Socket 754 on its way out?

It seems to me like socket 754 is on its way out, to be replaced by
sockets 939/940. From what I've read it is already at the limit of
its capabilities, while sockets 939/940 have a lot more potential
left. I was considering upgrading my system to a 64-bit processor,
but it doesn't seem like 754 is a good idea, because it doesn't have
any more upgrade capabilities. Sockets 939 and 940, on the other
hand, look promising (939 looks more promising than 940 too; buffered
memory is expensive). The only problem is that the current socket 939
CPUs are so expensive ($400). Will any "budget" 939 processors be
released, or will I have to wait for the prices of the current 939
processors to come down?

It seems like the current situation for anyone looking to get into
64-bit is to wait awhile, because 754 offers no future promise and 939
is still too expensive. What are your opinions?

Cyde Weys wrote:
It seems to me like socket 754 is on its way out, to be replaced by
sockets 939/940. From what I've read it is already at the limit of
its capabilities, while sockets 939/940 have a lot more potential
left. I was considering upgrading my system to a 64-bit processor,
but it doesn't seem like 754 is a good idea, because it doesn't have
any more upgrade capabilities. Sockets 939 and 940, on the other
hand, look promising (939 looks more promising than 940 too; buffered
memory is expensive). The only problem is that the current socket 939
CPUs are so expensive ($400). Will any "budget" 939 processors be
released, or will I have to wait for the prices of the current 939
processors to come down?

It seems like the current situation for anyone looking to get into
64-bit is to wait awhile, because 754 offers no future promise and 939
is still too expensive. What are your opinions?

I disagree here. There is no doubt that eventually Socket 754 will be
superseded by Socket 939/940 however to day that Socket 754 is dead in
the water right now is a mistake.

What I think you'll see over the next 1-2 years is that socket 754 will
become the budget platform for those wanting to upgrade to 64bits whilst
people who need/require absolute top performance and are willing to
pay for it will opt to go with socket 939/940 based systems.

If you need confirmation of this, then just look at all of the people
still buying and building budget systems based on SocketA.

Personally, I think that socket 754 has got a few more years in it yet
before it disappears completely.

Just for the record, I'm took the plunge about 2 months ago and opted
for a Socket 754 system with an Athlon64 2800+. I couldn't justify the
wait for a decently priced Socket 939/940 based system. Besides which,
there is the upgrade potential to a socket 754 based Athlon 64 3700+.
If I want to go faster then I'll have to consider a new
mainboard/architecture but, for me, that's a few years away.

--
JasonB

to reply, replace nospam4me with Blueyonder.co.uk

Cyde Weys wrote:

It seems to me like socket 754 is on its way out, to be replaced by
sockets 939/940. From what I've read it is already at the limit of
its capabilities, while sockets 939/940 have a lot more potential
left. I was considering upgrading my system to a 64-bit processor,
but it doesn't seem like 754 is a good idea, because it doesn't have
any more upgrade capabilities. Sockets 939 and 940, on the other
hand, look promising (939 looks more promising than 940 too; buffered
memory is expensive). The only problem is that the current socket 939
CPUs are so expensive ($400). Will any "budget" 939 processors be
released, or will I have to wait for the prices of the current 939
processors to come down?

It seems like the current situation for anyone looking to get into
64-bit is to wait awhile, because 754 offers no future promise and 939
is still too expensive. What are your opinions?

I should have added, if you want a cheap'ish Athlon64 based system right
now then Socket 754 is the way to go. If you have the money and/or can
wait then go for a Socket 939/940 based system.

At the end of the day its down to you;
* You either want a system you can put together and enjoy now or
* You play the waiting game, which might never end because there's
always some new hum-dinger-dowhicky technology on the horizon that
promises faster this, that and the other.

As they say, the choice is yours....

--
JasonB

to reply, replace nospam4me with Blueyonder.co.uk

On Wed, 07 Jul 2004 08:17:43 -0700, Cyde Weys wrote:

It seems to me like socket 754 is on its way out, to be replaced by
sockets 939/940. From what I've read it is already at the limit of
its capabilities, while sockets 939/940 have a lot more potential
left.

The only difference between 754 and 939 is dual channel ram capabilities.
They use the same chipsets.

I was considering upgrading my system to a 64-bit processor, but it
doesn't seem like 754 is a good idea, because it doesn't have any more
upgrade capabilities.

There's a 3700+ for it now. It's about $700 for the cpu alone. Were you
planing on going straight to the top of the line to start with? If so, why
not just get a dual Opteron and say that 939 is dead too.:-)


Sockets 939 and 940, on the other hand, look
promising (939 looks more promising than 940 too; buffered memory is
expensive). The only problem is that the current socket 939 CPUs are so
expensive ($400). Will any "budget" 939 processors be released, or
will I have to wait for the prices of the current 939 processors to come
down?

No, there will be no budget 939 cpu's. The price will fall on the slower
ones as the faster ones are produced. But don't expect XP type prices
anytime soon on 939 cpu's.

It seems like the current situation for anyone looking to get into
64-bit is to wait awhile, because 754 offers no future promise and 939
is still too expensive. What are your opinions?

Well, I've had a 754 and a 64 3000+ for a while now. But my honest
opinioin is that 90% of the people could get by with a 2100+ XP and save a
bundle, including myself.:-)

--
Abit KT7-Raid (KT133) Tbred B core CPU @2400MHz (24x100FSB)
http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm

On 7 Jul 2004 08:17:43 -0700, (Cyde Weys) wrote:

It seems to me like socket 754 is on its way out, to be replaced by
sockets 939/940. From what I've read it is already at the limit of
its capabilities, while sockets 939/940 have a lot more potential
left. I was considering upgrading my system to a 64-bit processor,
but it doesn't seem like 754 is a good idea, because it doesn't have
any more upgrade capabilities. Sockets 939 and 940, on the other
hand, look promising (939 looks more promising than 940 too; buffered
memory is expensive). The only problem is that the current socket 939
CPUs are so expensive ($400). Will any "budget" 939 processors be
released, or will I have to wait for the prices of the current 939
processors to come down?

It seems like the current situation for anyone looking to get into
64-bit is to wait awhile, because 754 offers no future promise and 939
is still too expensive. What are your opinions?

Yeah I was posting I REALLY want a 939 with PCI express and BTX if
thats what was going to be the future so as not to be locked out of
anything but really - that depends on a lot of things. First one site
predicted the 939s would come down but the ones Ive seen now were
really expensive. Second if I really did get a PCI express board and
BTX board that means I cant use my Antec case and ATI 9800 etc so
overall even if the CPU falls Im looking at a MASSIVE cost in
upgrading everything compared to what I would be doing with just a 754
socket upgrade without PCI express and BTX formfactor.

I really dont relish spending 600-800 at one pop.
I might be looking at a 754 socket this Xmas or 939 with AGP /ATX.

(Cyde Weys) wrote in message . com...
It seems to me like socket 754 is on its way out, to be replaced by
sockets 939/940. From what I've read it is already at the limit of
its capabilities, while sockets 939/940 have a lot more potential
left. I was considering upgrading my system to a 64-bit processor,
but it doesn't seem like 754 is a good idea, because it doesn't have
any more upgrade capabilities. Sockets 939 and 940, on the other
hand, look promising (939 looks more promising than 940 too; buffered
memory is expensive). The only problem is that the current socket 939
CPUs are so expensive ($400). Will any "budget" 939 processors be
released, or will I have to wait for the prices of the current 939
processors to come down?

It seems like the current situation for anyone looking to get into
64-bit is to wait awhile, because 754 offers no future promise and 939
is still too expensive. What are your opinions?

Okay, here's what I currently have: Asus A7N8X-X mobo (I can't believe
I remember that), 2500+ Barton CPU, 1GB DDR-RAM (I think it's PC2700),
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9500 softmodded to 9700.

Which component should I upgrade to see the best performance in games?

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 12:51:21 -0700, Cyde Weys wrote:

(Cyde Weys) wrote in message . com...
It seems to me like socket 754 is on its way out, to be replaced by
sockets 939/940. From what I've read it is already at the limit of
its capabilities, while sockets 939/940 have a lot more potential
left. I was considering upgrading my system to a 64-bit processor,
but it doesn't seem like 754 is a good idea, because it doesn't have
any more upgrade capabilities. Sockets 939 and 940, on the other
hand, look promising (939 looks more promising than 940 too; buffered
memory is expensive). The only problem is that the current socket 939
CPUs are so expensive ($400). Will any "budget" 939 processors be
released, or will I have to wait for the prices of the current 939
processors to come down?

It seems like the current situation for anyone looking to get into
64-bit is to wait awhile, because 754 offers no future promise and 939
is still too expensive. What are your opinions?

Okay, here's what I currently have: Asus A7N8X-X mobo (I can't believe
I remember that), 2500+ Barton CPU, 1GB DDR-RAM (I think it's PC2700),
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9500 softmodded to 9700.

Which component should I upgrade to see the best performance in games?

That system is pretty fast you aren't going to get a truely significant
gain by upgrading it. As a general rule of thumb you shouldn't upgrade
unless you are going to get at least a 2X improvement, preferably 3 or
4X. An AMD64FX will give you approximately 1.5X which isn't all that
noticable. If you wait another year the processors will exceed the 2X
level that makes an upgrade worthwhile.

On 8 Jul 2004 12:51:21 -0700, (Cyde Weys) wrote:


Okay, here's what I currently have: Asus A7N8X-X mobo (I can't believe
I remember that), 2500+ Barton CPU, 1GB DDR-RAM (I think it's PC2700),
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9500 softmodded to 9700.

Which component should I upgrade to see the best performance in games?

How much of a boost do you really need with that setup?
Are the games constrained by eye-candy? That is, if you turn
down the candy and/or resolution do you get the framerate you
want? If so, video card is next upgrade. If not, CPU is next.
Then upgrade the other part, unless you're already O'Cin' the CPU
then just put up with it for a while till the next wave of tech
matures.

You could wait for the brand new 939 to fall in price and get a board with
both agp and pci express, as I think there will be some.


--
Ed Light

Smiley :-/
MS Smiley :-\

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.

"Ed Light" wrote in
news:9rAHc.521$kt.350@fed1read05:

You could wait for the brand new 939 to fall in price and get a board
with both agp and pci express, as I think there will be some.

Yeah, good point, I also want the new PCI thing on my mobo. Looks like
I'll just be upgrading the video card for now and holding out for awhile on
that new mobo and processor.

--
~ Cyde Weys ~
Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me ...