AMD 64 Motherboard

[ThinkBling]

Which AMD 64 motherboard is the best for the dollar? For that matter, what is the best chipset?

[zippyjuan]

I don't have one yet, but in my research the concensus seems to be in favor of the ASUS K8V board. http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/sock...d/overview.HTM
SO far, the VIA boards have been better than the NVidia3 boards for the Athlon 64s. Only the FX series requires registered memory. Most of the set-up boards I saw were using DDR400. As far as performance per buck on the chip, that seems to be the 3000+. It is only slightly slower in performance than the 3200+. This set up does not use dual channel memory but has three memory slots. They will be coming out with a socket 939 chip later this year that will support dual channel memory. I am thinking about waiting for one of those- also to see if the boards for it include PCI Express slots. There seem to be a lot of changes in technology going on right now. My NVidia2 will hold me for now [but the new vid cards are tempting! The ATI takes up less space (no interference in PCI slot which I don't need to worry about anyways) than the 6800 and doesn't require more power like the NVidia-480 watts recommended and TWO power connectors needed!]

[ApltnHkyMutt]

if the AIComputer deal goes through I will be the proud owner of the K8V with a 3200+, I will post here and let you know if i like it.

[Jeffbx]

Are there any other big resellers besides IBM who are selling AMD-64 systems?

[ThinkBling]

HP and Sun are selling Opteron based machines. Dell is the only big hold out. These machines are mostly 2 and 4 way editions and out of the price range of an enthusiast.

Side question, what is the possible performance difference between AGP 8x and pci express?

[zippyjuan]

I have been trying to find out about that too. The PCI Express (which is different from PCI X-whatever that is) is theoretically faster than AGP because it has an x16 bus instead of x8. There are more connection areas to allow for more data transfer. Right now, ATI is building cards designed for PCI Express while NVidia is using a bridge chip to "convert" their cards to PCI express. The ATI solution should be more effecient than the NVidia solution for now. Perhaps they will be making specific PCI Express cards in the future. Cards are being released later this year (the ATI x880 is expected in June and will have the same pipelines as their x800-XT and list for $499). The connection is supposed to use a bit more power (watts), but at a lower voltage. It is expected to become the dominant format during 2005. If anyone can correct me, or add anything please do. I had a hard time finding information on this.

Now I need an Athlon 64 socket 939 dual channel memory board with a 1000mhz bus and PCI slot (in BTX form factor?) and gigabite lan, a gig of memory, an ATI X880, ....
While DDR2 is coming, chips are not fast enough yet to take advantage of it.

[Jeffbx]

HP and Sun are selling Opteron based machines. Dell is the only big hold out. These machines are mostly 2 and 4 way editions and out of the price range of an enthusiast.

I should have been more specific - I'm looking for a machine to use as a graphics workstation. HP & Sun are selling UNIX based servers based on this platform... looks like IBM is the only (large) company selling a windows based workstation, and it's pretty overpriced (like $4k loaded up). Hopefully Dell will join in on this & offer a workstation as well. Right now they offer an Itanium server, but I think that technology will die a slow death once Intel releases the EM64T.

[ThinkBling]

AMD's CEO, Hector Ruiz said in a recent interview with EWeek...

We have a great relationship with Dell. As a matter of fact, I've talked to Michael [Dell, co-chairman] sometimes more than I've talked to some of our other OEMs that buy a lot of products of ours. But I believe that it's just around the corner when they are really going to be surrounded.

AMD Dells should be out in less than a year.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1574331,00.asp

[BobyJo]

Alienware, Falcon NW, Game PC, ABS Computer all build the AMD 64 ane the 64FX systems.
They are not prone to be available with much of a choice of motherboards though.
Asus has just entered the NF3-250 Pro area with thier K8N-E Deluxe setup. It is on thier website today, but cannot find any venders that are listing that board as yet.