Please help pair this AMD with a mobo!

[Eugi]

After some debate and suggestions I have decided to try something new and settled on this AMD Athlon 64 4000+ instead of the 3.4 ghz 800FSB P4. Really hoping that the AMD chip linked is comparable or better performance wise to the P4 I went looking for a motherboard to match.

I have to admit that first and foremost I was thrown off by how cheap the AMD mobos were. I am looking for an AMD mobo that has Socket 939, an AGP x4/x8 slot, SATA II, and can support DDR memory. Firewire or USB 2.0 is optional but much appreciated. If anyone can recommend an AMD motherboard for me that meets all or most of those specifications (the Socket and an AGP slot are a must) I would be very grateful!

Also, I'm wondering - what is better San Diego or Clawhammer core?

I look forward to reading your replies!


Edit: Just in case, the hassle about the AGP is because I want to use my GeForce 6800 GT OC card.

 

[devilstar187]

ok first check this one out http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1526470&CatId=1948 it is a better processor and is about the same price. as for the mobo ill suggest this http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1337301&CatId=1745 it is $77.97 and should suit you fine. it is socket 939 with an agp slot and supports up to 4gb ddr ram, dont think it supports sata II tho. has usb capabilities but not firewire but you can get a firewire adapter here with usb and card reader http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=578352&CatId=51 for $19.99 and it fits rite into a 5 1/4" drive bay.

edit----actually newegg.com has the same cpu i posted but for $35 less.

 

[Eugi]

Thank you for the suggestions Devilstar! I found both items on newegg for very decent prices:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core $297
Gigabyte Socket 939 Motherboard $62

The only concern I have about the above setup is that the FSB on the motherboard is listed as "800MHz Hyper Transport (1600MT/s)" while the AMD chip has... 2000? Does this kind of "mismatch" lower performance? Otherwise an AGP slot, DDR support, NVIDIA Chipset and USB 2.0 make that one sweet board!

However, since I now have some wiggle room, I decided to explore further (sticking to the general "idea" of the items above, but adding on more power). I have narrowed my CPU choices to the following three (the lowest priced is the one suggested by Devilstar) and am wondering at what kind of performance increases I am looking at if I pay $60 or $160 more:

AMD 64 X2 Dual Cores

I'm at a bigger loss with motherboards because I know so little about them. My biggest concern is the mobo's compatability with the AMD chip I choose and how it will behave with my AGP GeForce card. The following is a list of 10 (ASRock ecluded >_< ) that I simply can't choose from:

Socket 939 with AGP Slot AMD Mobos

To make matters worse, I've come across this list of "custom" motherboards with exotic names and somewhat confusing (to me) descriptions.

I would really appreciate people's thoughts on this. Once again, I am looking to spend roughly $600 for a CPU/Motherboard combo, although if I can get away with less while keeping solid performance, you won't hear me complain.

P.S. As I mentioned before, this is my first AMD system after a long line of die-hard Intel ones so I'm really excited! Looking forward to reading your replies!

 

[devilstar187]

that was the biostar board rite? i dont really know much about it but the specs looked good. but an 800mhz fsb is pretty good. and its a dual core processor (i think that was the athlon 64 x2 3800+ rite?) if it is that one it starts at like 1.8 gig and will overclock to around 2.7 gig maybe a little higher.

and for the record intel blows for gaming. even the new pentium extreme will lag on the harder game apps where a well built system with an athlon 64 fx 60 will blow it away.

 

[aliasaid]

if i had to choose from those mobos, i'd pick either of the gigabytes; and most likely lean towards:

Gigabyte GA-K8U-939 Socket 939 ULi M1689 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

main reason is that where it says cpu: the other gigabyte mobo doesn't list X2 while this one does... i doubt that means the other one is not compatible... but still this one lists it. Your original request included SATA II, and none of these motherboards have that, they only have SATA I.

oh and the mobo i listed doesn't seem to have gigabit lan. i'm not really sure what gigabit lan is and what use it has.. i have it on my mobo but i doubt i'm actually benefiting from it.

 

[devilstar187]

as long as it is a 939 it will support the x2. ooo ok that one was the gigabyte mobo. yea it will support it.

 

[turtile]

Sandiego is better.

That board may require a Bios update to support a X2.