939 vs AM2

[Spartan III]

Ok, I want to know what the performance difference would be between these two builds. I have not built yet and am deciding which one it buy. I know a lot about the 939 build and am happy with it, but I don't know much at all about the AM2 build and thats why I am making this thread. The reason I am considering the AM2 is because I can get it for the same price as the 939, but with AM2 I have a greater ability to upgrade in the future than with 939.

Are the components I have found for the AM2 build reliable? And build gives better performance, why, and by how much?(not all compnents are listed because I have already decided upon the rest and will not change per build)

Socket 939 build
CPU: Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego 2.4GHz 1MB L2 Cache
Motherboard: BIOSTAR TForce6100-939 Micro-ATX
Memory: G.SKILL 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR 400 (PC3200)

Socket AM2 build (I have 2 choices of mobo, which one is best?)
CPU: Athlon 64 3800+ Orleans 2.4GHz 512KB L2 Cache
Motherboard choice 1: BIOSTAR NF61VM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX
Motherboard choice 2: ECS NFORCE4M-A (V3.0) NVIDIA nForce4 4X ATX
Memory: A-DATA 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

[edit] changed the memory for the AM2 from DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) to DDR 800 (PC2 6400) just so anyone that saw it before I changed it knows.

[edit2] changed memory for AM2 again because it had bad reviews.

 

[Nukem]

from readings (as I do not have an AM2 system) the performance difference between the 2 CPU types is very little. the biggest thing is the updated technology use... (RAM to be specific) the AM2 system will let you use DDR2, vice S939 having only DDR. but that was the big stink when AM2 came out... the performance boost was not enough (in some people eyes) to warrent the move to AM2 yet... (AT that time)

S939 is still a good and very much proven system. I'm still using mine as we speak. So IMO if you were to choose, I would suggest to you the AM2, just the the fact of future upgradability.

but now the question is? what are you going to be doing with it? both are decent systems for a basic system and would work solidly.

 

[Spartan III]

I will mostly be gaming, but my dad is starting a wedding videography business and I will be letting him use this computer for all his video editing and rendering.

 

[M733mhz]

Go AM2 if you're video editing and all that. Dual core wins hands down for stuff like that. Also you might want to look into another GB of ram for stuff like that, it'll help you out in gaming too.

 

[Spartan III]

Yeah I am actually going to get a 1 gig stick instead of the two 512s and then upgrade to 2 gigs in the spring when I get a job.

Thanks for the advice!

I have been comparing and read reviews on the two motherboards, and have decided the ECS one is the best. Does anyone have any other thoughts?

 

[Nukem]

what kind of video card do you have? and why go with Matx?

 

[Spartan III]

what kind of video card do you have? and why go with Matx?

eVGA 7600 GT video card, and the ECS AM2 motherboard is not mATX. Even if it was, why not go with mATX besides the fact that some only have 2 dimm slots?