OK whats the deal on Socket 939 and Socket AM2?

[Nechen]

I've been with Socket939 for a few years now and love it, lasted me a long time.

Looking to upgrade now and I'm going all out and spending several hundred dollars in the process, but I have a few issues...

I've found NOTHING but negative reviews for Asus/MSI AM2 motherboards. Between Memory issues and the Northbridge overheating I've found nothing but complaints. The MSI K9N Diamond supposedly doesn't even support SLi yet.

Now while the AM2 supports Dual-Core and the new DDR2 PC6400 (In comparison to DDR PC3200) it seems to have a lot of drawbacks in terms of stability and performance.

While I realize most of these reviews could possibly be from Newbie techs who dont know what they're doing, I'm a bit skeptical between SocketAM2 and Socket939 simply because theres roughly a $200 difference in buying the system.

I'd appreciate it if everyone could chip in their two cents, I need opinions from both fields and people who use Socket939 and those who use SocketAM2.

-Thanks!

 

[croc]

I've been with Socket939 for a few years now and love it, lasted me a long time.

Looking to upgrade now and I'm going all out and spending several hundred dollars in the process, but I have a few issues...

I've found NOTHING but negative reviews for Asus/MSI AM2 motherboards. Between Memory issues and the Northbridge overheating I've found nothing but complaints. The MSI K9N Diamond supposedly doesn't even support SLi yet.

Now while the AM2 supports Dual-Core and the new DDR2 PC6400 (In comparison to DDR PC3200) it seems to have a lot of drawbacks in terms of stability and performance.

While I realize most of these reviews could possibly be from Newbie techs who dont know what they're doing, I'm a bit skeptical between SocketAM2 and Socket939 simply because theres roughly a $200 difference in buying the system.

I'd appreciate it if everyone could chip in their two cents, I need opinions from both fields and people who use Socket939 and those who use SocketAM2.

-Thanks!

Hmm... I'm in the same boat. Nice 939 MB (dfi lanparty nf4 sli-dr expert), 2GB ram(OCZ 3200 platinum), a 3700+ cpu.

Given the choices of am2, am2+ or am3 MB's, and a range of various dubious rumours surrounding all of the possible CPU's that might or might not work on all of these various MB's... Indeed what to do? Given that I also need new memory, possibly a new PSU to support the various MB's...

I could go to an FX 60 to milk out the last ounce from this build, but in AUS that's a pretty expensive option, if even available at all. I think I'll stay with what I have for 6 months, if amd has no answer (or an answer that is not economical) then it is an lga 775 build for me. Sorry, AMD... Put up or shut up. Ball's in your court.

 

[BUFF]

there is virtually no performance difference between equivalent clockspeed/cache/core AM2 CPUs & 939 ones.

Why do you want to upgrade?
If it's because your 939 mobo is AGP & you want a better gfx card in PCI-E I would just buy a PCI-E 939 mobo thereby saving on new CPU & RAM.

If it's for CPU power then Intel Core 2 Duo is the way to go for the moment.

 

[desolationw]

Now while the AM2 supports Dual-Core

s939 supports dual-core.

 

[col-p-todd]

upgrade to this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103002

 

[asa_riey0000]

somewhere i read about reviews fot opt, that 185 opteron just works on par with x2 4800+..same performances,same power consumption in real usage..but opt got some advantages am i rite?

 

[BaldEagle]

There is about a 10% increase in benchmark performance from the 939 to the AM2 boards due to the change from ddr 400 to ddr2 800 you probably won't even notice it in games though. The newer 939 boards support dual cores but the 939 dual cores are going fast and up in price because AMD shifted their production to AM2 sockets.

If you need PCI-E for a new graphics card just get a new 939 board and stick with the single core chip.

If you need performance or dual core get a Core2Duo or wait for AMD to introduce the K8L chips late this year maybe 08'. The AM2 socket is supposed to be replaced with the AM3 socket for DDR3 memory in the K8L. So upgrading to AM2 with DDR2 isn't a great option.

 

[xaat_kil]

If you have a good mobo (ieverclockable / PCI-e) then get an opteron 170 or up as they overclock very well, and should get you 2.6 to 2.8GHz on air (FX60, FX62 speeds). The 185 is overkill unless you don't overclock. If it's an AGP board,consider PCI-e board as the graphics cards are cheaper, and will pay for part of the mobo upgrade. If you are going socket AM2, then consider Core2Duo, unless you are with AMD for personal reasons. Getting new RAM, CPU and mobo will drive up your upgrade cost for either AM2 or CoreDuo.

 

[skyline7528]

I have a 939, I just did my last upgrade to a FX-60 from Tigerdirect, it was open box for $350, runs great, no problems recognizing bus speed or dual core, fast as hell. I would just milk the 939 like I did until AMD comes out with a significant jump in technology, don't get me wrong I'm all about AMD, but if they keep stalling in the market, go get a new intel or something.

 

[xaat_kil]

Opterons are AMD's premium binned parts, tested more thoroughly than regular parts. Opterons will pretty much all get you to 2.6 to 2.8GHz, plus have 1MB cache each core. My 170 (stock 2GHz) runs @ 2.7GHz all day, every day at 1.3V, theoretically using 73 W according to SiSoft Sandra. Well over a year at over FX60 speeds is pretty impressive. The time to buy one was a month ago as prices on socket 939 chips bottomed out about then and have since climbed slightly.
Someone mentioned a 10% increase due to the DDR2 on AM2, I think it's actually around 5%, but requires good DDR2 to get much of an advantage - an expensive 5% if you have good DDR already and mobo.

 

[Nechen]

cool guys thanks for the advice, I'm going 939 then

and BTW I do have an AGP Skt939 right now, hence the upgrade hehe

cheers!

 

[Nechen]

also, on an unrelated note, whats the difference between Athlon 64's and Opterons??

 

[xaat_kil]

Opterons are server/premium chips. Athlon64's are desktop chips. Either may get you the same overclocks, but Opterons are tested, have 1MB caches, and generally are top quality as they are for servers/workstations.