[Admiral LSD]

Whatever you buy, you'll want a board that utilises the SPP North Bridge (so no integrated graphics) and the MCP-T South Bridge (so you get the good onboard audio). Many of the cheaper nForce2 boards (such as the vanilla A7N8X, the A7N8X Deluxe has the MCP-T) forego the MCP-T and use a regular MCP instead so they only have basic AC'97 audio which you don't want (it's primarily software based, whereas the APU in the MCP-T is hardware so doesn't rape your CPU). The EPoX 8RDA+ (which is the board I have and recommend to anyone who asks) is one of the few boards that has an MCP-T and can be had for between USD$80-100 (although it should be closer to the 80 mark by now, I last saw it at USD$92 but that was a fair while ago). That MSI board has the SPP/MCP-T combination so looks like it would be a good buy as well.

edit: Also, with regard to OS support for Athlon 64, there's a 64 bit version of Windows XP in the works that support A64 not to mention several distributions of Linux already compile on it.

[Odyssey]

[color=cc9900]I'd recommend a 9100 instead of that 9200. The 9100 is basically a rebranded 8500 card (so if you see one of them for sale too, get either), no changes whatsoever. Which is good, because both the 9000 and 9200 have clipped wings in terms of pipelines.
Personally, I'm getting a 9600 XT to replace my old Voodoo 3 card. £120 or so (~$180), so just about within my 'reasonable price range', and in most cases it's faster than a 9500 Pro. And it's got as much memory as I've got installed on my motherboard (256mb DDR), which is frickin' scary.[/color]

[Stealth]

Admiral LSD:  So the A7N8X Deluxe (which is what i was planning on getting) you recommend?  is the "deluxe" the A7N8X-X as opposed to just the regular A7N8X?

Odyssey:  I can get the 9200 for like $50.00 brand new and sealed online, but do you think i should get the 9100 instead?

[Grey Wolf]

Originally posted by Stealth


yeah but as far as I know there still hasn't been an OS released that utilizes the AMD 64 processors, so you'll just end up buying a $700.00 processor for nothing :-/  .

The same thing happened with the release of the Pentium IV months before the release of WindowsXP... remember?


anyhow, any more ideas?

Linux, f00

Anyway, the A64 FX processors beat the P4C processors in standard XP anyway. Not to mention that the standard A64s only retail for $400 and perform as well at the P4C, and run far cooler.

[Stealth]

Originally posted by Grey Wolf 2009
Linux, f00

yeah i forgot about Linux

but how many people use Linux?  not many... so therefore getting a 64Bit Athlon is useless to most people

[Grey Wolf]

Also Solaris, Unix....
And Windows should be out soon. They're on Beta, I think.

[Admiral LSD]

Originally posted by Stealth
Admiral LSD:  So the A7N8X Deluxe (which is what i was planning on getting) you recommend?  is the "deluxe" the A7N8X-X as opposed to just the regular A7N8X?

The A7N8X, A7N8X-X and A7N8X Deluxe are all different boards. Of those 3, the A7N8X Deluxe is probably the best (it has the SPP/MCP-T combination) but I'd only recommend it if you're determined to spend your money with Asus as it's fairly expensive and doesn't really offer a lot (just a second onboard NIC and SATA, neither of which is all that useful) to justify the price. This is the board I have, the EPoX 8RDA+:

http://web.epox.com/html/motherboard.asp?product=EP-8RDAplus&lang=1

With the exception of SATA and the second onboard NIC, it has the same basic feature set (dual channel DDR support, AGP8X, nVidia LAN, ATA133, USB2, Firewire and SoundStorm audio) as the A7N8X Deluxe but can be had for a lot less.

[DeepSpace9er]

I just got a new computer that has a nVidia FX 5200... is that any good? Im also running 512Mb DDR Dual Channel and a 2.8 Ghz Processor.

[Grey Wolf]

Uhhh... Not really. You'll beat GF2s and GF4 MXs, but that's about it.

[Stealth]

Originally posted by Admiral LSD


The A7N8X, A7N8X-X and A7N8X Deluxe are all different boards. Of those 3, the A7N8X Deluxe is probably the best (it has the SPP/MCP-T combination) but I'd only recommend it if you're determined to spend your money with Asus as it's fairly expensive and doesn't really offer a lot (just a second onboard NIC and SATA, neither of which is all that useful) to justify the price. This is the board I have, the EPoX 8RDA+:

http://web.epox.com/html/motherboard.asp?product=EP-8RDAplus&lang=1

With the exception of SATA and the second onboard NIC, it has the same basic feature set (dual channel DDR support, AGP8X, nVidia LAN, ATA133, USB2, Firewire and SoundStorm audio) as the A7N8X Deluxe but can be had for a lot less.

yeah i guess i should've looked at the Asus website, right?
Like i said, things have changed so much since the last time i built a computer back about 4 years ago.  the Asus A7M266 was the fastest there was, i can still see its red box on all the shelves at CompUSA and such  That motherboard you showed me, the Epox 8RDA+... i've never heard much about "Epox" boards, but it has 6 PCI slots, which is good (can't stand boards with 4), so i might just get that.  You said the A7N8X Deluxe motherboard was expensive but had no features... how could that be?  How does it compare to the A7V8X-X motherboard?  When it comes to the fine tuning of these boards i really can't tell the difference, they all support (more or less) the same features, but i dunno.  really, if you make a recommendation, i'll go for it... your call...

[Admiral LSD]

All nForce2 boards have a fairly standard feature set, it varies a bit depending on which combination of North and South Bridge are used but all of them share a common feature set of AGP8X, ATA133, USB2 and at least the nVidia onboard LAN MAC. What I meant about the Asus board was that it doesn't offer a lot above the standard features of the nForce2 chipset to justify the price difference between it and something like the 8RDA+ which has almost everything nForce2 has to offer but sells for less than USD$90.

[Stealth]

features don't matter that much to me.  i don't want to get a board with all the features motherboards have to offer, and then two months later it burns out.  so you'd recommend the Epox 8RDA then... I think i'm going to get it, sounds like a really good motherboard .  I can run it with my 2800+, and 512 MB RAM on it, and i'll save quite a bit .  great

[Ypoknons]

An Athlon 64 3200+ is mostly faster than a P4 3.2C, but then the price cuts have made things different. I'd say choose whichever one is cheaper, but the differenece isn't huge - if you like AMD emotionally, go for the 3200+.

If you are considering HL2 at all, Stealth, that 7500AIW will not the do the trick. Try a 9200, 9100 or 5200 instead, or if you can find it, a 9500/9600 or 5600 non-pro/ultra instead.

If you're going with nforce2, dual channel memory memorys the intergrated graphics a lot - as much as 40% IIRC.

[Odyssey]

Originally posted by Stealth
Odyssey:  I can get the 9200 for like $50.00 brand new and sealed online, but do you think i should get the 9100 instead?

[color=cc9900]Just stay away from the 9200 like the plague, basically. The 9000 Pro and the 9100/8500 are better, with the 9100/8500 being the best of the bunch. So, as long as the price is okay, get one of those two instead.
According to pricegrabber, the 9000 pro is going for $70, and the 9100 goes for $57-65 but is harder to find. So, if you can obtain the 9100, it's vastly the better buy.[/color]

[Stealth]

Originally posted by Odyssey

[color=cc9900]Just stay away from the 9200 like the plague, basically. [/color]

well f*** Odyssey, i just bought one yesterday :-/

it's cool, i'll use it for a few weeks/months, and it might just work for the basic stuff i do... if it doesn't, i'll try to sell it (to some gullible friends) and get a new one.

[Odyssey]

[color=cc9900]Here's a good summary:
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/fic_r92p/
Check out the benchmarks. It's not the end of the world, it just isn't that good. Beats the FX5200 in most tests at 1024x768.[/color]

[Xelion]

Originally posted by Stealth
yeah but as far as I know there still hasn't been an OS released that utilizes the AMD 64 processors, so you'll just end up buying a $700.00 processor for nothing :-/ .

lol, there is one out Windows XP 64-Bit Edition
and might I add its been there for a while

Microsoft
Last Updated: August 18, 2003

oh and the Athlon 64 processor has a 1600MHz FSB comparision

[Admiral LSD]

Originally posted by Ypoknons
If you're going with nforce2, dual channel memory memorys the intergrated graphics a lot - as much as 40% IIRC.

If you get a board without the integrated graphics (which none of the boards discussed in this thread do) though then it's not really as important. DCDDR is still a neat thing to have though so if you can wing it it would pay to buy another 512Mb stick and run the pair in DC.