$250: Which Mobo+CPU to go with?

[mazeroth]

Hey guys. I have an ASUS mobo with a 2800+ AMD and I'm getting a lot of freeze ups and reboots while playing games. While in 2D mode in Windows, this thing can run for weeks no problem, but once I start playing a game I get in trouble. After much testing and nothing solid to tell me what's wrong I downloaded a CPU tester. Every time I run the tester my computer reboots. The only thing I can think of is that I have a bad CPU or that the heatsink is not on properly. The heatsink barely gets warm when playing games, so I was thinking of taking it off and putting it back on. Let's pretend that doesn't help...

I have a gig of Corsair Value 3200 2x512 so that's taken care of. I've had problems with AMDs in the past but never, ever had a problem with an Intel config. I have roughly $250 to spend on a new mobo+cpu and was wondering what you guys would get that will last me the next 12-18 months? I have a GeForce 6600GT 128m card right now, and would like to keep that for another 12 months or so. I can be persuaded into an AMD again, but I'm a bit leary. I've even been checking out the Celerons. Anything to say about those?

Thanks!

 

[Solaris17]

yup though im an amd fan my self i can tell u A: its probably heat sweriously put that hsf back on make sure u have the latest drivers estc....anyways no celerons make poor gaming rigs and im being perfectly unbiosed most here would say the same AMD is nice also most would say its better for gaming im not against intel their good for multimedia but try the hsf before u go buying stuff the p4 are nice the ones with htt are better for gaming for a good gaming processor get 128kb L1 cache and 256+ L2 cache.....the celerons however are poor for gaming and even with the stats make sure the processor u get is at least 2.0 GHZ that would last u if needed but check the hsf!!

 

[NeoPickaze]

Athlon 64 is your best friend in this situation. DirectX performance is unrivalled for the price - and you no longer worry about cooling with amazing stock idle temps.

I would buy an Abit Mobo to match your athlon 64 (get the newer 939 chipset). A good combo would be something like an Athlon 3200+ and a Abit AV8-3rd Eye motherboard. Good value, excellent performance.

I really doubt the CPU is the cause of your problems here. Sounds more like a power supply issue (under load it's not delievering) or if you have ruled out the gfx card a motherboard problem.

 

[mazeroth]

I originally had a Soyo motherboard in there, and it was constantly letting off the high pitched speaker letting me know the CPU was too hot. I went into BIOS and set the temp higher and it stopped doing that. I have switched to an ASUS that my buddy gave me to try out and the same symptoms occur.

Also, I should mention this. When going into the games I play (Asherons Call, Tiger Woods 2004, GTA: San Andreas) as soon as the game loads the sound will pause and I can't move the mouse. A few seconds later the sound will come on and I can move the mouse, but then a few seconds later it does it again. If you let it sit there for a few minutes it will cure itself, or sometimes restarting the game will fix it. I've tried different sound cards, formatting my HD and a fresh install...nothing works.

Onto the PSU. I have a 350W Antec. Do you really think this could be the problem? I could go out and buy a nice one at a local retailer, and if that doesn't fix it I could return it.

The Athlon64 does look nice. Can you give me a killer motherboard for it that's pretty inexpensive? Newegg if you could, because they have been great to me over the years.

Thank you guys SOOO much!

 

[Solaris17]

welcome guy.....have fun w/ another amd

 

[wazzledoozle]

Sounds like your motherboard is dying (because of sounds issues)
Dont throw out the 2800, test it on another motherboard.

For $250 USD, definitely go Athlon 64.

Newegg.com is where I shop for everything so here is what I recommend-

Athlon 64 3000+ Venice-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103537
Fast at stock, and overclocks extremely well and runs much cooler than any Intel desktop chip.

ASRock socket 939 AGP/PCI-Express motherboard-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081

This thing is a beast, it is the best Athlon 64 overclocking board right now and is cheap because its chipset maker (ULi) is new to the market and wants to cut into Nvidia's monopoly. Good time for Athlon 64 chipsets, people are setting records on this board with just the stock cooling.
Nice features like SATA2 and 8 channel sounds too

Your 350 watt Antec should be ok, what amperage does it have on the rails? There should be a sticker on the side that lists the amperage for each rail (5v, 12v etc.)

 

[NeoPickaze]

Better to check they are delivering those voltages properly with a multimeter, make sure they aren't too far off (say 2-3% off at the most). Make sure you a read a reputable guide on this so you don't fry yourself.

350W is definitly enough wattage unless you have gone insane with case modding, so as long as the rails are delivering consistently the PSU should be fine.

 

[mazeroth]

Part of me just wants to buy a new mobo/cpu and power supply and be done with it. I've been working 50-60 hours a week, and I do make good money. The $250 is because I'm a tight wad but I could spring another $50-$100 no prob.

I was eyeing that mobo on Newegg, after checking socket 939 boards and that one had super good reviews. Would I be better off getting the Athlon64 3000 and overclocking it, or spending the extra money for a faster Athlon64 chip, and possibly overclocking that one? I used to overclock but have been out of the PC loop for years. I did have a dual Celeron 300A oc'ed with an ABIT mobo back in the day Any idea what I could 100% safely overclock the Athlon64 3000 to? Remember, I'd like to keep this setup for at least the next 12-18 months, and will probably swap video cards in that time. The 6600GT AGP does it for now, but I'm sure in a little bit I'll be aching for more.

Thanks again!

 

[wazzledoozle]

Part of me just wants to buy a new mobo/cpu and power supply and be done with it. I've been working 50-60 hours a week, and I do make good money. The $250 is because I'm a tight wad but I could spring another $50-$100 no prob.

I was eyeing that mobo on Newegg, after checking socket 939 boards and that one had super good reviews. Would I be better off getting the Athlon64 3000 and overclocking it, or spending the extra money for a faster Athlon64 chip, and possibly overclocking that one? I used to overclock but have been out of the PC loop for years. I did have a dual Celeron 300A oc'ed with an ABIT mobo back in the day Any idea what I could 100% safely overclock the Athlon64 3000 to? Remember, I'd like to keep this setup for at least the next 12-18 months, and will probably swap video cards in that time. The 6600GT AGP does it for now, but I'm sure in a little bit I'll be aching for more.

Thanks again!

The 3000+ should be good for a long time, they commonly get to 2.4 GHz+ (3800 speed) Though to run that 24/7 you will probably want a better heatsink, the XP-90 is the most popular, and imo the best A64 heatsink considering its price.

If you want something more, go for a 3800 X2, its a dual core Athlon 64. You could easily play a demanding game and rip a dvd at the same time

For a while now, they lock the multiplier on cpu's, so raising the FSB (htt on A64) is the only option for overclocking. That ASRock board holds the current records at 400 fsb (800 effective, from 400 effective stock!!)

The X2 3800 is $340-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562

Your 6600GT AGP should be good for a good while, and when you want to upgrade you have a pci-express slto to do so.
The motherboard also has a cpu expansion port, in the future you could plug in a new socket for a new generation cpu

 

[Christer]

Lock multipliers on CPU's...not AMD?. I just got a Sandy 4000 on an ASUS A8N Deluxe and I can change the multiplier from 12 (default) down in half increments to I think 5.....!

 

[NeoPickaze]

A 3000+ is more than enough to keep your system running nice and tight, I recommend against overclocking it for a while though, if you get problems like you do now in most cases (as you no doubt know) your warranty will be invalidated (but then again, if you use cooling other than stock on retail 64's you invalidate the warranty too)

Your main concern for the future is going to be the 'forced decline' of AGP, if you choose to upgrade your graphics card you may find your options are quite limited with an AGP motherboard.

Saying that, I recently chose to stick with AGP for the time being - if I need to upgrade to PCI-E for a better card in future I figured the £50-70 extra doesn't matter when I'd be spending about £250+ on a graphics card.

 

[mazeroth]

Really thinking about going with the ASRock 939 motherboard and Athlon64 3000+ retail chip from Newegg. I currently have a gig of Corsair Value ram, which I think is this exact model:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440

How will this work with the aforementioned mobo+cpu? What if I'm looking to overclock? Lastly, I see all this talk about RAM timings like 2,2,2,2,1T etc...Can anyone shoot me a link that explains all of this?

Thanks!

 

[NeoPickaze]

As requested this should help:

http://www.iamnotageek.com/a/1-p1.php

The way many people talk about memory timings you would think they would make or break a system - most of the performance you gain from this you can only really 'feel' around the desktop.

I have used that memory you showed before. But I'd advise against changing the timings because it's not worthwhile pushing this memory any further.

If you are looking at FSB overclock this memory won't go much further, I couldn't get the memory running stable much higher than the stock FSB. As long as you can adjust the CPU multiplier and voltages directly you will get the best performance boost from your overclock.

The motherboard I currently use as I mentioned before is the Abit AV8-3Rd Eye (there are newer, improved models) and it has a cool external clock thing which allows me to overclock or underclock it while not even on the windows desktop (i.e. in the middle of a game if I need the extra power) and like most good motherboards it has a bunch of good utilities for tweaking your system.

Anyway, good luck with your purchase!

 

[chopperdan88]

definitelt go with AMD!

hey,
i know what you mean. but for 250 bucks you should be able to get a 64 bit processor and decent motherboard. i would suggest that you get a 62 3000+(around 160-175) and a good motherboard that meets your needs. GOOD LUCK!

 

[wazzledoozle]

Really thinking about going with the ASRock 939 motherboard and Athlon64 3000+ retail chip from Newegg. I currently have a gig of Corsair Value ram, which I think is this exact model:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440

How will this work with the aforementioned mobo+cpu? What if I'm looking to overclock? Lastly, I see all this talk about RAM timings like 2,2,2,2,1T etc...Can anyone shoot me a link that explains all of this?

Thanks!

That ram will work, see this guide about timings-
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=28&highlight=memory+timings

I have the same ram, I have gotten it to about 225 MHz at 2.7 vdimm, really not worth overclocking. At first run it at its "spd" timings, and if you have problems then adjust them a little higher until it works. 2.5-3-3-7 works without errors for me

 

[Aevum]

well, 250 bucks is alot of money, a 3000+ is a formidable cpu, and now that you mentioned asrock, theres a very good board that they have released recently called 939dual-sata2,
it has Decent AGP and pci express and is quite cheap, alot of people gut good overclocking results out of it, the only thing you must find crummy about it is that it only brings 3 sata ports, only one of those being sata2, the extras are quite poor, integrated audio is a bit lacking, no Gigabit ethernet and voltaje control settings are quite limited

 

[Silverstone]

Best budget cpu available is a S939 Opteron 144.

They are hard to get, these have 1MB of L2 cache instead of 512kb of L2 that the 3000+ Venice has. Its also more rigorously tested at the FAB plant due to AMD making it as a server chip. These puppies fly. From 1.8 Ghz some have clocked them to 3.3 Ghz on water & 3.1 Ghz on air.

 

[bobyjo]

Every week in the Sunday Paper there is an add by Fry's that have a mobo and cpu on sale. Usually they have a A64 3500 Venice and and ECS board for around $219.00.
The CPU is selling for about that price, and you get a board almost free.
I don't know anything about ECS boards.
I guess you could try and see how the thing runs.

 

[wazzledoozle]

Every week in the Sunday Paper there is an add by Fry's that have a mobo and cpu on sale. Usually they have a A64 3500 Venice and and ECS board for around $219.00.
The CPU is selling for about that price, and you get a board almost free.
I don't know anything about ECS boards.
I guess you could try and see how the thing runs.

Yeah Frys sometimes sells a CPU+Motherboard for under the price of just the CPU.
ECS motherboards are fine, they are stable but no overclocking options and few features. Good for a comp for family.
You could always sell it new in the box on ebay for like $20

 

[Silverstone]

$250 budget?

AsRock dual SATA2 mobo $68 in USA- nice bios for clockin too, can mod the board to get more vcore voltage if needed

best cpu is S939 Opteron 144 (almost impossible to get in the USA, UK has them)

next best cpu is S939 Venice 3000+

either combo is less then

 

[wazzledoozle]

$250 budget?

AsRock dual SATA2 mobo $68 in USA- nice bios for clockin too, can mod the board to get more vcore voltage if needed

best cpu is S939 Opteron 144 (almost impossible to get in the USA, UK has them)

next best cpu is S939 Venice 3000+

either combo is less then

Yeah the new S939 opterons are hitting 2.8 GHz on air
This place has them for 145$, but out of stock right now-
www.tankguys.com
Everyone at Extreme Overclocking seems to be getting theirs from there. Also try www.froogle.com

 

[ShadowFlare]

$250 budget?

AsRock dual SATA2 mobo $68 in USA- nice bios for clockin too, can mod the board to get more vcore voltage if needed

best cpu is S939 Opteron 144 (almost impossible to get in the USA, UK has them)

next best cpu is S939 Venice 3000+

either combo is less then

Is the S939 Opteron a higher revision cpu than the Venice, lower revision, or the same? I'm guessing higher, since the site that was posted above is only taking preorders for them right now.

If it is better in all ways than the Venice (higher or same revision, better performance at stock speeds), I'm thinking of possibly selling my Venice 2.0 GHz to get a 2.0 GHz one of those S939 Opterons.

 

[wazzledoozle]

Is the S939 Opteron a higher revision cpu than the Venice, lower revision, or the same? I'm guessing higher, since the site that was posted above is only taking preorders for them right now.

If it is better in all ways than the Venice (higher or same revision, better performance at stock speeds), I'm thinking of possibly selling my Venice 2.0 GHz to get a 2.0 GHz one of those S939 Opterons.

If you can, do it. The opterons are higher revision chips, tested more thoroughly, so they overclock better as they are specially selected. They also have twice the L2 cache as Venice cores

 

[bldegle2]

tasty, with Asrock 939 dual and 148 Opty CABYE 0540

you really can't go wrong............

dram idle timer has been fixed, i had it off in bios (learning what stuff is), it is on now, reports a normal 16 in that field now..........................

oh, on air with Big Typhoon and the stock 120mm fan that came with it, nice and quiet, and when did heatpipes get so good???? whatever, it works righteously good..............

baldy

 

[ShadowFlare]

If you can, do it. The opterons are higher revision chips, tested more thoroughly, so they overclock better as they are specially selected. They also have twice the L2 cache as Venice cores

I probably will only get one if I could sell my existing one for a reasonable price that would be at least somewhat close to what I would be paying for the Opteron chip.