fishrising Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 I've decided to build a new PC. I am looking to spend $300 (and no more, mandated by wife) on a CPU, MB, and RAM...I've got everything else already. I've narrowed it down to 4 options (based on 2 motherboards and 2 processors): Option #1: MSI K8N Neo Platinum, Athlon64 2800+, 512Mb, ~$300 Option #2: MSI K8N Neo Platinum, Athlon64 3000+, 512Mb, ~$321 Option #3: Asus K8N-E Deluxe, Athlon64 2800+, 512Mb, ~$325 Option #4: Asus K8N-E Deluxe, Athlon64, 3000+, 512Mb, ~$347 For those that know these boards, is it worth going with the Asus over the MSI? And, am I going to really see a difference between the 2800 and 3000? Any other suggestions? I might get away with spending $320, but I would have to do some fast talking to spend $350... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hagen Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 I don't think you will notice a big difference in speed between the two different CPUs (assuming it's only the clock rate that's different between the two CPUs). I would go for 1G of memory though. For most applications these days that makes a bigger difference in speed. Motherboard wise - if they have the same chip set there shouldn't be much of a difference. MSI and Asus are both good. What I usually do is to compare the interfaces to what I need (i.e. # of usable PCI slots, USB ports...) and go for the cheaper solution. But I'm also not too much into over clocking my CPU. If you want to do that you should also look into what features your BIOS provides (fine tuning voltages, clocks and monitoring board status like temperatures...). Hagen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 DAMN those are some pricey MoBos! have you looked at Epox? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishrising Posted January 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 I am trying to get the best bang for my $300. I looked at a lot of the pc related tech sites, anandtech, tomshardware, etc... and these boards seem to be rated pretty high. I haven't looked at any boards that weren't highly rated. The two boards listed, both basically have the same chipsets, and connections. Overclocking is not a big deal for me. I already went through that with my older celeron and a water cooler...I am more concerned with stability now... I guess I should look at some of the less expensive boards, but with the same features... I agree with the more the RAM the better, ecscpecially if I am working with some audio and video. Maybe I should go up to a 1Gb ram and maybe find a much less expensive board. Or, I sneak another stick in, in a month or two... Thanks guys, keep the suggestions coming... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zcarver Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 ...try this site. ...http://www.calibex.com/serv/calibex1/buyer/outpdir.jsp?nxtg=cb07f_3FCD230661A16650&OVRAW=amd&OVMTC=standard&search=amd&OVKEY=amd I found some good stuff here. You will see a link for the MB on the right as well. Hopefully this will help you out. Good luck......:rolleyes: Building a computer myself. A Dual Opteron 250 3d rendering machine. P.S. if that doesn't work try this: http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ComputingSolutions/0,,30_288_3091,00.html And then search how you would like to buy. You will find a lot of links.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Dahl Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 I wouldn't clock the Athlon. They typically don't have the cooling capacity for that. I don't know about the others but suspect the same. I would go for as much memory as you can afford, it does help. My MSI board has been very good to me, w/several years on it. (knock on wood, now that I said that!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derf Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 MSI and Asus are both very reliable, go with features I say. But don't get a cheap board, you might regret it in the long run. I don't think you'll notice a difference in reality between those 2 processors. Computers are so powerful these days! I still run an 800 (800 REAL MHz :p ), but I have 512 MB because I used to do CAD in college a year ago. The only thing that makes me want a more powerful computer is DivX encoding which takes several hours per movie, butthe advantages are not worth the money, I'd rather spend it on something else. 512 MB is good for a regular user, but the minimum for a power user (which you seem to be). So I say get 512 now, get another 512 later (I know how hard it is to bargain with a wife/GF). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp1 Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 fishrising' I don't know anything about computers but the answer is simple. You said you 'can't' go over $300., and #2,#3,and #4 are all over $300., so that only leaves #1 ! Did I pass the test? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 epox arent "cheap"...high quality boards. also, try www.newegg.com. best prices Ive seen and great customer service Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishrising Posted January 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 Thanks guys, I hate decisions when money is the limiting factor... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgang Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 You really will not notice a difference between the two processors but I would go with the 1gb of ram that one of the previous posters stated. As for the MB I have a MSI MB and Video card and have never had a problem with either. I do not know if ASUS has this but MSI give you programs that will update the MB with the correct drivers as they come out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedzilla Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 Originally posted by D-Sub epox arent "cheap"...high quality boards. also, try www.newegg.com. best prices Ive seen and great customer service I second that, newegg.com is the way to go. I built an Athlon 64 2800 with MSI motherboard last summer, no problem at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Todd Stewart Posted January 7, 2005 Report Share Posted January 7, 2005 are you planning on putting the new board into an old computer, if so don't forget to get a new power supply. There all that new ram will drain a lot of juice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishrising Posted January 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2005 I've already got SATA drives, NVidia 6800 video card, 480w ps, DL DVD+/-RWs, etc...ready to go into a new box... Anyone have experience with the Gigabyte GA-K8NS Ultra-939 MB? I am adding it as one of my options... How do you feel about socket 754 vs 939? For the setups I am considering a socket 939 is about $50+ more. Do you think it is worth it? The 754 doesn't have much life left. And I upgrade to an A64FX with the 939 at a later date... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maciek Posted January 7, 2005 Report Share Posted January 7, 2005 Just to remind you: Athlon is a great CPU, but: 1. You have to have applications written to use 64-bit architecture in the first place - otherwise it is useless (power is not used and 32-bit applications run in 32-bit mode) 2. Athlons do not have Intel protection to slow down when cooler (fan) goes down. The most frequent damage is not only to CPU when this happens, but also entire motherboard. Consider this when buying cheap Chinese manufactured fan. I would say go for high quality one. How often do fans go down? Well I bet that cheap once do not have any production quality control. It depends on how much you like gambling and winners are more frequent than in lotto. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maciek Posted January 7, 2005 Report Share Posted January 7, 2005 Originally posted by Zcarver Building a computer myself. A Dual Opteron 250 3d rendering machine. What kind of application are you going to use on that computer? Are you sure it is multithreaded 64-bit application? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.