Athlon64 compatibility

pickxx

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I am in the market for a new computer, I am a few weeks from shelling out the money for a system and i am kind of puzzeled about a few things. I am interested in a Athlon64 because of its ability to hold its own Vs the Intel models but has a lower cost. I would like to use some of the parts i have aquired from the past in my new system but i am worried that my video card and sound card, which i spent considerable money on, will even work properly with the 64bit system. I am just confused about this and i dont want to try to use a card that will only botleneck my system. Are there video cards that are specifically for 64bit systems that take advantage of the increased processing?
Also as a side note...i am not an avid gamer or hollywood director, i do play games from time to time and edit vids, but i surf the internet a lot and i am on my computer a lot editing pictures and graphic deign with Paintshop Pro. Is investing in a 64bit system, knowing that its going to happen eventually that everything will be 64bit, a sound idea or should i just save money and go with the Athlon non-64 or something from intel?
if you could help on one of these items or all of them, i would be greatful. I have a lot of questions and i know a great deal about the generalities of what is best and what SHOULD work....but as we all know what SHOULD work doesn't always play out. Thank you for your time reading this and if you can help a great big thank you.
 

TheRod

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but i am worried that my video card and sound card, which i spent considerable money on, will even work properly with the 64bit system.
Athlon 64, Opteron and Athlon FX are all 32bit with 64bit extension. This means that these processors are 100% compatible with all the actuel 32bit stuff, this include Windows XP, AGP Video cards, any existing PCI cards.

64bit support is only for future use (actually, you could install Linux 64bit or Windows XP 64bit BETA, but I don't think you want to do this). So don't worry, if you buy AMD64 based system now, you will continue to use all your existing software, drivers, add-on cards you already have without problems.

If you can wait, wait for Socket939 to come out, and see the price difference, Socket939 will be the mid/high-end AMD64 platform for the future. Socket754 (the actual Athlon 64 platform) will be mostly use for low/mid-end market. AMD don't actually plan to sell anything above Athlon 64 3700+ on this platform.

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P4Man

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>AMD don't actually plan to sell anything above Athlon 64
>3700+ on this platform.

Where did you read that ? Nothing above 3700+ is confirmed, but its still quite possible S754 will live on for a long time to come as the value platform, replacing socket A. You won't likely be able to buy a >3700+ cpu for it this year, but why not a Paris/Duron chip next year with a higher rating/performance ? Lower pin count means lower cost, so I expect s754 to serve the Duron/celeron market for quite some time after socket A gets phased out. At least, its what I would do. Did AMD state somewhere they would kill it ?

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
 

TheRod

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Where did you read that ? Nothing above 3700+ is confirmed, but its still quite possible S754 will live on for a long time to come as the value platform, replacing socket A.
I agree!

You won't likely be able to buy a >3700+ cpu for it this year, but why not a Paris/Duron chip next year with a higher rating/performance ? Lower pin count means lower cost, so I expect s754 to serve the Duron/celeron market for quite some time after socket A gets phased out.
Maybe, but there is no confirmation of this. Yes, this might be true, but on the other hand keeping 2 socket is not the best thing to do. Because if AMD people to be able to upgrade, they should stick to one socket. AMD should have made Socket939, the only socket available A64. Since this socket is dual channel, it's easy to "deactivate" one channel and put DIMM in only one channel for "low-end" CPU. The problem with Socket939 is that, if you CAN'T afford the cheapest Socket939 CPU and have to buy a Socket754, you will know that it will be impossible to upgrade to a much better CPU later.

SocketA was great for this, you could buy low cost Duron, and upgrade to Athlon XP later. If AMD keep 2 socket for too long, they will probably lost market share, because ti will be impossible to upgrade from Low-end CPU to HIGH-end CPU without changing the MB. And put yourself in HP shoe (or other System builders), it's a lot easier for them to have 1 MB on which they can fit a wide range of CPU/RAM, it's mass production.

I would vote for a Socket939 with optionnal DUAL-CHANNEL memory controller, so we could buy low-end SINGLE-CHANNEL AMD64 and upgrade later to DUAL-CHANNEL AMD64 or FX. What do you think about this idea?

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P4Man

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Well, there are two sides to the story really, you make a valid point as well. Even though IMHO the market that cares about cpu upgradeability, especially from low end to high end, is nearly inexistant. The cost for the oem might be a better argument.

What it boils down to, is how expensive is a 939 pin socket and the packaging of the chip. Its probably "free" on a $2-500+ chip, but it might be more signicant on a $35 chip. Will intel transition its celerons to S775 right away ?

An alternative idea: a S939 compatible, 754 pin cpu, if understand what I mean. S939 being a superset of S754, so you could even plug in today's A64's in tomorrow's S939 boards (even though without dual channel obviously). Probably a pipedream, but that would be really neat. It eliminates the extra cost of the chip packaging for the low end chips, and still gives you (and the oem) all the flexibility you could wish. Pay a bit more for a more upgradebale 939 pin board, or buy "bottom end, 754 forever". Upgrade your MB, but keep the old cpu for a bit longer, etc..

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
 

pickxx

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Is the cost of the 939 Mobo going to be outragous or will it be pretty comparable to todays boards? (i.e. low end 939 will match up with current low end board, and high end 939 will match in price to a high end board out now) I would be willing to pay a bit more for the ability to upgrade later without having to buy a whole new Mobo and end up spending more in the long run.
It could just be me but i feel like everytime something you were waiting for comes out everyone is telling you to wait 2-3months for a new piece of hardware and its like a never end cycle of waiting for the next best thing. I would hate to buy something and not know that a week later hey discontinue support for it or something but does it really matter? or is the 939 offering something that i can't live without?
Its like video cards, everyone keeps telling me to wait till this, that, and the other thing comes out and a this rate i will never buy anything because everyone is always telling me to wait....
what are safe bets to invest for the future? not 5yrs or anything, i am not a dreamer like that. but something that will be current for a year or so and highly upgradeable system to mix and match parts as i need to do to remain current.
 

TheRod

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An alternative idea: a S939 compatible, 754 pin cpu, if understand what I mean. S939 being a superset of S754, so you could even plug in today's A64's in tomorrow's S939 boards
Great idea too! Basically AMD would save on PINS! :smile:

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