Member Avatar for oenone

Hey everyone,
I am building a computer, and I simply can't decide what mobo to get, anyones recommedations (socket 764 and 939, try and include the best mobo for BOTh sockets ;) Price cap is 150) would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for the help.

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Brief summary for : the real trade-off is “now vs upgrade headroom.” Socket‑754 boards (good value) are fine today, but Socket‑939 gives a cleaner upgrade path (dual‑channel memory, more DIMM capacity and easier PCI‑Express adoption later). In practice dual‑channel A64 systems only averaged a few percent faster in contemporary tests, so for a strict $150 build the real question is which features matter to you (overclocking, PCIe, SATA, RAID). (anandtech.com)

If you lean Socket‑754 and want an overclocking platform, the DFI LANPARTY UT NF3 boards were the top picks for tweakability—lots of voltage and timing controls—but they had a couple of gotchas (small chipset cooler, and some non‑chipset SATA ports behaved poorly under heavy overclocking), so plan on good cooling and check BIOS maturity before buying. If you pick a 754 board for value, prioritize stable VRMs, a configurable BIOS, and full‑speed SATA rather than flashy extras. (anandtech.com)

If you can stretch the budget or wait, the nForce4/PCI‑Express motherboards arrived in late‑2004 and were the sensible future‑proof choice for PCIe GPUs; early retail nForce4 boards tended to retail above your $150 cap (SLI/Deluxe boards were usually significantly more expensive at launch). Expect to pay a premium for the first PCIe/SLI motherboards, but that premium buys a much easier GPU upgrade path. (anandtech.com)

GPU note for : benchmark comparisons from the period show the ATI X800 family generally beating the 6800 Ultra at high resolutions and with antialiasing enabled, so if you want max FPS at higher settings the X800 PCI‑E cards were the better choice; driver maturity and price also matter, so match the card to your PSU and monitor rather than chasing rumors. If building now on a tight budget, pick a reliable NF3/KT mainboard and a good AGP card; if waiting a month or two, grab a PCI‑E nForce4 board and a PCI‑E GPU. (anandtech.com)

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Member Avatar for Catweazle

Base your decision on the chipset included. For Socket 754, the best available chipset is the NForce3 250 chipset, and in my view that's the suitable 'budget' path to take. Pick a motherboard with the chipset implemented, and with the features and price which suits you, and you can't really go wrong.

If I was considering Socket 939 I'd be waiting for the upcoming NForce4 PCIE chipset motherboards, and making the move to the new slot format at the same time. PCIE display cards are most certainly the path to take for future upgradability, and they are already available at cheaper prices than their AGP equivalents, across much of the display card range.

There's your dilemma. Both platforms will perform just as well as each other with currently available products and software. Socket 939 doesn't have PCIE just yet, but it will very soon.

Member Avatar for rcrevolution

if you go socket 754 the DFi Lanparty is an excellent choice.

Member Avatar for oenone

Ok thanks everyone, 2 more questions. First is, does anyone know when the upcoming nforce 4 chipsets will be out? Also, what can I expect the prices for them to look like?
Thanks again.

Member Avatar for Catweazle

Expected in retail by Christmas was the last I heard. Apparently most initial releases have two PCIE display card slots for SLI configuration, so could be expected to be rather expensive. Epox has announced one with a single PCIE display card slot, which would be expected to be less expensive:

http://theinquirer.net/?article=19821

Sorry, I haven't looked any harder than that yet.

Member Avatar for oenone

ok, thanks again, I'll look into it.

Member Avatar for rcrevolution

do you know if they will release a motherboard with PCI-e for socket 754 with Nforce4?

Member Avatar for Catweazle

I've heard speculation that NForce4 chipset will be made available for Socket 754, but I have no definite knowledge to that effect.

Member Avatar for rcrevolution

actually I did a search and there will be a motherbaord with Nforce 4 and PCI-e for 754, but it jut wont have dual 8x pci-e, just one 16x pci-e, in that case Ill wait till the summer to get a anew video card, and buy the nforce4 motherbaord and a pci-e video card, and slap the amd 64 3400+ in there, just one questions which would be better a X800 pci-e or a 6800Ultra pci-e ( if they even make them)

Member Avatar for oenone

If your gonna wait, get the X880 when it comes out ;)

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