What's the best mobo for AMD 3200 Winchester?

[bball_1523]

Ok guys, at first I was trying to decide on an Intel based computer for music recording and gaming, but I've been getting second thoughts after I saw how much money I could save by going with AMD and the user opinions from you guys and other musicians around the internet on using AMd.

So I've decided to go with the AMD 64 3200 Winchester. It will cost me about $190 for the chip compared to the P4 3.2 Ghz prescott that costs around $225.

Budget for entire pc: $1500 MAX

Now before I purchase this chip I would like some input and information about this chip and what motherboard with fit best with it.

Here are some questions I have:

1) What is the different between the different 3200 models such as Winchester, Venice, and which is the best one?

2) What socket 939 motherboard do you guys suggest I purchse? I want as much upgradeability as possible with my computer and I want a reliable and efficient board.
- Also I prefer to have PCI-E as my videocard slot.

3) Are there any other AMD 64 chips that are better and not much costlier than the 3200?

thanks!

[David M]

Given you want upgradeability and your budget is $1500 then I would go with the ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe. You can turn it into an SLI system in the future. This board has all kinds of features and ASUS is one of the best mobo manufacturers. I am happy with mine except for a noisy chipset fan (which I replaced). Look at a single 6800GT for a graphics card for now and get a quality Nvidia certified PSU.

You will be able to run the newer games at a decent although not barnbusting framerate with this system. Purchase a second 6800GT card in the future and you will get a really fast framerate.

I chose the 3500 Winchester because it runs cooler than the Venice and it came in at a good price/performance point. Its also not significantly more expensive than the 3200. I was also able to overclock it from 2.2 to 2.45 without corrupting or damaging anything.

You should still be under budget.

[bball_1523]

Originally Posted by David M Given you want upgradeability and your budget is $1500 then I would go with the ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe. You can turn it into an SLI system in the future. This board has all kinds of features and ASUS is one of the best mobo manufacturers. I am happy with mine except for a noisy chipset fan (which I replaced). Look at a single 6800GT for a graphics card for now and get a quality Nvidia certified PSU. You will be able to run the newer games at a decent although not barnbusting framerate with this system. Purchase a second 6800GT card in the future and you will get a really fast framerate. I chose the 3500 Winchester because it runs cooler than the Venice and it came in at a good price/performance point. Its also not significantly more expensive than the 3200. I was also able to overclock it from 2.2 to 2.45 without corrupting or damaging anything. You should still be under budget.

How does the Venice and Winchester 3200's compare? I read somewhere that the Venice has SSE3 instructions (no idea what that is), and has better memory handling. They are both the same prices, but which one is better? Which one is cooler and still runs up to its specs?

[David M]

I don't know the answer to the 3200's. Perhaps someone could post that chart that compares all the CPU's? I don't remember where that chart is located.

[kevinf]

or if you don't want sli then you can just get the Asus A8N-E deluxe don't know if its in stock though

[bball_1523]

Originally Posted by kevinf or if you don't want sli then you can just get the Asus A8N-E deluxe don't know if its in stock though

I found one at zipzoomfly.com, but the specs say it has 3 pci slots (I'd prefer 4 unless you guys can fix my concern), and no firewire.

My problem with pci slots is that I heard if there are 3 pci slots and a pci-e slot right above them, then there should be 1 open pci slot below the pci-e videocard, that means only 2 usable pci slots. I want at least 3 usable because 1 for soundcard, 1 for tv tuner, and 1 for firewire if mobo doesn't come with it.