Motherboard for AMD 64 3200+

[funkymojo44]

Hi everyone, 1st post.

I've been taking a look at the sticky threads in the forums to see if there are any recommendations for a good socket 939 mobo.

Basically im attempting to build my own pc in the next while and have come up with the following list of stuff im after;

Cpu
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (939) ebuyer £95
Mobo
ABIT AX8 Dabs.com £65
Or
ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 £50
Ram
Corsair Value Matched Pair of 512mb £60
HDD
Samsung Spinpoint 160GB PC World £63
GFX
XFX 6600GT 128MB Ram Various £100
Or
Sapphire Radeon X800 GTO 256MB Various £113

Along with the usual case/psu etc.

Basically i have settled on the CPU, RAM, GFX is a choice of 2 cards, but the choice of motherboard is confusing me. The 2 boards ive listed seem to be reasonably good;

Both mid-range 939 boards with decent performance, but i dont need a board thats SLI or XFire.

Is there a good board out there that provides a couple of SATA connections, has 5.1 sound, sp-dif optical output, and has the potential to accept all 939 AMD processors (ill want to be able to upgrade to a dual core or FX-60 in a few years)

Cheers

[glc]

I'm personally not too pleased with either board - the Abit is a Via chipset and Asrock is a low end board maker. I'd recommend a NForce chipset from a top tier manufacturer - checking Dabs, they list the Asus A8N-E and A8N5X, both in the same price range as the Abit you chose. Those would be my preferences for basic high quality non-SLI socket 939 boards.

You didn't ask, but I don't trust the long term quality of Samsung drives. They may be quiet and get good reviews, but my experiences over the past 10 years indicate that the reliability just isn't there. I've been using Seagate almost exclusively since they extended the warranty period to 5 years across the board in the US.

Be careful when you say "usual" PSU - you will need a quality unit that's ATX 2.0, 24 pin connector, preferably with dual +12v rails. The older ATX 1.x units don't cut it, even with a 20 to 24 pin adapter. PCI-Express power demands are quite high and exacting.

[funkymojo44]

Originally Posted by glc I'm personally not too pleased with either board - the Abit is a Via chipset and Asrock is a low end board maker. I'd recommend a NForce chipset from a top tier manufacturer - checking Dabs, they list the Asus A8N-E and A8N5X, both in the same price range as the Abit you chose. Those would be my preferences for basic high quality non-SLI socket 939 boards. You didn't ask, but I don't trust the long term quality of Samsung drives. They may be quiet and get good reviews, but my experiences over the past 10 years indicate that the reliability just isn't there. I've been using Seagate almost exclusively since they extended the warranty period to 5 years across the board in the US. Be careful when you say "usual" PSU - you will need a quality unit that's ATX 2.0, 24 pin connector, preferably with dual +12v rails. The older ATX 1.x units don't cut it, even with a 20 to 24 pin adapter. PCI-Express power demands are quite high and exacting.

Thanks for your reply.

Ill take a closer look at the nforce 4 based cards to see whats available. I remember reading some time ago that MSI as well as Gigabyte and ASUS where top brand in motherboards, is this particularly true?

I agree that the samsung spinpoint models have been getting very good reviews from what ive read. To be honest though there are slightly cheaper models from seagate/western digital etc that would do the job. I have a seagate in my current machine and ive had no problems at all (over 6 years).

With regard to the PSU i honestly didnt realise there was more to it than just the wattage rating; i was hoping to get one with at least 450W output to ensure i could upgrade to a better gfx card without having to replace the PSU in the future. I will do so more research on this and also take your advice onboard as well.

[jfk]

See this link for a list of good PSU's. I would avoid the Ultra line though, even if it's listed as good. The PSU is the heart and soul of the PC, don't be cheap there. If the PSU blows, there's no telling what it's going to take down with it..................

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195

[glc]

MSI and Gigabyte are well regarded, but I don't trust them as much as Asus. That's just the way I am, I'm fussier than most.

Available high quality power supply brands are kinda shy in the UK. The only ones that Dabs carries that I trust are Antec and Enermax, and the Dabs branded Tagan and Seasonic units. If it's much less than 75 quid, I'd be cautious.

[funkymojo44]

Well ive been reading and researching some more and come up with the ASUS A8N-E motherboard, round £70.

Has the optical ouput as well as supporting AMD dual core x2 etc. Only has one PCI-E x16 slot but thats all i need and it has plenty of Sata 2 connectors and pci-E and pci slots. Its also got the nforce4 ultra chipset.

Got very good reviews as well and confirms what you where saying about Asus glc.

[Tin]

For your video card, the X800GTO would be the better card...it has 4 more pixel pipelines and 256-bit memory .

[funkymojo44]

Originally Posted by Tin For your video card, the X800GTO would be the better card...it has 4 more pixel pipelines and 256-bit memory .

Yeah im more inclined to go for it than the 6600GT, definately worth the extra £13 or so!

Just one question which ive just thought of;

If i went for the Sapphire Radeon X800 GTO 256MB, would it work ok with my choice of mainboard, the Asus A8N-E ?

The reason i ask is because the Asus board has a nforce4 ultra chipset, which is nvidia! Does that mean im restricted to nvidia based GFX cards?

[glc]

Not at all. ATI cards work fine in Nforce motherboards. Nvidia cards work fine in Radeon Express motherboards.

[dyouredgeco1]

I have an msi k8n neo4-f and love it. for psu i would reccomend an antec smartpower 2.0 500w.

[funkymojo44]

Originally Posted by glc Not at all. ATI cards work fine in Nforce motherboards. Nvidia cards work fine in Radeon Express motherboards.

Thats good to know thanks!

Well with all your help i have come up with a refined specification that im after;

Cpu
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (939) £95

Mobo
ASUS A8N-E Around £70

Ram
Corsair Value Matched Pair of 512mb £60

HDD
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB/SATA 8MB Cache £65

GFX Card
Sapphire Radeon X800 GTO 256MB £113

All that together plus around £150 for a 17" TFT would total about £570 which works out around $1,020.

With a case and PSU that could rise to £90 or so, although id like to keep the cost down as much as i can - so if i can get a decent case with PSU that does the job that could be £50.

So in all around £650 there and i still need a copy of Win XP.

It seems as though that companies like MESH can offer the same setup (or close enough) for the same money and include win xp along with mouse keyboard, dvd drive etc.

Im definately having 2nd thoughts about this now.

[funkymojo44]

AMD Athlon™ 64 3500+ Processor
Genuine Windows® XP Home
ASUS A8N_VM PCI- X Mainboard
1GB DDR400 Memory
200GB Serial ATA Hard Drive
256MB Geforce 6600LE PCI-X Graphics
19" DVI Flat Panel TFT Display
Sony 16x Dual Layer DVD Writer
5.1 Channel Surround Sound Audio
Sound Blaster SBS260 Speakers
Logitech Desktop KB & Optical Mouse
Classic Warranty-3Years parts & lab.

£650 from Mesh

The graphics card isn't as good as the x800GTO, but having said that its still cheaper than what i can work with. The CPU is a 3500+ which is a step up from the 3200+ i thought about.

Goddammit i have to rethink this again!

[glc]

The VM board is a budget micro ATX board with onboard video. The 6600LE is a stripped down card - slow clocks, only 4 pipes, narrow ram bandwidth, half the price of a 6600GT. I think Mesh used them to meet a tight price point. Build your own with strong components. Also note that they don't specify brand names for the memory or hard drive and I'm betting the power supply is a budget brand.

You arent't going to find a case *and* power supply for 50 quid that's suitable, by the way.