AMD which motherboard to buy?

[devarshi84]

Originally Posted by aseem

Ok, can someone tell me what is SLI all about and benefits?

As per my understanding, SLI increases bus speed etc. allows you to use 2 PCIe graphic cards running in parallel etc. and gives better graphics. But doesnt have an onboard graphic card, but allows for PCIe GPU.

In my case I am planning to add a GPU later... is it a good idea than to go with Nvidea 6150 mobo from ASUS or MSI? What are advantages of SLI over Nvidea 6150 mobo?

If I do go with SLI mobo, which graphic card should I go for in 5-6k budget?

@ Dev I am planning to go for socket 939 CPU.

Do any of the mobos I have mentioned support dual proc?

@ egangsta Regarding monitor, I can go for an LG instead, but I loved the looks of Viewsonic, not the price factor.

Thanks for all your responses.

Nvidia SLi is similar to Ati Crossfire. Your understanding is basically correct. For more info

http://www.slizone.com/

http://www.ati.com/technology/crossfire/index.html

I wouldnt recommend an SLi/ crossfire solution. better buy one more powerful gpu than two weak ones. It will perform better.

I would suggest you look at Nvidia 7400/7600 solutions. 7800/7900/7950Sli are just plain useless and expensive.

Even Ati x1400/x1600 are good.

I have heard that Nforce 4 chipsets are best for AMd and that is what most Dekstop replacement Notebooks use( A desktop set in Notebook)

Hence I think they are pretty efficient. Select the one you like. Lots of options here. See which is the best and available in India.

http://www.amdboard.com/socket_939_boards.html

[yogi1771]

Originally Posted by aseem

I am planning to buy an AMD Athlon 3000 CPU this month, and am wondering about which motherboard to buy. I was interested in ASUS a8n vm csm (whats delhi Nehru Place price?), gigabyte k8n-gmf9, ASUS K8N-VM, ASRock K8NF4G-SATA2 ... etc. My primary requirement are Nvidea 6100 or 6150 integrated in the mobo. Only problem is that most of these mobos dont have an SVideo out, forcing me to buy a graphic card as well . I want to delay the purchase of graphic card. In any case, please recommend the most cost effective mobo for AMD Athlon 3000.... Thanks for your replies.
Also found Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe (nForce4 SLiX16).... which one is better, nForce4 or GeForce 6150? Whats the difference?
I am lost...

http://www.techenclave.com/forums/
hi aseem try this link one of the best indian site to know about comp..

[tsk1979]

VIA chipsets are a good thiing. Make sure you get Asus or Gigabyte, they make the most durable ones. Compare the specs always. Onboard Gigabit ethernet is always a good thing

[zaphod]

nforce4 is a good chipset - however you may find some issues with nvidia's SATA drivers and certain hard disks - use the existing MS ones and do not install any of nvidia's ide/sata drivers.

And do get a socket 939 chipset....stay away from 754 - even 939 will be outdated in a few months woth the AM2 getting all the new cpu's.

SLI is your own personal choice- I have 2 MSI boards - K8N Ultra Platinum and SLI Platinum - the SLI platinum has the advantage of having a sblive 24bit chip onboard and i can always slip in another 7800GT once the prices go down a bit.

For best performance go for an opteron(1 MB cache) and overclock the hell outta it or a athlon 64 3200/3700

DO NOT BUY ECS mobos !!!

Asus/MSI/Gigabyte/DFI are all excellent brands

Whn you get RAM - get 1.5/2 GB - it is worth it if you are into gaming.
SOme mobos will need single sided DDR sticks to get dual channel memory.

RAM timings may get you a bit of speed but don't waste your money on trying to get very fast RAM .


over and out

zaphod
(just back from Kasol and Manali)

[aseem]

Delhi guys, help me. Someone willing to go over this with me on phone?

[devarshi84]

Originally Posted by aseem

Delhi guys, help me. Someone willing to go over this with me on phone?

Ok lets keep it simple. Look for an ASus/MSI Nforce4 MOBO with SLi. Get 2 nvidia 6600 gt's (7600 will be costly)

As for the cpu. you are good with amd 3000 939. Opteron is more for the servers and workstations and AM2 will be expensive and not really worth the extra price.

[aseem]

Originally Posted by devarshi84

Ok lets keep it simple. Look for an ASus/MSI Nforce4 MOBO with SLi. Get 2 nvidia 6600 gt's (7600 will be costly)

As for the cpu. you are good with amd 3000 939. Opteron is more for the servers and workstations and AM2 will be expensive and not really worth the extra price.

Wish I had that much money devarshi Tempting as it may I am stuck to a budget of around 30k max. Now below is another configuration that I am leaning towards, please see the specific questions in bold and try to tell me how to go forward.

1) Proc: AMD Athlon 3000+: 4700 (3200+ is 1k more and 3500+ is 2k more, are they worth the extra money? Considering I have to save somewhere? I was reading somewhere that 3200+ has 10 something as opposed to 3000+ 's 9 vs 3500's 11, meaning better for overclocking. I have never tried it though)

2) Motherboard: Biostar/Krypton 6100-M9 : 3500 Rs (Should I go for Asus K8N E or SLI board instead, how much would that set me back. Given that I am not much of a gamer, does having an SLI option even make sense, again keeping in mind that ideal might not be in budget. Though I would love to own a Ferrari, I settled for a Swift...)

3) RAM: TwinMos 512 MB DDR-400 533MHZ -PC 4000: 1900 (Now what to look out for in a RAM.... what is 1:2:3 that ppl use to specify their RAM? I know 533 is better than 400MHZ, but what does that mean? Also is this a lot slower than DDR2 or DDR3 RAM, whats the difference? I know 512 RAM is not enough, but its something that can be easily added later, so keeping budget in mind going for 512 upfront)

4) Harddisk: Started out with 80 GB now upto 250 GB.... Why? As I dont want to save here. Anything that cant be added or upgraded later spells trouble. Thus shelling out 2k extra upfront. Going for 250 GB SATA Baracude Seagate for 4.2k. (What is SATA II? How much faster is it? Is it worth the money?)

5) DVD Writer LG: 2000 Rs (No issues here)

6) Cabinet: 2000 Rs MAX including 400 Watts SMPS from Intex for 400 Rs. Cant afford more than this. I am looking for a Micro ATX cabinet, can I find one in my budget? I am soo confused here, how many fans, what voltage, amp rating, this stuff is quite technical for a noob

7) Speakers: 2.5k Altech Lansing ATP3

8) Mouse and Keyboard: 700 Rs Logitech Multimedia Combo (Not going wireless for the time being).

9) Monitor: 6.3k 17" Flat Viewsonic per its looks

That brings the budget to 27.8 k.... which brings me to the question of what to do with extra 2k? I can easily go for Athlon 3500+? Add additional RAM straight up? Go for wireless keyboard and mouse? Add a sound card for 1400 Rs from Creative? Or go slightly above budget and add Nvidea 7300GT for 4.4k from BIG (is it a fair price?).
As you can see I have a few options. Apart from above, my freind is getting me a Haugapauge MCE 150 PVR TV Tuner from Singapore for 3.5k, that I will pay him later. I can delay the graphic card too, its not urgent. I can setup my PC software and overclocking for a month (keep me busy) and than add 7300GT. But I anxiously await your suggestions of what to do and in which order?

[sujaylahiri]

Dude I don't want to confuse you anymore, but the new AMD AM2 socket processors rock. They are almost similarly priced compared to the S939 ones but they have a technology similar to Intel's Hyperthreading (2 virtual processors in 1). Also, the AM2 motherboards will support DDR2 RAM, hence u can use 533,667 and 800 mhz RAMs on your motherboard. You can't do that with S754 or S939. That could be a big performance boost.
The only drawback with the AM2 is that most of them come with 512 KB cache, I dunno why. But then the 3000 u are getting also has 512 KB L2 cache.
Asus should have some good deals on the AM2 motherboards. And acc. to me, MSIs are overpriced.

[low_bass_makker]

Bro my only wish is change ur motherboard this model is a very low thing , go for a branded one like msi or asus. they will be avalable for approx 5-6k.

[devarshi84]

Ok a suggestion from my side that will save you lots of money.

1. For cpu I dont think you really need any extra processing power as you are wanting to go for AMD 3000+. Look for celeron64 or sempron 64. some top of the line cpu's in this range are.

Celeron D 356 -3.33ghz 64-bit, 65nm, MMX,SSE,SSE2,SSE3, 512kbL2 cache, 533mhz FSB.
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=437

Another good cpu is Amd Sempron-64 AM2 socket. Good for future upgrade to athlon x2's which are dual-core

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Custra...82E16819104317

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item=483&num=1


2. Chipsets/motherboards will change accordingly and price will again be lesser.

3. Memory option is good. I would recommend 1gig but that can be done when Vista comes out. try for DDR2 and dual channel enabled Memory. Costs a bit more but performs a lot more(approx 1.5 times you choice of DDR single channel)

4.Harddrive choice seems to be good but how about 200gig?

5. Dvd riter choice is good too. cant say much on price.

6. cabinet I think is expensive. But again I am not sure on prices.

7. I would suggest you get a AUdigy soundcard instead and then buy a 5.1 hometheatre. BY US prices it should cost you around 6k.

8. Keep the mouse and keyboard simple. never in my 8 years of use have I tried to launch an application with my samsung multimedia keyboard. Go with TVS keyboard and Logitech 3-button roller mouse. Is not hip but cheap and reliable.

9. MOnitor is good. If you are able to save enough money then go for 19-20 or else spend on GPU if you think 17 is ok.

10. And if money remains buy a nvidia 6600-7400 version of gpu.

as per my guess.

best celeron/sempron 64 and motherboard = 6.5K or less
1gb DDr2 Dual channel Enable RAM DDr2 533 = 3.5K
Try for 200gig HDd = 3.5
LG DVD riter = 2k
cabinet = 2k
creative Audigy+ philips/onida 7.1home theatre = 5k
Mouse and keyboard =0.5k
MOnitor 17" =6.3k
Nvidia 7600GS = 4.5k
Tv-Tuner w remote, pci-express = 3.5 K

For around 36-37Kyou have a superb gaming/Multi-media/Home theatre with television inbuilt. IS 64-bit capable and ready to run vista.

I have taken prices from www.newegg.com which is a pretty famous computer peripherals website in US and elevated prices by 5-10%. So the prices maybe a bit here and there.

Do give it a thought.

[Jay]

Originally Posted by nitrous

I use a A8N-E from Asus.
Its the best!

... its very good

[aseem]

Originally Posted by devarshi84

Ok a suggestion from my side that will save you lots of money.

1. For cpu I dont think you really need any extra processing power as you are wanting to go for AMD 3000+. Look for celeron64 or sempron 64. some top of the line cpu's in this range are.

Celeron D 356 -3.33ghz 64-bit, 65nm, MMX,SSE,SSE2,SSE3, 512kbL2 cache, 533mhz FSB.
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=437

Another good cpu is Amd Sempron-64 AM2 socket. Good for future upgrade to athlon x2's which are dual-core

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Custra...82E16819104317

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item=483&num=1


2. Chipsets/motherboards will change accordingly and price will again be lesser.

3. Memory option is good. I would recommend 1gig but that can be done when Vista comes out. try for DDR2 and dual channel enabled Memory. Costs a bit more but performs a lot more(approx 1.5 times you choice of DDR single channel)

4.Harddrive choice seems to be good but how about 200gig?

5. Dvd riter choice is good too. cant say much on price.

6. cabinet I think is expensive. But again I am not sure on prices.

7. I would suggest you get a AUdigy soundcard instead and then buy a 5.1 hometheatre. BY US prices it should cost you around 6k.

8. Keep the mouse and keyboard simple. never in my 8 years of use have I tried to launch an application with my samsung multimedia keyboard. Go with TVS keyboard and Logitech 3-button roller mouse. Is not hip but cheap and reliable.

9. MOnitor is good. If you are able to save enough money then go for 19-20 or else spend on GPU if you think 17 is ok.

10. And if money remains buy a nvidia 6600-7400 version of gpu.

as per my guess.

best celeron/sempron 64 and motherboard = 6.5K or less
1gb DDr2 Dual channel Enable RAM DDr2 533 = 3.5K
Try for 200gig HDd = 3.5
LG DVD riter = 2k
cabinet = 2k
creative Audigy+ philips/onida 7.1home theatre = 5k
Mouse and keyboard =0.5k
MOnitor 17" =6.3k
Nvidia 7600GS = 4.5k
Tv-Tuner w remote, pci-express = 3.5 K

For around 36-37Kyou have a superb gaming/Multi-media/Home theatre with television inbuilt. IS 64-bit capable and ready to run vista.

I have taken prices from www.newegg.com which is a pretty famous computer peripherals website in US and elevated prices by 5-10%. So the prices maybe a bit here and there.

Do give it a thought.

Thanks Dev for the comprehensive write up.

1) I cant just go for a Celeron, no matter what. More so, since their motherboard and Proc combo comes out to be 6.5k and for AMD Athlon 3000+ and Asus A8VM motherboard combo costing 8k... I am no game freak, but I will be using this as a multimedia PC, doing divx encoding etc.

2) The motherboard that I am buying supports dual channel memory 400Mhz.... so does it make sense to buy 533 Mhz memory? Will I gain in speed? even if my mobo doesnt support this? Is 533 Mhz refered as DDR2?

7) I cant buy 5.1 speakers. I hate the clustered messy wiring. I am in no mood to spend time to properly get wire hiring harness (white plastic thingies...) etc. for this. A good 2.1 system will suffice, merely because less space occupied and easy to install.

9) Monitor: Well 17" CRT is not ideal. My heart longs for 17k 19" TFT by ViewSonic... but budget. Best is to wait for LCD TV's prices to come down in India, it will take another year or so for the market to mature. Than maybe a 32" LCD for 40k .... what say? Wishful thinking maybe.

Tommorow is the big day. Wish me and my bargaining skills luck. Any particular shop I shoud be visiting in Nehru Place?

[devarshi84]

1. If you don want celeron then look at sempron64 AM2 socket. You can upgrade to a very powerful dual-core Athlon X2 later on and will be lighter on your pocket at present. Even this sempron has enough grunt to take on your DIvx encoding and stuff. But even 3000+ is good if you may.

2. fOR THE moBO. YES AMD SUPPORTS ONLY UPTO 400mhz. I forgot this point. No sense going above 400MHZ. AM2 supports upto DDR2800. But ensure its Dual channel enabled. and even chuck DDR2 if you are going for Socket 939 coz DDR2 is only supported on AM2( Which I mentioned above).

7. Makes sense in your case. Will also save you money. Better buy a good pair of Senn's if you may. I bought up Sony Cans before and couldnt resist Senn's so I have both and both are excellent. Somebody rightly said " You have not listened to a song unless you dont listen to it on your cans."

9. Now that you are saving enough above on RAM(maybe on CPU), DVD home-theatre and hard-drive, A 19" monitor I guess will fit your budget.

How about The NVIDIA GPU? DOn't go below 7400/6600 by any chance.

Congrats on whatever config you buy. Do post the pics after the Desky is ready.

[ajmat]

I am very biased, have you thought of the offerings from Intel - some exciting duo core stuff coming !

[moralfibre]

http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/home.jsp?cat=556

Some info for you ... very well put!