New Socket Types

[lots]

1) yes. AM2 is scheduled for launch very soon actually. If you are looking to the long term, it would be best to wait for this switch. However, keep in mind that this isn't really going to be bringing performance gains to the table at all. The only advance is the support for DDR2 on AM2 compatable chips. And because of the state of the tech (DDR2) AMD chips really do not gain much from the current incarnation of it. However, this new socket will be the base platform for coming dual core CPUs that have yet to be released, plus it generates the headroom needed (once DDR2 gets more advanced) for AMD's quad core CPUs due out sometime next year.

2) Most motherboard makers have a list of compatable RAM on thier website. I'm sure somewhere burried in Asus's site is a table with a list of modules that will work on that board. Though if you stick to major brands, such as Kingston, Corsair, OCZ, etc. I dont think you'll run into problems. Also careful with that Asus, the northbridge fan on that motherboard has a tendancy to die :)

Video card, I'd grab an eVGA... Good warranty and good price. Cheaper than both XFX and Leadtek, last I looked.

[chymera]

thanks for the reply. Only problem is trying to find a stockist of evga here in Aus.

[lots]

Well XFX and Leadtech aren't bad either. XFX has a double lifetime warranty, that will replace or service your card for as long as you own it. ANd if you sell it, it will cover the second owner as well.

[chymera]

I'll be getting the pc in a few months so i will be waiting a bit anyway.

Once AM2 is released I will check prices and see what to do from there.

[SweetDreamz]

If you want to wait just a little bit longer, wait till the Conroe comes out and check some benchmarks then. Previews look extremely promising, and they seem to have come up with a winner against AMD. This year may just be Intel's year.

[MadMax]

If you want to wait just a little bit longer, wait till the Conroe comes out and check some benchmarks then. Previews look extremely promising, and they seem to have come up with a winner against AMD. This year may just be Intel's year.

Yes, if you consider that the Intel benchmarks are jacked up to look good, and not really relative to real performance.

If you overlook the heavy use of benchmarks that are extremely cache sensitive (with Conroe have 4mb cache)

And if you want to overlook the fact that they CLAIM they compared to an FX 60, vut in fact there is no way to prove this as theyt were using an outdated bios on the AMD system that didn;t report the type of CPU that was being used, only saying "unknown".

And if you overlook the fact that some of those AMD scores on some of those benchmarks were substantially higher in reviews on hardware sites than were shown here.

Conroe does appear to be quite the magical leap in progress, and vertainly appears to be a step in the right direction. However we have not seen benchmarks for AMD CPU's that are coming out in the same time frame as Conroe (Conroe being doubtful if it is before christmas)

No idea on how AMD will perform using DDR2 800

no idea what the new AMD memory controller is capable of

no idea how much the internal speed increase in the new AMD cores will effect the benchmarks.


Of course the question is, are you waiting almost a year to buy a computer. or do you need one soon?

Conroe is at least 6 months before it's paper launch. give it at least 3-4 months after than before you can actually buy one.

AMD will be available with their new AM2 products June 6th.

[lots]

Thats at least 6 months away, baring any setbacks on Intel's side. If you need a machine soon (next couple of months) The AMD CPUs will be the best deal. if conroe was only a month or two away, I'd recommend waiting it out and checking benchmarks then, but seeing as it is not, might as well get the best you can get right now. And that is AMD.

[lots]

Anand had a follow up article with updated BIOS and some corrections to thier testing. Here's the link: http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2716

[SweetDreamz]

Looks like we have an AMD fan here...

And I didn't refer to any specific benchmark here. Don't know why you're so hyped up 'bout what I said.

The Conroe beating the FX-60 by 20% is quite a believable. Of course, some will say it's not fair to compare old tech vs new tech. But I'm not gonna argue, read enough of those threads already.

And the pricing of the Conroes look very competitive. Plus, it's about time Intel did something good, as you would expect them to do so since they have more resources. At least computer news would be abit more interesting this year compare to the last few years.

Also, AM2 with DDR2 won't bump up their performance too much.

Like I said earlier, we can only wait 'till it comes out to see if the benchmarks are true.

[chymera]

I read somewhere, I'll try and find a link, that ddr2 doesn't increase performance with the AM2, which is why they didn't upgrade to ddr2 a while ago. They said that the relaxed timings cancelled out the higher frequency. I think it was just to move to the new generation of RAM.

It sucks that it is socket 940 but not opteron 940...... oh well, once the time comes I will make my decision. (its for my birthday at the end of june, my 18th)

I'll try and find a source for this.

AMD ftw methinks, but thats personal preference. I don't like some of Intel's decisions (regarding the lawsuit etc) if they are proven, I haven't been following it lately. It hasn't ended yet has it?

[lukx]

I also want to get AMD platform soon and wasn't sure if to wait for am2 or get platform with 939 socet. After reading many articles about am2 I will get 939 now. There won't be any speed gain. It might only happen when ddr2 800mhz will come out. 939 with nforce chipsed is tested and proven to be good. I don't think that after am2 will come out, first mainboards will be out of box ready to handle quad cores so okey you will be abole to get am2 amd with fatser speeds but when quad will come out I think there will be also need to again change mobo. I don't remmeber in my histaory of building pcs to ever making upgrade with only buying only cpu. I was almoust always buying new mobo cpu and ram. So for me there is no point to wait. This is why next month I'm getting evga 7900 gtx, asus A8N-E, 2GB OCZ 3200, AMD 4400 X2, WD aptor 150 :)

[tecton3d]

It might only happen when ddr2 800mhz will come out.

. . . DDR2 for servers may not be too far off:


"This one is a dual Socket F board called the KFN4-DRE, and the spec sheet has some goodies on it. It confirms the server based DDR2-800 . . ."

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=30146

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