Enverex and Shorty's Athlon 64 discussion where Enverex talks to himself... alot..

EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
edited January 2004 in Hardware
Which do you think is best for the Athlon 64 platform out of either the Asus KV8-Deluxe, or the Abit AV8-Max3?
I don't like the Max3 as much due to the removal of lagacy equip, and I heard the heatpipe can get in the way too.

But, which would (any of you) recommend?

Shorty: Total price for Max3 and A64 3200+ from Dabs inc VAT and Del is £342
«134567

Comments

  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    That's good money :)

    Ive got a Biostar K8NHA Pro from a friend, so it's only cost me £200 for CPU :)

    If I was picking, Id go with the ABIT, just depends if you need the legacy hardware.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Bah. Just need to borrow £40 from the 'rents and I can order. Just need to confirm that the Max3 is indeed the better buy..

    Oi, <img src="http://atomnet.co.uk/ss/img/thraxtel.gif&quot; alt="THRAXTEL!"> what happened to your 1 minute response times? :p
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Enverex wrote:
    Oi, <img src="http://atomnet.co.uk/ss/img/thraxtel.gif&quot; alt="THRAXTEL!"> what happened to your 1 minute response times? :p
    :ukflag: :woowoo: is all I have to say
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    PRICE DROP ON KOMPLETT!

    122811 AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 2.0 GHz
    - Socket 754, 512 KB cache, BOXED 10-19
    stocked 164.31

    120919 AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0 GHz
    - Socket 754, 1 MB cache, BOXED 7
    stocked 198.96

    123016 AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 2.2 GHz
    - Socket 754, 1 MB cache, BOXED 4
    stocked 297.96

    (all including VAT) Woohoo, even more incentive to order.

    EDIT: AND THE MOTHERBOARDS!

    Abit KV8-MAX3 mainboard for Socket 754
    - K8T800, SATA, LAN, ATX, Raid, Firewire 7
    stocked 116.33

    120573 Asus K8V DELUXE Mainboard Socket 754
    - K8T800, ATA/SATA, GbLAN, ATX, Raid 5 pcs
    2004-01-30
    (unconfirmed) 105.75


    So the new total is £320 for the Athlon 64 3200+ (Retail-Boxed) and the Abit KV8-Max3 including delivery and VAT :)
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Cmon, I have 20 mins else my stuff won't be shipped for tommorow.... :(
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    How can you go wrong with either?
    It sort of depends on your personal feelings.
    I like the Abit boards, but I haven't moved into this league yet.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Well, the Abit Max3 and the A64 3200+ were ordered earlier today and should arrive tommorow :)
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Im building mine up tomorrow night.. so keep us posted :D
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    One minute response time is called sleep.
  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited January 2004
    Hey enverex didn't you say something about not liking via chipsets. they both seem to have them. As for upgrading is it worth going 64bit or should one wait. Can you tell me the differenses that socket 740 has compared to what is known about socket 939. Even if it's just rumours. Not sure which one to wait for.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Via's athlon chipsets are crap, but I think perhaps they are coming back around with their K8 chipsets. I've heard that VIA's offering for the Ath64/Opteron platform is more stable than nVidia's.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    EyesOnly wrote:
    Hey enverex didn't you say something about not liking via chipsets.

    Only as all the old ones seem to have had issues with Sound Blaster cards, and used to be slower than the parallel nForce offerings.
    EyesOnly wrote:
    As for upgrading is it worth going 64bit or should one wait

    The reason I am upgrading is actually completely unrelated to it being a 64bit chip. I am only upgrading to gain the extra speed (there is only so long you can cope with a mem score of 2100 in Sandra with DDR400 RAM).
  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited January 2004
    Since whatever upgrade i make will be months away perhaps i should consider going 64bit after all. Correct me if but computers without a 64bit os will still work, you just won't get the extra power that 64bits will give.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    EyesOnly wrote:
    Since whatever upgrade i make will be months away perhaps i should consider going 64bit after all. Correct me if but computers without a 64bit os will still work, you just won't get the extra power that 64bits will give.

    Yes, but only if the processor supports 32bit as well as 64bit. Note that all these game benchmarks etc are all 32bit, so not all the power of the processor is being harnessed, though I doubt there would be a huge increase using 64bit....
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Media encoding is showing a 40-60% speed increase on a 64bit platform. MPEG2, MPEG4, etc.

    Media encoding translates well to other forms of applications.
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    good thing you went with the abit, i jsut read some stuff about the asus board with deforming capacitors.
    That was found in a hidden FAQ about the Asus K8V Deluxe

    Q:I have heard some rumors saying that the appearance of some capacitors on K8V Deluxe may deform soon after use. Is that true? How do I check if my K8V Deluxe is affected, and what should I do next if mine happened to be like that?

    A:It has been discovered recently that the nine electrolytic capacitors CE18, CE19, CE20, CE21, CE22, CE25 , CE38, CE39, CE45 (see Figure1, used at power stabilization circuitry) may expand and fracture. This problem has been confirmed to result from quality control of RLZ 0333 capacitors, and proven to happen only on a small number of such capacitors which can be easily distinguished from the RLZ 0333 marking (see Figure 2) on them.
    If you need further support after finding RLZ 0333 capacitors at these nine locations, or experiencing symptom as described above on K8V Deluxe motherboards, please kindly contact your place of purchase, supplier, or the nearest ASUS service centre for immediate follow-up.
    a8v_top.jpg
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Right, I am worried now. Does the heatsink base come with the heatsink itself, as I just noticed this on a review for the Max3 -
    Though the board is pictured with a heat sink retention bracket, the KV8-MAX3 doesn't actually come with one. The plastic bracket and metal back plate that make up AMD's new heat sink retention mechanism surely can't be that expensive, so I'm not sure why Abit doesn't include them with the board.

    As if they don't, then I am screwed (I am intending on using the stock HSF that comes with the Boxed proc).
    Any idea if I need anything else other than the stock HSF to mount it on this motherboard?
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Enverex wrote:
    Right, I am worried now. Does the heatsink base come with the heatsink itself, as I just noticed this on a review for the Max3 -



    As if they don't, then I am screwed (I am intending on using the stock HSF that comes with the Boxed proc).
    Any idea if I need anything else other than the stock HSF to mount it on this motherboard?
    If you bought a retail chip, it comes with the whole retention setup :)
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Shorty wrote:
    If you bought a retail chip, it comes with the whole retention setup :)

    Cheers Shorty, thats put me at rest :) (I bought the boxed A64).
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Damnit, it turns out, that unlike everywhere else, their next day delivery cut off is 2pm, not 4. So it won't be arriving today as the status is still "Being Picked". Kind of makes DHL overnight delivery a bit pointless.
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Well my case didnt arrive today :(

    So I have no case to put my A64 system in. Gotta wait a day as well. I feel for ya.
  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited January 2004
    64bit does seem as a good investment asuming that socket 754 isn't going to go away for some time but continue to be faster. Or should one simply wait for socket 939. I know that there's at the moment no 64bit windows but that shouldn't take to long . What will the differens be with 939. What functions is it supposed to have that makes it a worthy upgrade.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    It in itself doesn't have any new functions at all, it's purely a socket. It's what AMD may do to the processor or what motherboard manufacturers may choose to add to or change on motherboards that will add appeal if they do decide to change anything, but at the moment, no-one knows what is going to happen. DDR2 was expected to come along with Socket 939, but now it is being pushed back to next year due to excessive prices.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    It has now arrived, and I shall be offline untill it is installed and Windows is Reinstalled :)
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Keep us informed :)

    Can't start building mine until tonight.. so you are gonna beat me ;)
  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited January 2004
    Good luck en and shorty. Well if 939 doesn't add to much good stuff i'm defently going with socket 754 instead of socket A. Seems that the real power will be in 64bit even before an os is out. Now i'll start checking reviews of that asus board. BTW how's the sound on those boards. Is it good or should one buy a soundcard.

    I'll take my chances regarding that capacitor thing. It's prolly just some batches that were built wrongly. I'll try to find that faq and see what it says.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Lo all, back in my new Windows install with everything working. When I first turned it on, all the lights on the Motherboard lit up, and even when it is turned off, the dual HEX displays stay on and a superbright green LED by the PCI cards. When it is turned on another superbright LED comes on by the PCI slots, and 2 more by the processor itself, lights up the whole case :). For some reason, when I first turned it on, it was set to 204mhz FSB, a natural overclocked, eh :p
    Seems very sharp. I'm just going to make my usual cosmetic adjustments then I'll do some benching, though my HD has got a tad faster too....
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Lookin and sounding good mate :)

    Smooth installation all round then? What do you think of the heatsink+fan mechanism?
  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited January 2004
    Glad everything worked out for you enverex.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Shorty wrote:
    Lookin and sounding good mate :)

    Smooth installation all round then? What do you think of the heatsink+fan mechanism?

    Well, firstly I was trying to do it the wrong way round, I put the black clamp and the metal clip next to it on first, and I was trying to put the other side on thinking "The manual says you may have to apply SOME pressure, but this is silly", when I realised it shouldn't be clamped down before, and when I worked that out it took about 5 seconds to attach and was really easy :p In future though it will be a lifesaver as normally it's a pain in the ass. I rubbed off the crap they gave me on the HS and put AS2 on it instead. Oh, turns out, all the reviews are wrong and Abit DO give you a mounting thingy anyway, so I have 2 now :) .

    Completely hassle free installtion and everything. No problems at all. Just installing SP1 and then i'll bench.

    The code on the processor was -
    ADA3200AEP5AP
    CAAMC 0339WPMW
    9446635J30666
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