I want to put together a new computer system that will be used
primarily for light to medium gaming and office type applications, and
surfing.  What motherboard should I be looking at?  I need stability
over speed.  What processor?  I am leaning towards AMD 64 family.
Thanks in advance.

On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 16:13:57 GMT, raja@nospam_oz.net (Mojo) wrote:

Well the most desirable is the 939 socket newer chip line vs the older
754 socket which they are phasing out in a year or year and a half
supposedly. 

That doenst mean the 754 is a bad system to get --- it depends on your
budget.  The thing is the prices are fairly close now but there is
about a 70-100 buck difference so if that important than the 754 maybe
a better deal for you .

The 939 socket is around 145-158 retail now - it really fluctuates
though since many online firms vary the price substantially over a
short period nowadays based on supply and demand.

The motherboards --- theres VIA chipset boards out now which are new
which I dont know much about. Theres the nforce4 boards out which are
very popular and come in 3 types budget, ultra and SLI (you can use
two video cards for more performance) - get an ULTRA.

The downside to the new chip(sets) is that they use PCI express - you
cant use an old video card you have laying around which will add at
least another $80-100 for the cheapest PCI E card. If you want to use
an old AGP card - get a 939 board with AGP.

So you have a choice - cheapest 754 CPU+754 socket board.
Second --- 939 CPU + 939 socket with AGP and PCI express slots.
Third - newest 939 CPU + PCI express video and usually 2 PCI exp slots
        and 3 regular PCI slots.

The cheapest I know of at the moment and the price once again
FLUCTUATES is the one I got - the Chaintech VNF4 Ultra . Now ALL these
boards are new so no one can guarantee no problems arent going to show
up later or some combo you have (some memory stick you already have or
might buy etc) will work with the boards out. Generally the rule is
the first boards out always seem to have problems at first - the
nforce 2 and 3 have articles and posts at many sites when they came
out lots of problems with various mem sticks etc. The old VIA chips
have bugs etc.  And many end up looking for newer revisions cause many
times older boards cant handle some newer processor that comes out
later etc. The other board that looks really interesting is the MSI
Ultra version generally or 158 last time I looked. Once again you wont
know all the ins and outs of compatibility issues for a while but
overall I dont see huge problems yet. This board they stuck 4 pci
clots on it somehow and has built in firewire. The chaintech has the
usual 3 , lan and sound but no firewire. 

If you want to stick with ASUS and ABIT they have been kind of slow to
mkt with the new PCI express but Ive seen ASUS VIA chipset PCI express
boards for fairly cheap. The best info youll get is to read the ASUS
board newsgroup and ABIT etc. And of course those two will have the
most info since they sell more boards generally than chaintech
probably and Giga etc.


All I can say is Ive seen some overclocking issues that were fixed
with some bios upgrades etc but I havent seen any major compatibility
issues so far - though that may change. All I can say is my board has
been trouble free so far. Im using WD, Maxtors HDs with sata to PATA
converters and cheaper Kingston value ram and Centon memory - two
sticks of 512 3200. That doesnt mean every stick will work of course
or even KVR since they might switch supplier for their Kingston or
Centon sticks who knows.  As time goes on more problems might come out
as usual but so far everything seems OK.

The two I like are the Chaintech cause it is or WAS going for 99 at
newegg recently.  If you want to get an idea of the fluctuations it
was 114-116 in dec/early jan when a few boards made it. Then it dried
up and shot up to 125-145 in late Jan /early feb. And recently has
been falling down to 99.

Here is the system that I'm looking at building (probably buying all parts
from NewEgg):

(Copy/pasted from a spreadsheet I'm keeping my parts list in. Contains part,
brand name, model & NewEgg part#, description, URL)

Case ThermalTake V5420AU N82E16811133125 420W, Full, cooling, fan speed
controll
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=11-133-125&DEPA=0

Motherboard Gigabyte GA-K8NS-939-Ultra N82E16813128263 +2 SATA, +IEEE1394
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-263&depa=0

CPU AMD-939 ADA3000BIBOX N82E16819103501 Athlon64, 90nm, 939, 3K
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-501&depa=0

CPU: Heat Sink ThermalTake Combo Cool DIY: Tower112 N82E16835106044
60x60x145.5mm
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=35-106-044&catalog
=23&manufactory=BROWSE

RAM Kingston KVR400X64C3AK2/1G N82E16820141423 512MBx2, 400MHz, 3-3-3
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-141-423&depa=0

Video ATI AIW Radeon 9800Pro N82E16814102297 128MB, 256-bit 8xAPG
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=14-102-297

Hard Drive Western Digital 250GB, 7200RPM, 8MB, SATA N82E16822144154 OEM
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=22-144-154

Floppy NEC FD1231H-302 N82E16821152005 1.44 MB 3.5" floppy
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=21-152-005&depa=0

DVD-RW LiteOn SHOW-1673S BK, DL, Rtl N82E16827106966 4DL+R,
16+R,8+RW,16R,6RW
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-106-966&depa=0

DVD-ROM LiteOn SOHD-16P9S, Black, OEM N82E16827131408 16xDVD, 48xCD
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=27-131-408&depa=0

Monitor NEC AS900BK N82E16824002248 19" Black, .25mm,
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=24-002-248&depa=0


(Extra/backup to keep around)

Power Supply ThermalTake TT-420AD N82E16817153006 420W SureSilent PSU
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=17-153-006&DEPA=0

Also looking at a Linksys 8 port hub (need more networking connections &
it's only $10-20 more than the 4 ports). Then some 50' & some 14' cables
(need for that room & for when I do work on other computers in the kitchen).

Nice.  I have a Xaser Skull w/420 that I love.  Screwless is the only way
to fly ;-)
Consider MSI k8n Neo2
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=241143  (NewEgg
is out of stock)
See this review
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2128&p=1
Consider Thermalright XP-90 (with fan)
http://www.coolerguys.com/840556031208.html
$39.95
Amazing performance.  Includes fan.  (newEgg price without fan ~ $49.00)
Check online for reviews

This power supply is my favorite.  8 boxes over the last ~18 months without
failure.   Power supply has super long leads so have plenty of wire ties
around ;-)
Dud

What about the Neo2F?
Have you heard/seen problems with the Gigabyte?

I can't tell how that one mounts....I prefer to stay away from the ones that
mount with the type of clip that the old socket7 used (too much force trying
to put it on). How about this one?

Also if I were to go with the other one I mentioned, any reason NOT to?

I think I'm only trusting ThermalTake for this kind of stuff now (after too
many bad experiences with others....currently using a backup for an Aspire
that died & needs replaced....system randomly locks or powers down & can't
come back up, swap PSU & everything OK...my guess is the PSU is bad.

4th computer to build (of my own), no telling how many not of my own.
(though only 3rd of the "buy all the parts & build from scratch" in the
AthlonXP days, otherwise it's just working on them for others).

I like this one about as much as the one I'm using (in my original posts,
not replies).

There are 10 types of people in this world...
....those who understand binary & those who don't.

Show quote Hide quote Should be fine.  No personal experience with it.
None that I know of.  Hard to go wrong with any nForce board.
Show quoteHide quoteIt uses clips but not like the old socket 7.  There is a link to the
install guide on this page
http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/thermalright_xp-90/page2.shtml
The Thermaltake is VERY heavy.  One must be careful not to crack the pcb. 

Show quoteHide quoteDud

Also I believe I was having problems confirming if the mentioned memory
worked in that board.

(MSI K8N Neo2F)

Show quote Hide quote I used Geil Golden Dragon in the last build and although it's not on MSI's
compatibility list it works perfectly. (2-3-3-6)  IIRC Kingston is on the
list.

regards

Dud

On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 16:13:57 GMT, raja@nospam_oz.net (Mojo) wrote:

Just saw some posts about a cheaper version of the MSI with 4 PCI
slots  - 939 - PCI express nforce board going for as low as $85-100.

SATA Disk writes too slow
Trying to upgrade HDD
Floppy Drive Cable????
Question on ATX Power Switch Pins and Case Switch?
Watch out for COMPUSA!
Mistubishi monitor manual
DVD Burning
PCI EXPRESS?
What is 32X4 and 64X4 memory?
BIOS upgrade problem?