New Socket A Mobo's any time soon?

[Silverel]

This is a question I've been pondering since I heard about the release of the AMD Sempron a few months ago. I'm a pretty big AMD Enthusiast, I've been building with them for a few years, my first being a 900mhz T-Bird. Socket A has been untouched by companies since AMD64 processors were released around 9 months ago.

I want to know if or when, someone is going to jump on the oppourtunity to build entry level boards, to match the entry level Semprons. For I would indeed build with them.

Any one with insight?

BCu******er: Oh my gosh talking to you is like going a day without my nerve pills.

 

[Mr5oh]

There are several entry level boards for SocketA. I have seen boards as low as $24 (USD) for SocketA. For $50 (USD), you get a entry level motherboard from a reputable company. $100 for a high-end SocketA motherboard.

Anyways, at the moment, I would get an Athlon XP chip over a Sempron anyday.

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[Spitfire_x86]

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[sparky853]

I second that opinion.

I have the NF7, and its a great board.

As for new boards, I doubt you'll see many new boards released for Socket A, as the 64 bit processors are taking over, and IIRC, Sempron will also be released in a 939 pin package. (not sure about the last, thought I read it somewhere.)

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[Silverel]

Ah. I'm not questioning what boards are good for Socket A, just whether or not any companies are going to take a step backwards and make new boards.

I haven't seen any reason to go out and buy a 64-bit processor just yet, and I'm just about ready to build a new(er) computer.

Also, no, I would not be building with anything less than a 2800+. Semprons just don't make any sense in my mind, but if AMD decided to breathe life into an outdated chipset, then when are the Mobo companies going to do it?



BCu******er: Oh my gosh talking to you is like going a day without my nerve pills.

 

[Mr5oh]

I'd imagine there is a possibility of seeing some new SocketA motherboards when PCI-express starts going main stream. Just because you can still buy new SocketA chips, and I am sure manufacturers will want to take part in this market, even if it is limited.

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[Crashman]

Abit might come out with a cheaper AN7 or something (whatever their cheaper version of the NF7 is called), but for the most part the market is already saturated with low-end boards.

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[Silverel]

My concern is that even the high saturation of low end boards, there is still room for improvement, and Socket A isn't quite dead yet. 64-bit applications aren't taking off nearly as fast as the 64-bit processors are selling, and for those of tight pockets, this means they have to deal with 1-2 year old boards to pick from.

I feel that even a small resurgence of Socket A boards from a few major companies would fare well with the Sempron release (again, I'm not entirely in support of them), and the tech of last year (Dual-DDR, AGP8x, Gigabit LAN, etc..) would be at a lower cost. Which means high grade, fresh and clean boards, for a much lower cost than the 64-bit boards. I'm not in favor of stagnation of technology or anything, I'm just cheap. Until the software support is in place for the 64-bit tech, I'll not have any part of it.

Hell, while they're at it, throw some PCI-X on there, that in itself would be worth releasing new Socket A boards.



BCu******er: Oh my gosh talking to you is like going a day without my nerve pills.

 

[Crashman]

Not having any part of 64-bit until software is ready is irrelavent because A64 bit processors are natively 32-bit with 64-bit extensions. The price you pay is for the added 32-bit performance. You wouldn't be buying a natively 64-bit processor like the Itanium!

Lots of Socket A boards used to have PCI-X. We called them server/workstation boards for the Athlon MP, XP processors work on them as well but not in dual configuration (unless you connected the bridges AMD cut to make XP's from MPs).

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