On the fence

D

DoubleDownn24

n00b
Joined
May 11, 2006
Messages
12
Kind of a 3 way "on the fence".

I have a pretty unique situation in that I have no computer, and a crapload of computer parts lying around not plugged into anything.

ATI X1900 XTX
ATI X1900 Crossfire Edition
Soundblaster Fatal1ty FPS
Western Digital Raptor X 150gb (x2)
Thermaltake Armor VA8000BWS
FSP Group 700W Epsilon
Logitech G15
Logitech G5
Slicksteel PRO_S2
Audio Technica ATH-A500

Up Next on my to-buy-list:
Western Digital WD5000KS 500GB sataII (x2)
Creative Gigaworks S750
Sceptre X37SV 37inch LCD Monitor / TV
Asetek Waterchill (what model? I need a CPU!!)


What's missing? A cpu, mobo, and ram.

I read Hardocp, dailytech, anandtech, firingsquad, hexus, behardware, bluesnews, sharkyextreme, theinquirer, tomshardware, and just about every other hardware / gaming site you can imagine daily and I STILL don't know what to do.

AM2 launch is May 23rd, I can wait till may 23rd no problem, but I don't want to have to wait till July for "early adoption" bugs to get hammered out.

I know that its revision F on the CPU's, so the CPU's themselves are probably gunna be OK, what I am worried about is the motherboards themselves. ATI's SB600 will be out with the M2 launch and I just dunno about that.

And then we have Conroe, early June late may as a possibility. I am not a fan of Intel ever since the first generation p4's and I haven't looked back. AMD still feels like the underdog company and I continue to support and root for them, but with all those high-end devices, I need a monster powerhouse to reap the benefits.

Do I buy a socket 939, and go the DDR1 / FX-60 (or 4800+) route?, Do I wait till may and pick up a board on June 1st after the 2 week price premiums come down a tad?

I want to be able to OC if that option is possible, and it sounds like the AM2's are restricted to an ddr2 800 max. I am all for going past limits, but I am not a big fan of having unstable software that I have to worry about because my mobo just doesn't like being a couple clicks above stock settings no matter how well cooled the system is.

Or do I wait even longer to see the official conroe benchmarks?

Socket M2, 939, or Conroe. It's a tough call, that's why I am turning to the forums :p

I already have all my high-end components, just need a board to go with them.

My original plan was a Asus A8R32-MVP, FX-60, and the 2GB Corsair 3500LLPRO, But as close as M2 is to launch now, I am wondering if I should wait a bit longer.

If Conroe is a early June launch, I will wait for that, if not I am going to have to pass.

If M2 is just a supped up 939, and doesn't have any architectural changes (things that would be consistent with rev 0 hardware), then I shouldn't be worried about early adoption.

Or is 939 with an X2 5000 cpu going to be fine and dandy.

Vista and DX10 are January 07, that's still a long ways off, and DX10 ONLY games won't be mainstream till summer 07 easily, so I am not worried about my graphics solution, but when that times comes around where I have to bite the DX10 bullet and do another upgrade, I might as well hit the CPU/MOBO/RAM again if things are that changed.


I can't think of anything more that is running through my cluster f'd head :p so I thank any input or suggestions you guys might have


-Eric
 
A DFI Lan Party MoBo and a decent Opteron 165 is all you need. Should have you in business well into 08.

EDIT: The ATI X3200 chipset is really really, good. Get the Asus board, or DFI if it's out.
 
I vote s939 and an x2 > overclock it. The FX-60 is super nice, but not worth the extra cash IMO. I'd save that now, and then use it towards upgrading your cpu later on. Get a x2 4400 for half the price of the fx and overclock to make up the difference. Though granted an FX-60 at 3.0ghz is going to be hard to touch.

If you are willing to deal with early adopter bugs, AM2 might have ~5% performance increase, so its your call. DDR2 is the way of the future sure, but DDR1 is mega on sale recently.
 
Yah I noticed that...

Thing is, when I upgrade anyways later on down the road to whatever new powerhouse CPU is out there, it would be nice to not have to buy a new mobo and ram (ala socket 939). So hopefully AM2 is around for alot of the next gen chips that will open up that ddr2 pipeline, and conroe ends up only being marginally faster.

So far at this point I am leaning towards 939, just becuase I am afraid of AM2 / ATI's first gen chipsets, but still undecided :p

EDIT : DFI left a sour taste in my mouth when the Lan Party DFI II Ultra (the NForce 2 chipset for my old 2500+ barton) had component failures left and right and didn't last very long. I would probably go ASUS over DFI given the chance
 
DoubleDownn24, you really should read the rules you agreed to when you registered here. Your sig is way too long.

(22) No active links, graphics, code, profanity or advertising allowed in the SIGNATURE. Sig line is limited to 10 lines total as viewed @ 800 x 600 resolution or no more that 15 words per line.
 
Lethal said:
DoubleDownn24, you really should read the rules you agreed to when you registered here. Your sig is way too long.

(22) No active links, graphics, code, profanity or advertising allowed in the SIGNATURE. Sig line is limited to 10 lines total as viewed @ 800 x 600 resolution or no more that 15 words per line.
Click to expand...


Not exactly sure why this couldn't have been sent as PM, or an e-mail considering it's irrelevence, but thanks for the heads-up, i guess...
 
so what have you decided to do? Im about to buy a chip tonight and am looking for the most feedback possible, Im leaning toward the fx57, and upgrade everything in about a year
 
winuxgeek said:
so what have you decided to do? Im about to buy a chip tonight and am looking for the most feedback possible, Im leaning toward the fx57, and upgrade everything in about a year
Click to expand...

If you're not upgrading for a year, get some form of dual core.
 
It's still too hard to say, I was hoping for some more feedback, nothing has really convinced me what to do. I guess really it will all come down to what we start reading on may 23rd.
 
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