Deciding on 754 versus 939...

[Don Burnette]

Well, I just ran some numbers, and have two wish lists at NewEgg.
One for socket 754/Nforce3 250 GB, and the other for socket 939/Nforce4
Ultra ( pci
express)

Both upgrades include a full tower Lai Lin silver alum case, and both
include a Radeon X800 Pro video card ( agp for 754, and pci express for
939).

The 939/Nforce4 comes it right at 1200 bucks.
The 754/Nforce3 comes in right at 1000 bucks.

Based on the small price difference, I think the way to go now would be
socket 939/Nforce4. My only hesitation would be the fact it is newer
technology, and I wonder if there are any major bugs with it. One thing I
like about this 939 mb, is it has 3 pci slots in addition to the 2 pci
express x16 slots, and the 2 pci express X1 slots. So I can stil utilize my
pci audigy2 zs soundcard.

Of course, I could cut out the x800 pro on the socket 754, as it is agp and
I could use my existing 9800 pro, which would really cut the cost down on
the 754 setup, and add better video card later. Can't quite do that with the
939 as I would need the pci express video card.

Would appreciate any feedback.

Thanks,

 

[malcolm]

Well, I just ran some numbers, and have two wish lists at NewEgg.
One for socket 754/Nforce3 250 GB, and the other for socket 939/Nforce4
Ultra ( pci
express)

Both upgrades include a full tower Lai Lin silver alum case, and both
include a Radeon X800 Pro video card ( agp for 754, and pci express for
939).

The 939/Nforce4 comes it right at 1200 bucks.
The 754/Nforce3 comes in right at 1000 bucks.

Based on the small price difference, I think the way to go now would be
socket 939/Nforce4. My only hesitation would be the fact it is newer
technology, and I wonder if there are any major bugs with it. One thing I
like about this 939 mb, is it has 3 pci slots in addition to the 2 pci
express x16 slots, and the 2 pci express X1 slots. So I can stil utilize my
pci audigy2 zs soundcard.

Of course, I could cut out the x800 pro on the socket 754, as it is agp and
I could use my existing 9800 pro, which would really cut the cost down on
the 754 setup, and add better video card later. Can't quite do that with the
939 as I would need the pci express video card.

Would appreciate any feedback.

Thanks,


--
Don Burnette

"When you decide something is impossible to do, try to stay out of the way
of the man that's doing it."

the 754 mobos have nasty problems with dual channel memory
16 bit and double sided.
go for the 939 CPUs and Mobos
regards malcolm

 

[Ed]

the 754 mobos have nasty problems with dual channel memory
16 bit and double sided.
go for the 939 CPUs and Mobos
regards malcolm

no such thing as dual CH RAM, IT'S MARKETING BS!

 

[Wes Newell]

Well, I just ran some numbers, and have two wish lists at NewEgg.
One for socket 754/Nforce3 250 GB, and the other for socket 939/Nforce4
Ultra ( pci express)

Search back though the group. This has been hashed out too many times to
recall. google groups.

Results 1 - 10 of 10,400 for 754 or 939 (0.14 seconds)

 

[anthony]

From what I been rading 939 isnt worth it only about 3-5% gain in speed and
thats not really noticable go with whats cheaper for now. But nforce 4 and
pci express are the future so I personally would suggest a 939 casue of the
upgradablity but if u dont care about pci express then 754 will do well with
u

Anthony

 

[General Schvantzkoph]

From what I been rading 939 isnt worth it only about 3-5% gain in speed and
thats not really noticable go with whats cheaper for now. But nforce 4 and
pci express are the future so I personally would suggest a 939 casue of the
upgradablity but if u dont care about pci express then 754 will do well with
u

Anthony

The 939 supports more memory, that alone makes it woth the price
difference. The MSI K8N Neo2 is a 939 Nforce 3-250 Ultra board that may be
your best choice right now. The Nforce 4 is still very new so it may still
have bugs that need to be worked out. The Nforce 3-250 has been around for
a while so it should be solid. Also the review sites have all be showing
that that the MSI K8N Neo2 is slightly faster than the curren crop of
Nforce 4 boards. The difference isn't very great and I expect that with a
future BIOS upgrade the performance difference will go away, but today the
fastest motherboard you can buy is the MSI K8N Neo2.

 

[Skenzer]

Well, you are right, there is no such thing as "dual channel"
memory...however, and this is a BIG however...there IS such a thing at
running memory in dual channel mode.
Trust me, the performance gains I've see since going with dual channel
are clear.
Marketing BS??? What isn't?
Skenz

 

[Ed]

Well, you are right, there is no such thing as "dual channel"
memory...however, and this is a BIG however...there IS such a thing at
running memory in dual channel mode.
Trust me, the performance gains I've see since going with dual channel
are clear.
Marketing BS??? What isn't?
Skenz

I never said you wouldn't see a performance gain running memory in dual
channel mode. ;p
Ed

 

[DougH]

Based on the small price difference, I think the way to go now would be

socket 939/Nforce4. My only hesitation would be the fact it is newer
technology, and I wonder if there are any major bugs with it. One thing I
like about this 939 mb, is it has 3 pci slots in addition to the 2 pci
express x16 slots, and the 2 pci express X1 slots. So I can stil utilize my
pci audigy2 zs soundcard.

I just got the ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe with a AMD 64 3500+ and two sticks of
Kingston HyperX 512MB for memory and haven't had any major problems yet.
I'm still setting it up right and tranferring data now but everything seems
fine. In my rush to purchase I neglected to read the fact that video is the
PCI-Express variety only. No AGP on the board ( yeah that's
right...duuuuhh ). Also the board has a 24 pin main connector instead of
the standard 20 pin. That was two trips back to the computer center for two
unexpected purchases ( yes, another duuuhh ) thank you. Just too excited
about building for my own good. Windows XP 64 Bit Edition runs smoothly but
is a little short of complete yet since it is a beta. I wanted to run
Flight Sim 2004 on it but I couldn't install my Sidewider Force Feedback and
the plain jane joy stick drivers don't seem to be operational. Flight Sim
isn't fun using keystrokes so I'm playing with regular XP for now. One tip:
If you buy this board and want to use Cool n Quiet don't install the AI
Booster software. With Cool n Quiet enabled WinXP 32 bit will stop AI
Booster from executing and give you a warning message about needing to
disable Cool n Quiet first. This condition results in conflicts and will
cause a blue screen a few seconds later. WinXP 64 bit stops AI Booster from
continuing to execute and gives the same error message but takes the hit in
stride. If you want to install AI Booster for the auto overclock ability
make sure Cool n Quiet is disabled in the BIOS.

DougH

 

[Dracir Venostos]

From what I been rading 939 isnt worth it only about 3-5% gain in speed
and thats not really noticable go with whats cheaper for now. But nforce 4
and pci express are the future so I personally would suggest a 939 casue
of the upgradablity but if u dont care about pci express then 754 will do
well with u

It's not just about upgradeability to PCI Express, but also the fact that
Socket 939 presents much better CPU upgrade options for the future. If I
recall correctly, AMD has plans to discontinue 754, but 939 is here for a
while.

 

[Wes Newell]

It's not just about upgradeability to PCI Express, but also the fact that
Socket 939 presents much better CPU upgrade options for the future. If I
recall correctly, AMD has plans to discontinue 754, but 939 is here for a
while.

754 isn't going to die anytime soon. If fact, according to AMD's roadmap
the last one scheduled is for Q106, the same as the 939. While you
won't be able to get anything faster than a 3700+ on 754 at this time,
it's a long way from dead. If you want dead, that would be Socket A, as
there are no more socket A cpu's scheduled for release.

 

[Don Burnette]

754 isn't going to die anytime soon. If fact, according to AMD's
roadmap the last one scheduled is for Q106, the same as the 939.
While you won't be able to get anything faster than a 3700+ on 754 at
this time, it's a long way from dead. If you want dead, that would be
Socket A, as there are no more socket A cpu's scheduled for release.

Well, I ended up compromising. I went with the socket 939, Nforce3 Ultra -
MSI Neo2 Platinum.

One of those last minute changes

 

[Dracir Venostos]

Well, I ended up compromising. I went with the socket 939, Nforce3 Ultra -
MSI Neo2 Platinum.

A wise choice. I have the same board with a 3500+ and haven't regretted it.

 

[Don Burnette]

A wise choice. I have the same board with a 3500+ and haven't
regretted it.

Good to hear, thanks!
This will be my first MSI board - I read good things on this one.