Crazy Enough to Work?

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PizzatheHut06

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I will be upgrading my current computer very soon (see sig) and I was planning on this upgrade.

CPU- AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice (S939)
Motherboard- Abit AV8
RAM- 512 MB Corsair XMS (for a total of 1GB)

Total Cost: $368.90

However, I'm now leaning towards the following option, and I was curious as to y'alls opinions.

CPU- AMD Athlon 64 3400+ Newcastle (S754, 2.4 GHz)
Motherboard- DFI Lanparty UT NF3 250Gb
RAM- 512 MB Corsair XMS (for a total of 1GB)

Total Cost: $393.94

Difference in cost: $25.04

Before I started getting flamed and called a n00b for considering a S754 CPU, allow me to explain. The difference in cost is just $25.04, which isn't very much. Also, the motherboard in option 2 is far superior to the motheboard in option 1, and is nearly the same price. Most importantly, in the benchmarks I've seen, the 3400+ Newcastle comes out on top, often by quite a bit, say 10-15 frames per second more. Granted, I haven't seen any benchmarks with the 3200+ Venice, I'm using the 3200+ Winchester for comparison and assuming they will perform very similarly. Furthermore, the dual channel option of RAM offered by S939 motherboards only increases performance by 3-5% at a maximum, so that is a negligible difference. Many of you are probably thinking "But the S754 isn't upgradable...you're nuts!". The way I see it, this CPU is plenty fast to last quite a long time, and in my opinion will last longer than the video card. Therefore, I would have to upgrade the video card first, at which time PCI-E will be more widespread, which will then cause me to get a new motherboard, CPU, etc. So basically this boils down to the fact that I think this setup will last a very long time. Note of course, that I WILL NOT be overclocking this at all. I realize the Venice runs cooler and is far and away better in terms of overclocking abilities, but I have no interest in that and am looking for the most cost effective CPU at stock speeds.

What do you guys think?
 
I read this quick.

People here are going to say go for the venice 939. the socket 754's are discontinued or going to be.
 
your cpu is good enough right now

just get another stick of 512XMS and wait/save for the new dfi board?
 
Get a socket 939 3700+ San Diego. Better than venice AND newcastle.
 
003 said:
Get a socket 939 3700+ San Diego. Better than venice AND newcastle.

If I had that much money, I definitely would. The problem is the following.

AMD 64 3400+ Newcastle = $221.99
AMD 64 3700+ San Diego = $338.99
 
Go SKT 939.

I am not sure was is going on with SKT 754. I don't think AMD is sure what they are doing with SKT 754 either.
 
DJ-CHRIS said:
939 overclocks soo good. 754 is crap

Abit's are great anyways

Please give us a link that backs up your statement that socket 754 systems are "crap." Socket 754, while not upgradable as Socket 939, is nowhere near crap. Benchmarks show little difference in performance between the two sockets, even with dual-channel enabled.

Also, by the time he needs a new CPU, he will also need a new motherboard as well. The same would be true if he was getting Socket 939. Do you think people will actually be using Abit AV8s for Athlon 64 6000+ or whatever is in the future of socket 939? I don't think so, there will be bigger, badder mobos out then to better accompany the processors of that day. So if he can save a few bucks by getting socket 754, whats the crime in that?
 
I hope they keep socket 754 around for some time... I just got this pc not to long ago, and i got a decent overclock on the cpu.....
 
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