[Son_of_Thunder]

hey guys, i'm going to be upgrading this week and need some advice. i'm thinking of going w/ the 754 3400+ and the DFI lanparty UT 250Gb. what do you guys think? are there better boards out there for the 754's in your opinion? also, do you think i should spend the extra money and get a 939 board and processor. if so, which board?

thanks a bunch, sorry if this has been posted before.

[refraction]

spend the extra money on the 939 board mate, i dont think the 754 boards will be continued in the future, plus the mothorboards for 939 are designed to take much faster equipment, and you have PCI Express

[Son_of_Thunder]

i'm not really interested in PCI-E at this moment, i already "own" an agp x800xt, but hopefully not for long. i'm in a big battle to get my money back. which 939 board would you guys recommend?

[CrapolaJola]

Go for the MSi K8N Neo2 and pick up a 90nm 3000+ or 3200+ both are great overclockers and can be had for a cheap price. Also, pick up a Coolermaster Hyper6 or Thermalright XP-90 for cooling.

[frx218]

939 is amazing get it.

[Son_of_Thunder]

so no one thinks i should go w/ the 754 3400+?

[dipstick]

It would be cheaper and better if you went with a 90nm 3200+ and an MSI Neo2 mobo. I got this cheap setup at 2.8GHz(800MHz OC!) wth a cool 1.5v. Best setup money can buy today imho, so save your $$ and OC alittle

[Chikitta]

Certainly worth while spending the extra cash on a 939 board - the 754 chips and motherbords are slowly being phased out.

I'm a big fan of Asus, so I'd suggest either the A8V Deluxe (AGP) or the new A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (PCI-E). You can check both out here

[Son_of_Thunder]

so i've got two recommendations for the neo2, two recommendations for the 90nm 3200+, and one recommendation for a cooling solution. what do you guys suggest for cooling?


*edit*

i just did some math, getting the dfi lanparty UT and a retail 754 3400+ is 15 USD cheaper than getting the MSI k8n neo plat2 w/ an OEM 3200+. so i'd have to spend even more to get the custom cooling. you guys still think it's worth it?

[Necrosis]

In the long run yes.

[frx218]

Well i am kind of on the same boat as you i was looking at 939 3500+ with neo2, but now that all thse nf4 bored are coming out with pc-e and SLI I am waiting

[Son_of_Thunder]

ok, how does this sound: a 939 3500+ with the msi k8n neo2 plat, for 405 bucks. if i did that i would be using the last 150 dollars of my graduation gift from my mom, and she requested that if i use that gift it's for a fast stock processor instead of one that i can overclock. simply because if i wreck it overclocking it i would have just thrown away her gift.

i'm getting 195 for my current mobo, processor and a cold cathode fan. plus the 150 from mom, that means i would have to pay 60 out of my pocket.

with the overclocking stuff that much, i can't affort to replace this stuff if it goes out. i just did my budget and this will be the last big pleasure buy that i do in a loooong time. also, any way it goes with my vid card situation, i'll be getting a good vid card. either i'll be sent my x800xt that xpcgear.com and my credit card company deem to be working, or i'll use the money i get back to buy a new x800xt from newegg.

so my new rig would be:

AMD Athlon64 3500+
MSI K8N Neo2 Plat nforce3 Ultra
1024MB Corsair Value Select pc3200
X800XT
Total Cost for new mobo and processor: 405USD

or

AMD Athlon64 3400+
DFI Lanparty UT
1024MB Corsair Value Select pc3200
X800XT
Total cost for new mobo and processor: 318USD

edit

well, i'm not really interested in PCI-E due to my budget and the fact that the current pci-e vid cards barely outperform the current agp. also, if i waited too long i'd kill my current mobo and processor, i hate them so much...

[Son_of_Thunder]

ok guys, it's now down to either the 90nm 3200+ w/ the msi neo2 plat and the Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 or the 3400+ w/ the dfi lanparty UT.

what do you guys think of the silent boost k8? i saw on anandtech that it was what they used to overclock the 90nm 3000+ to 2.6Ghz (making it faster than the fx-53 according to their benchmarks), and it's only 30 USD.

i'm also going to try to sell my 1GB of corsair value select for 140 bucks and then use that money, plus some of my own to get some better ram. so in a little while i may come on here asking which ram is the best :P

[dipstick]

Definitely go with the 939 setup if you can afford it(does it even cost more?)
The Silent boost will work well with the 90nm cpus but I dont recommend it for the others. Thermalright heatsinks are the way to go if you are really serious about OCing though the 90nm cpus will OC like crazy even on stock cooling. No joke they run 10-15c cooler than any other A64 core! If you are looking for ram stick with Corsair or OCZ and you cant go wrong