorshub.com/boards/r...age_id=3629501

[Zeus]

I'd say go for socket 754 and 1mb clawhammer CPU.

The price doesn't justify the small gain the DC s939 has over s754, if any.

The FX will show some better performance over s754 but is highly overprized imho.

Good luck in making your choice.

[XanderF]

Originally posted by Filter
i'm not going socket 939 till pci x is on them. . unless you plan on keeping this machine for a while. go with socket 939 but if you upgrade i think like the most of us i would just get the 754 and get the 939 when pci x is out.

Quoted for truth

PCI Express is the thing to wait for, and the 939s will have it. You want a 939 + PCI Express.

[althes]

I am testing pci express and intel and it seems ok so far.

[OPPAINTER]

I tell you the best running mobo around, it will be the DFI 754 NF-3 when it released.
I'm personally putting my money on this board to reach the to top of 3D2001 as #1 score.

The DFI along with a OCZ booster will be the best

OPP

[JNav89GT]

I am so not impressed with PCI express. Offers nothing in current intel platforms over AGP and only seems to limit oc's so far. Mabye in next set of vid cards might help

[pkrew]

Originally posted by OPPAINTER
I tell you the best running mobo around, it will be the DFI 754 NF-3 when it released.
I'm personally putting my money on this board to reach the to top of 3D2001 as #1 score.

The DFI along with a OCZ booster will be the best

OPP

You must have little faith that a good s939 board will come out. If the DFI 939 board oc's as well and gets good memory scores, giving equal cooling and card clocks The s754 will have a very hard time keeping up

[hallowen]

Originally posted by OPPAINTER
I tell you the best running mobo around, it will be the DFI 754 NF-3 when it released.
I'm personally putting my money on this board to reach the to top of 3D2001 as #1 score.

The DFI along with a OCZ booster will be the best

OPP

What Do You Think About Jeff using the Booster and Frying His MoBo?

Do You think It was Because The EPOX Board he used Wasn't Listed in the OCZ Mobo Specs?

[OPPAINTER]

Originally posted by pkrew
You must have little faith that a good s939 board will come out. If the DFI 939 board oc's as well and gets good memory scores, giving equal cooling and card clocks The s754 will have a very hard time keeping up

Well I'll wait for DFI to come out with the 939 mobo.
All the other 939 mobos have problems.

This 754 DFI is a Rock

OPP