A few question.

[LayZeh]

I've not been keeping up to date lately but i know there's many revisions of the A64 now, newcastle, CG, C0, 1mb, 512k, 939, 754... half of those are probably the same thing but i'm totally confused on what the best A64 processor is.

I am also apprehensive about whether or not i should upgrade with the entrance of all this new technology, ddr2, pci-e, btx whatever. Now is it a bad time to upgrade to a top notch machine? Should i wait until early 2005?

If this post is a big load of mumbling crap forgive me i'm so damn tired went out last night god knows why and am like a zombie at work today.

[Byatt]

personally I'd say wait until early 2005, when we're more likely to see PCI-E boards for socket 939 in the form of n-force 4.

[Rave]

Unless you really need a new system now, wait a few months until PCI-E boards become available and S939 processors become affordable.

Rich :¬)

[Lexeus]

How long have you had that system ? I seem to have rather a similar system, and I am not going to upgrade for probably another year, may get a graphics card but thats probably about it. An less you have the money spare then what you got is fine for now. The only thing I would consider is getting more RAM.

I have read that DDR2 RAM at the moment is very little improvement on DDR RAM. Apparently the main thing is DDR2 has the capability to go much faster and therefore will be an improvement when the Mhz get higher.
As for considering a 64bit CPU, the way I look at it is there isn't even a Windows 64bit yet, so wait until that is released and has been out a few months before it is time to look at going that way.
But, again as I said this is all an less you just have money to burn and, like most of us, like to burn CPU's

[Michael]

Unless you really need a new system now, wait a few months until PCI-E boards become available and S939 processors become affordable.

Rich :¬)

Haha, four months ago it would have been "Wait until S939 comes out"

[Stewart]

Haha, four months ago it would have been "Wait until S939 comes out"

Exactly!

And in four months, it will be 'wait until <insert random new tech here> comes out'.

Just upgrade mate, there is always a new format or a new tech onthe horizon, if you wait, you'll never upgrade and never get to enjoy a shiny new rig.

Now, with socket 939, you can get a lightning fast CPU, for a decent price (£236 for a 3500+), no need for registered RAM.

Like Michael said, there will always be a 'wait for this to come out' tech, no matter when you upgrade. So do it now, and *enjoy* your upgraded PC.

[Byatt]

Exactly!

And in four months, it will be 'wait until <insert random new tech here> comes out'.

Just upgrade mate, there is always a new format or a new tech onthe horizon, if you wait, you'll never upgrade and never get to enjoy a shiny new rig.

Now, with socket 939, you can get a lightning fast CPU, for a decent price (£236 for a 3500+), no need for registered RAM.

Like Michael said, there will always be a 'wait for this to come out' tech, no matter when you upgrade. So do it now, and *enjoy* your upgraded PC.

Well, I hate to do it, but I've gotta disagree here - unless you're really wanting a newer, faster PC right now, I'd wait - entry level s939 is still very expensive (it's off the linear price/performance scale) and, more importantly, it's very very new, so the platform isn't as mature as say, Socket A with the nforce 2 platform is at the moment. Yes, there is a danger that you can keep waiting for the next big thing, but buying on impulse can mean you'll have to buy again sooner than you think. See what n-force 4 is like.

[Stewart]

Well, I'm more than happy with my rig, and enjoying every second of it.

I say upgrade now, get out of the endless circle of waiting for the next big thing, and enjoy the current big thing.

Just my opinion of course, because thats what I did.

[Byatt]

Well, I'm more than happy with my rig, and enjoying every second of it.

I say upgrade now, get out of the endless circle of waiting for the next big thing, and enjoy the current big thing.

Just my opinion of course, because thats what I did.

If you've got the money to put together the rig in your sig...I can't really argue with what you're saying

[Firelord]

Well, I'm more than happy with my rig, and enjoying every second of it.

I say upgrade now, get out of the endless circle of waiting for the next big thing, and enjoy the current big thing.

Just my opinion of course, because thats what I did.

I totally agree, if you keep waiting you'll never end upgrading

[TiG]

Well i disagree too, I generally am an early adopter of new kit, but there are times when things make sense to upgrade. I fancy myself a new 939 rig, but when things get sensibly priced... £240 for a processor that will hopefully be £120 by christmas.

I'd say 939's are artificially high priced at the moment being new tech and all.

Don't need to wait for ever, but you upgrade now and don't get PCI Express, next time you do upgrade you'll be talking much more expense imo...

I'm hoping to get into a new 939 board with all the new technologies on it so hopefully if i need to buy new DDR2 ram etc, it will last me for a couple of years, rather than being a dead end process.

Its also another reason why i won't touch socket 775(T), as it won't last 18months before intel will change it again.

TiG

[Rabs]

The best price/performance ratio A64 is the Skt 754 3400+, have a look at http://world.altavista.com/babelfish...6%2fpage1.html

Notice the Skt 754 3400+ either beating or just 1-3% behind the Skt 939 3500+

Dual channel has a negligable benefit, in time as motherboard chipsets mature and as new revisions are released I'm sure the gap will widen.

Remember also that when the A64 decides to go DDR2 it will mean a new skt again...

The wait until... argument never ends as theres always something new to wait for. I recently upgraded to a Skt 754 3200 (1MB) which is overclocked to 3400+ speeds, I'm happy with this as it provides a noticeable speed increase over my previous NF7-S Barton 2500@3200 setup. This system will do me for now until next year.

The choice is yours