LostInSpace Posted December 2, 2004 Report Share Posted December 2, 2004 Hmmm, guess I can post this in the tech section since I am going to discuss a Hardware upgrade. Yep, guess it's that time again. Time for an upgrade. CPU, Memory and motherboard. Here is my current motherboard: MSI: KT3 Ultra2 Great motherboard for it's day (and still is) but with my ATI 9600 XT @ 8x agp and the motherboard only supports up to 4x I'm not getting the full potential of the video card. Here are the two candidates for replacement 1:MSI: KT880 Delta-FSR 2: MSI: K7N2 Delta2 Platinum (nVIDIA® nForce2 Gigabit MCP Chipset) I am leaning more towards #2 with the Nvidia chipset (which I have read that Nvidia has got it right this time around and is a real competitor towards the VIA chipset ). I have read alot of really good positive reviews for the Nvidia chipset (except there seems to be problem with it's raid implementation which is no big deal since I'm not using the raid nor will be anytime in the future). Since I have an ATI graphics card, I'm wondering if the Nvidia chipset will heave and cough chunks of nastiness at the sight of this video card in it's system. Any thoughts or experience on this or any Nvidia chipset motherboard? As for the CPU I am going AMD 2800 or higher. Memory I will stick with Kingston. Now for the more important part. I lost my local computer supplier Essential computers Inc. Bought all my previous upgrades from them including the Viewsonic 19" monitor a year ago. They seem to have disappeared. There web site is gone and their phone lines are disconnected. Pity, they had great prices and service and best of all I could just go pick the stuff up myself. So it looks like I'm stuck ordering from the internet. I'm looking at NewEgg.com. Their prices seem to be really good 1:MSI "KT880 Delta-FSR" VIA KT880 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU -RETAIL 2: MSI "K7N2 Delta2 Platinum" NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket A CPU -RETAIL Any comments on NewEgg? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 2, 2004 Report Share Posted December 2, 2004 Check out tigerdirect.com , they have some pretty good deals as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamotto Posted December 2, 2004 Report Share Posted December 2, 2004 I shop frequently with newegg. Never had a problem with them. Both Mobo's are about the same. I quess if I where to choose I would pick the Nvidia based board b/c of the active cooling of the chipset (boards with this tend to be a bit more stable). edit: www.zipzoomfly.com is a place where I have found some good deals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostInSpace Posted December 2, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Jaguar: Check out tigerdirect.com , they have some pretty good deals as well. They don't seem to carry any MSI motherboards at all. quote:Originally posted by jamotto: 1: I shop frequently with newegg. Never had a problem with them. 2: Both Mobo's are about the same. I quess if I where to choose I would pick the Nvidia based board b/c of the active cooling of the chipset (boards with this tend to be a bit more stable). Yeah, my thoughts exactly. But I did read on Anandtech that the Nvidia chipset did do better than then VIA in some instances. I see alot more positive reviews for the MSI Nforce2 chipset board than the Via one. NewEgg does have a good buyer rating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamotto Posted December 2, 2004 Report Share Posted December 2, 2004 quote:But I did read on Anandtech that the Nvidia chipset did do better than then VIA in some instancesI have read that. It seems to me though the difference was not really noticeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostInSpace Posted December 2, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2004 quote:Originally posted by jamotto: quote:But I did read on Anandtech that the Nvidia chipset did do better than then VIA in some instancesI have read that. It seems to me though the difference was not really noticeable. Yeah, much like the difference between the AMD Thoroughbred B and Barton core. One test site they were neck and neck except in arithmetic testing and the ALU test with the Barton did pull a little ahead of the thoroughbred but lost a few points in the FPU though the test was done a year ago AMD Barton Core . There is one plus the Barton core has over the Thoroughbred core and that is it handles overclocking better which I never do anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dambreville Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 I also had some questions relating to a hardware upgrade... instead pertaining to the FSB and processing power of 2 chips. Chip 1: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2GHz) 1600MHz FSB (NO HTT) 512KB Cache socket 939 at $284 boxed Chip 2: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (1.8GHz) 2000MHz FSB (with HTT) 512KB Cache socket 939 at $148 boxed In both instances, I would be running low latency 1GB Dual Channel (2 sticks) DDR PC3200 RAM a 7200RPM 8MB Cache 9ms seek hard drive and Radeon 9800 with 256MB DDR-SDRAM. Not so much worrying about money, which chip would have the best performance overall on games? Obviously, higher numbers are better but I am also wondering about optimization between all of these components. Is there an easy way to tell what the best clock/FSB/RAM/HD pipeline (hard drive transfer rate) numbers would be to get maximum performance or any combination of the above? If you know a tech site that covers this question please share Thanks in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostInSpace Posted December 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Dambreville: If you know a tech site that covers this question please share Thanks in advance The Tech Report: AMD's Athlon 64 3500+ processor Affordable performance for Socket 939 The Tech Report: AMD's Athlon 64 3000+ processor Finally, a Hammer without Pentagon pricing I do hope I got the right models you are considering. quote:Originally posted by Dambreville: Obviously, higher numbers are better but I am also wondering about optimization between all of these components. They may not be the case in some instances. Like the difference between the Thoroughbreb and Barton. In my opinion, on further reading of the larger L2 cahe of 512k compared to that of the thoroughbreds 256k in a slight performance increase does not justify the buying the Barton core with a higher price tag over that of the Thoroughbreds lower price. [ 12-04-2004, 01:35 PM: Message edited by: LostInSpace ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostInSpace Posted December 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 You know something, after reading the tech report of the AMD64 3000+, I think I might just go for that one myself. Looking at the benchmarking between the AMD 2800+ and the Amd64 3000+ is more than well worth it. New Egg: AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 512KB L2 Cache, Socket 939 64-bit Processor - Retail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamotto Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 quote:Originally posted by LostInSpace: You know something, after reading the tech report of the AMD64 3000+, I think I might just go for that one myself.This processor seems to have the most bang for the buck at the moment and if you need more I have read it overclocks well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostInSpace Posted December 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 Okay this is my final selection for this upgrade. Motherboard: MSI "K8N Neo2 Platinum" NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 512KB L2 Cache, Socket 939 64-bit Processor - Retail MEMORY: Patriot Signature Series Dual Channel Kit 184-Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC3200, Model PSD1G400KH - Retail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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