 |
Sharky Extreme : Monthly Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide |
|
 |
 - Most Active Threads - Technical Support - CPUs & Overclocking  RSS feed Sitemap |
 |
Monthly Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide |
July 2004 Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 3By Ryan "Speedy" Wissman July 30, 2004
As motherboards based on the next-generation 925X, 915P and 915G Express chipsets begin to flow into the market, we will be moving away from the i875P in the near future. However, as we were unable to locate any Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processors based on the LGA775 socket configuration, we decided to stick with the status quo for another month. There's really no difference in overall performance, and the i875P features an 800MHz FSB, dual-channel DDR400, Hyper Threading, USB 2.0, and also has integrated RAID support. In addition, the chipset also has exclusive integrated PAT (Performance Acceleration Technology) which boosts memory performance, something that the less-expensive 865PE chipset does not.
As far as Intel 875P motherboards are concerned, the ABIT IC7-MAX3 continues to be our top choice. The board is unsurpassed in terms of onboard features, and includes unparalleled performance and stability to boot. The motherboard has four SATA ports, an AGP Pro slot, Intel CSA Gigabit LAN, and a number of other hot technologies built-in. ABIT has taken the initiative to throw out all legacy connectors with their "MAX" boards, in order to make room for additional USB, audio and Firewire connecters. In addition to the usual BIOS tweaking and overclocking features, the IC7-MAX3 also has an OTES style cooling system right above the CPU to keep everything running smoothly. The motherboard does not come cheap at $169, but the extra cost translates into superior features and performance, and makes an excellent hardware addition to this guide.
Current Cost: $135
In moving to the new Athlon 64 FX-53 Socket 939 this month, we had to drop the old Socket 940 motherboard in favor of something new. The ASUS A8V Deluxe is a great choice, as it comes with a ton of onboard goodies including wireless 802.11g networking and supports both the Athlon 64 and the Athlon 64 FX 939-pin chips. The ASUS A8V Deluxe uses an enhanced version of the VIA K8T800 called the K8T800 Pro, along with a VT8237 Southbridge. ASUS remains one of our favorite motherboard manufacturers as they are known with producing some of the best boards for AMD and Intel systems, and the A8V Deluxe yet another quality boards from this top tier manufacturer. The K8T800 Pro chipset is the highest performing VIA chipset for Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX systems. Just like the K8T800 chipset, it has support for Gigabit Ethernet, AGP 8X, dual-channel SATA, and 6- or 8-channel integrated audio. However, the K8T800 Pro has a significantly faster Ultra V-Link north/south bridge link running at 1066MB/s compared to the K8T800 at 533MB/s. Driver support for VIA chipsets is now top notch thanks to years of tweaks and a greater integration through their unified driver package. The ASUS A8V Deluxe WiFi Edition includes a vast array of onboard features that make it one of the most complete motherboard packages currently on the market. The board features dual SATA or ATA RAID, Gigabit LAN, integrated 8-channel audio, ASUS WiFi-g (802.11g wireless), 2000 MT/s HyperTransport Bus, 8 USB 2.0 ports, and 2 IEEE (firewire) ports. The board also takes full advantage of AMD HyperTransport between integrated circuits, and supports dual-channel DDR with both Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX processors. Priced at $135, this motherboard is a steal considering the vast array of performance, features, and onboard components this board is packing.
Current Cost: $303 When it comes to choosing the memory for each of our Buyer's Guides, a few name instantly come to mind: Corsair, Kingston, OCZ and Mushkin. Each of these manufacturers offers ultra high performance, rock solid DDR options, and can be easily found at the major online vendors. This month we are unifying the memory under both platforms, as the Athlon 64 FX-53 does not require the same registered memory that it needed with Socket 940. To keep things simple, we are going to make use the same high-end Corsair PC3200 Low Latency DDR memory that has been a staple of the Intel system.
Since nothing has changed on the Intel side of the platform fence, standard DDR memory is still the order of the day, and we're going with Corsair XMS PC3200LL. This memory is rock solid, and is some of the best performing DDR that we have ever used. In the near future, Intel and AMD will most likely be moving to higher latency (but higher clocked) DDR2 memory so that the platforms can further increase memory bandwidth and allow for higher CPU bus speeds. One of the benefits of moving to the socket-939 platform is that we no longer need to use registered DDR memory for our AMD system. Now the Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX S939 chips use the same unbuffered dual-channel memory, so we're making use of the same Corsair PC3200 memory as our Intel system. Since there are a few dollars left over on the AMD side this month, if you're interested in overclocking than you might want to look into purchasing faster memory (such as PC4000) as increasing the FSB would yield impressive benchmark numbers with the Athlon 64 FX system.
|
Comment and Contribute
