What Motherboard + CPU to go for?

[AndyOdish]

Hello everyone!
I'm currently using a

- AMD Athlonxp 2000
- 1gig Ram
- Geforce FX5600
- and i can't remember the motherboard!

I'm looking to upgrade the motherboard and CPU (will need new ram for it as well). I'm looking to spend around £400 but need some help with what to choose.

Is it worth going down the Athlon 64 route? I'm really not sure what processor to choose. I have traditionally gone for AthlonXP's but can be tempted back to Intel... What motherboard and processors would you guys recommend.

Id like to be able to play HL2 smoothly with the graphics turned up high.

Look forward to your ideas....

 

[Skullhair]

Hello everyone!
I'm currently using a

- AMD Athlonxp 2000
- 1gig Ram
- Geforce FX5600
- and i can't remember the motherboard!

I'm looking to upgrade the motherboard and CPU (will need new ram for it as well). I'm looking to spend around £400 but need some help with what to choose.

Is it worth going down the Athlon 64 route? I'm really not sure what processor to choose. I have traditionally gone for AthlonXP's but can be tempted back to Intel... What motherboard and processors would you guys recommend.

Id like to be able to play HL2 smoothly with the graphics turned up high.

Look forward to your ideas....

I'm in the same boat. I have a P4 2.0 and am looking to upgrade my comp with a new Mobo, Ram, & CPU (stupid RDRAM). From what I've read, the AMD64 is the way to go if you're a gamer. The AMD64 3400+ is about the same speed as a P4 3.2 and in games and some apps it's even faster (This is from seeing benchmarks & reading reviews of the two CPU's). I'm not an AMD or Pent. fanboy, I just want something that's fast and can give me good FPS.

 

[AndyOdish]

I'm in the same boat. I have a P4 2.0 and am looking to upgrade my comp with a new Mobo, Ram, & CPU (stupid RDRAM). From what I've read, the AMD64 is the way to go if you're a gamer. The AMD64 3400+ is about the same speed as a P4 3.2 and in games and some apps it's even faster (This is from seeing benchmarks & reading reviews of the two CPU's). I'm not an AMD or Pent. fanboy, I just want something that's fast and can give me good FPS.

I'm thinking of the Amd 64 but the only one i could afford is the Athlon 64 3200+ and even then that is very pricey. £200 eats away most of my budget... I'm used to paying £60 for processors, £100 at most

 

[AndyOdish]

Does anyone have any opinions on the following:

Corsair XMS TWINX PRO 4000 1024MB Kit w/two matched CMX512-4000PRO DIMMs -£233.83


AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0 GHz Socket 754, 1 MB cache, BOXED £189

Asus K8V Mainboard - £105

 

[AndyOdish]

...: bump :

 

[Asus]

This link may make you drool.

Yes, a P4 3.2ghz CPU is like a A64 3400+.

Link
Link
Link

A64 3400+ is generally as fast as a P4 3.4ghz...In games and other benchmarks it excells.

3 Multitasking tests (Light, Average to Heavy and Extreme).
Link

Business Winstone tests Microsoft Access 2002 SP-2, Microsoft Excel 2002 SP-2, Microsoft FrontPage 2002 SP-2, Microsoft Outlook 2002 SP-2, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 SP-2, Microsoft Project 2002, Microsoft Word 2002 SP-2, WinZip 8.1 SR-1 and Norton AntiVirus Professional Edition 2003.
*Link below

Multimedia Content Creation Winstone tests Adobe Photoshop 7.0.1, Adobe Premiere 6.50, Macromedia Director MX 9.0, Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 6.1, Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 9 Version 9.00.00.2980, NewTek LightWave 3D 7.5b and Steinberg WaveLab 4.0f.
*Link

Any AMD platform with an Athlon 64 core (Opteron 140-248/A64 FX 51-53/A64 2800+-3400+) will rock in games no matter of speed or socket.

Corsair is very solid memory but you don't need anything faster than PC3200 unless you plan to OC.
With A64 systems, you don't need to worry as much about memory timings either since the memory controller is very low latency.

The VIA chipset boards are pretty nice.
nForce3 150 is also a pretty good setup especially if you are looking to OC.
Some people are waiting for the nForce3 250 Chipset too.

You can get a A64 3000+,VIA/nforce3 150 based board, and good 1gb (2x512mb) memory for about 580$ USD off newegg. Not sure prices for UK or Europe.

Also, Check out the MSI VIA based board for Socket 754.
A64 2800+ is also an awesome low cost gamers CPU.

 

[AndyOdish]

Thanks Asus,
Do you think its worth upgrading now or waiting a month or two?