Is GIGABYTE GA-M55plus-S3G motherboard a good choice?

[ANTant]

Hello,

I am planning to upgrade my old motherboard, CPU, Quantum 15 GB IDE HDD,
and video card in a few weeks because newer and upcoming games are slow
and choppy. http://alpha.zimage.com/~ant/antfarm/about/computers.txt
shows what my current primary/gaming computer is using. I am of thinking
of getting an AMD Athlon 64 X2 CPU (939) and GIGABYTE GA-M55plus-S3G,
and reusing old parts (case, 2 GB of RAM, sound card, two TV tuner
cards, two old IDE HDDs (one is replaced with a new and fast SATA 320 GB
HDD), DVD-ROM drive, CD burner, etc.). I also will not be overclocking.
Notice I am not the type of guy who gets the latest stuff.

I was going to go Intel, but it costs a lot more and I didn't not want
to spend a lot of money on this upgrade. I am going to keep using
Windows XP Pro. SP2 (32-bit). Who knows when I will get Vista. Maybe not
for a long time. Linux/Debian will be later on though (a few years)
when I put in my other mid-tower ATX case.

Plan to get:
1. A GIGABYTE GA-M55plus-S3G motherboard.
2. An AMD Athlon 64 X2 (939) CPU -- probably 4600+ speed.
3. A NVIDIA GeForce 79xx PCIe card (no SLI).
4. A Seagate 320 GB SATA HDD (3 Gb/sec).
5. A PCI IDE Controller for two more IDE ports for two old IDE HDDs, CD,
and DVD drives.

What do you think? Any problems with this setup? Thank you in advance.

--
"Thanks for giving me the courage to eat all those ants." --unknown
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[Wes Newell]

Plan to get:
1. A GIGABYTE GA-M55plus-S3G motherboard.

That's an AM2 MB. And there's actually 3 diferent revs, each with a
different Nvidia chipset.

2. An AMD Athlon 64 X2 (939) CPU -- probably 4600+ speed.

Get an AM2 3800+ and set the FSB to 233 or higher.

3. A NVIDIA GeForce 79xx PCIe card (no SLI).

Then you don't want a board with on board video.

4. A Seagate 320 GB SATA HDD (3 Gb/sec).
5. A PCI IDE Controller for two more IDE ports for two old IDE HDDs, CD,
and DVD drives.

What do you think? Any problems with this setup? Thank you in advance.

Big problems. If you really want to stick with AMD, then go AM2, not 939,
It's dead, and the CPU's for it are much higher than the AM2 models. You
can get a decent AM2 MB and X2 3800+ for under $200. The 939 X2 3800+ will
cost you that much alone at this time. If you really wnat to stay with
939, a big mistake IMO, then look for a 939 board without on board video.
there's no sense in paying for it if you aren't going to use it.

 

[ANTant]

That's an AM2 MB. And there's actually 3 diferent revs, each with a
different Nvidia chipset.

DOH! Which one do I want for 939 then? I didn't know there were
different revisions. I thought BIOS updates added CPU support.

Get an AM2 3800+ and set the FSB to 233 or higher.

Then, I can't reuse my old RAM. I cannot spend a lot of money to
upgrade.

Then you don't want a board with on board video.

Ah OK. This upgrade is mainly for games (new ones).

Big problems. If you really want to stick with AMD, then go AM2, not 939,
It's dead, and the CPU's for it are much higher than the AM2 models. You
can get a decent AM2 MB and X2 3800+ for under $200. The 939 X2 3800+ will
cost you that much alone at this time. If you really wnat to stay with
939, a big mistake IMO, then look for a 939 board without on board video.
there's no sense in paying for it if you aren't going to use it.

But I still need to buy 2 GB of RAM (yes 2 GB). That's over 200 bucks
for a good brand (never buy cheap ones). Is it really that much faster
with AM2 over X2? And yes, I want dual core.
--
"Thanks for giving me the courage to eat all those ants." --unknown
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[ANTant]

I read http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2738&p=4 and
there doesn't seem to major speed differences between 939 and AM2 CPUs,
especially for newer games. A few FPS more for $200 more for new RAM
doesn't seem worth it.

That's an AM2 MB. And there's actually 3 diferent revs, each with a
different Nvidia chipset.

Get an AM2 3800+ and set the FSB to 233 or higher.

Then you don't want a board with on board video.

Big problems. If you really want to stick with AMD, then go AM2, not 939,
It's dead, and the CPU's for it are much higher than the AM2 models. You
can get a decent AM2 MB and X2 3800+ for under $200. The 939 X2 3800+ will
cost you that much alone at this time. If you really wnat to stay with
939, a big mistake IMO, then look for a 939 board without on board video.
there's no sense in paying for it if you aren't going to use it.

--
"Thanks for giving me the courage to eat all those ants." --unknown
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[Bill]

Hello,

I am planning to upgrade my old motherboard, CPU, Quantum 15 GB IDE HDD,
and video card in a few weeks because newer and upcoming games are slow
and choppy. http://alpha.zimage.com/~ant/antfarm/about/computers.txt
shows what my current primary/gaming computer is using. I am of thinking
of getting an AMD Athlon 64 X2 CPU (939) and GIGABYTE GA-M55plus-S3G,
and reusing old parts (case, 2 GB of RAM, sound card, two TV tuner
cards, two old IDE HDDs (one is replaced with a new and fast SATA 320 GB
HDD), DVD-ROM drive, CD burner, etc.). I also will not be overclocking.
Notice I am not the type of guy who gets the latest stuff.

I was going to go Intel, but it costs a lot more and I didn't not want
to spend a lot of money on this upgrade. I am going to keep using
Windows XP Pro. SP2 (32-bit). Who knows when I will get Vista. Maybe not
for a long time. Linux/Debian will be later on though (a few years)
when I put in my other mid-tower ATX case.

Plan to get:
1. A GIGABYTE GA-M55plus-S3G motherboard.

AM2 motherboard

2. An AMD Athlon 64 X2 (939) CPU -- probably 4600+ speed.

Socket 939 will mot work on an AM2 motherboard

3. A NVIDIA GeForce 79xx PCIe card (no SLI).
4. A Seagate 320 GB SATA HDD (3 Gb/sec).
5. A PCI IDE Controller for two more IDE ports for two old IDE HDDs, CD,
and DVD drives.

What do you think? Any problems with this setup? Thank you in advance.

Have you looked at:

MSI K8N Neo4-F Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130491

I don't know how it is in the overclocking dept. though I just built a
system using the MSI K9NBPM2-FID Socket AM2 NVIDIA Quadro NVS 210S
and it has no overclocking settings in the bios whatsoever and ntune
was able to get the processor up to 230 MHz with complete stability.

Maybe ntune will work on the Neo4-F. Then you could get a

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103542
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo 2.2GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939

and a

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185125

if you have the room, or a

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106055

if you don't.

Bill

 

[Bill]

I read http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2738&p=4 and
there doesn't seem to major speed differences between 939 and AM2 CPUs,
especially for newer games. A few FPS more for $200 more for new RAM
doesn't seem worth it.

<snip>

My rig:

Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe
Amd Socket 939 64 X2 4600+ OC to 2.6 GHz
2 GB Corsair CMX1024-3200C2 ram
MSI NVidia 7900gt video card
Viewsonic VP930b 19" LCD 1280x1024
6 Hds coming to over 1.5 TB
2 DL DVD burners

Plays CoD2, UT2004, DOOM 3, all bells and whistles turned up with
with no stuttering. Oh, and I usually have SETI and Einstein at home
running in the background at the same time.

Windows Vista tells me my rig rates a 5.5 though I find that Vista
runs slower on my rig than WinXP SP2. Dual boots with SUSE Linux 10.1
and it runs well also.

My next major rebuild will be in a year or so when the DX10 cards and
the Quad4 processors get reasonible in price.

AM2s are nice but not necessary for a fast rig for todays games and a
fast Socket 939 will probably hold you for at least a year. IMO.

Bill

 

[ANTant]

I read http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2738&p=4 and

My rig:

Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe
Amd Socket 939 64 X2 4600+ OC to 2.6 GHz
2 GB Corsair CMX1024-3200C2 ram
MSI NVidia 7900gt video card
Viewsonic VP930b 19" LCD 1280x1024
6 Hds coming to over 1.5 TB
2 DL DVD burners

Plays CoD2, UT2004, DOOM 3, all bells and whistles turned up with
with no stuttering. Oh, and I usually have SETI and Einstein at home
running in the background at the same time.

Windows Vista tells me my rig rates a 5.5 though I find that Vista
runs slower on my rig than WinXP SP2. Dual boots with SUSE Linux 10.1
and it runs well also.

My next major rebuild will be in a year or so when the DX10 cards and
the Quad4 processors get reasonible in price.

AM2s are nice but not necessary for a fast rig for todays games and a
fast Socket 939 will probably hold you for at least a year. IMO.

Well, I hope it's two years for me. I never upgrade less than two years.
I do upgrade video card like once a year.
--
"Thanks for giving me the courage to eat all those ants." --unknown
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[ANTant]

AM2 motherboard

Socket 939 will mot work on an AM2 motherboard

Ah crap. See, that is why I needed to check with the public.

Have you looked at:

MSI K8N Neo4-F Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4

I don't know how it is in the overclocking dept. though I just built a
system using the MSI K9NBPM2-FID Socket AM2 NVIDIA Quadro NVS 210S
and it has no overclocking settings in the bios whatsoever and ntune
was able to get the processor up to 230 MHz with complete stability.

I don't overclock so that's out of the picture.

Maybe ntune will work on the Neo4-F. Then you could get a

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103542
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo 2.2GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939

and a

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185125

if you have the room, or a

if you don't.

Thanks.
--
"Thanks for giving me the courage to eat all those ants." --unknown
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[Wes Newell]

I read http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2738&p=4 and
there doesn't seem to major speed differences between 939 and AM2 CPUs,
especially for newer games. A few FPS more for $200 more for new RAM
doesn't seem worth it.

Really? Look at this.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=467&model2=477&chart=165

You might also note that the AM2 X2 3800+ beats the 939 X2 4600+ in this
game. Next, you can resale your old system and ram so overall, the upgrade
bottom line cost will probably be less than $200 total (MB/CPU/RAM).

Or, you could just upgrade your video card and overclock your current A64
3200+ for nothing. if you buy a new board, I'd certainly go with an AM2
board regardless of the iniital cost. You might want to upgrade the CPu
one of these days agian. You won't be able to get much out of the
discontinued 939. There's already X2 5600+'s for the AM2.

 

[Bill]

Really? Look at this.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=467&model2=477&chart=165

You might also note that the AM2 X2 3800+ beats the 939 X2 4600+ in this
game.

Which game was that? I only saw the AM2 64 X2 3800+ come in tied with
the Socket 939 X2 4600+ at 127.0 fps on the CoD2 time demo and coming
in behind on the others.

Next, you can resale your old system and ram so overall, the upgrade
bottom line cost will probably be less than $200 total (MB/CPU/RAM).

That's one route, though it depends on what he can get for his old
computer.

Or, you could just upgrade your video card and overclock your current A64
3200+ for nothing. if you buy a new board, I'd certainly go with an AM2
board regardless of the iniital cost. You might want to upgrade the CPu
one of these days agian. You won't be able to get much out of the
discontinued 939. There's already X2 5600+'s for the AM2.

Yep, if I was to build a complete new one today I'd definately go for
the AM2 if I had the money and was sticking with AMD. OTOH, a few
hundred more would get a really blazing Intel Core 2 Duo system.

On a limited budget though, everything is a trade off.

Bill

 

[Wes Newell]

Which game was that? I only saw the AM2 64 X2 3800+ come in tied with
the Socket 939 X2 4600+ at 127.0 fps on the CoD2 time demo and coming
in behind on the others.

My mistake. I thought the .0 was .8. You are correct. Same time. Want to
comment on the times of the AM2 vs 939 of same rating? Probably not if
you're a 939 fan.

That's one route, though it depends on what he can get for his old
computer.

He can get at least $200 for it with 2G ram. Might even get close to that
just for the ram.

Yep, if I was to build a complete new one today I'd definately go for
the AM2 if I had the money and was sticking with AMD. OTOH, a few
hundred more would get a really blazing Intel Core 2 Duo system.

On a limited budget though, everything is a trade off.

Actually, I started to mention a C2D system. The cost difference is
minimal. And i think they have some boards that could use his old ram.

 

[Bill]

My mistake. I thought the .0 was .8. You are correct. Same time. Want to
comment on the times of the AM2 vs 939 of same rating? Probably not if
you're a 939 fan.

Indeed, the AM2 at equal ratings to the Socket 939 is definately
faster. When I bought my 939 it was cheap and I put it in an Abit AV8
board. Then I upgraded my 6800 GT AGP to a PCI 7900GT and upgraded the
board to the ASUS. Didn't feel like dropping 400+ bucks more for a new
processor and new 2 gigs of memory too. This system is plenty fast for
what I use it for, but when the newer games need more horsepower I'll
do AM2 or Core 4 whatever the new quad processors take at the time.

He can get at least $200 for it with 2G ram. Might even get close to that
just for the ram.

Brand new ram is going for that price, why buy used? He might get
$200, might not. It's a Socket 754 system, top of the line MB < I know,
I had one till it died for no reason, wasn't even overclocking it >,
but still a 754.

Actually, I started to mention a C2D system. The cost difference is
minimal. And i think they have some boards that could use his old ram.

The only one I've seen is the Asrock 775 Dual. A possibility, but I
don't know how well it would work as a gamer.

I picked up one of those 64 FX-55 San Diegos when NewEgg was selling
them for $130.00 a couple of weeks ago. Just need a board to put it in
and see what thet baby will do.

Bill

 

[ANTant]

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=467&model2=477&chart=165
Hmm. Man, all these codenames are confusing for the same CPU.

Indeed, the AM2 at equal ratings to the Socket 939 is definately
faster. When I bought my 939 it was cheap and I put it in an Abit AV8
board. Then I upgraded my 6800 GT AGP to a PCI 7900GT and upgraded the
board to the ASUS. Didn't feel like dropping 400+ bucks more for a new
processor and new 2 gigs of memory too. This system is plenty fast for
what I use it for, but when the newer games need more horsepower I'll
do AM2 or Core 4 whatever the new quad processors take at the time.

Yeah, if I wasn't into PC gaming, I would still use my Athlon XP!

Brand new ram is going for that price, why buy used? He might get
$200, might not. It's a Socket 754 system, top of the line MB < I know,
I had one till it died for no reason, wasn't even overclocking it >,
but still a 754.

Actually, I am keepng the old motherboard, CPU, etc. I have more of
those old RAM (slower speed) and will use it as my Debian/Linux box that
is using an Athlon XP 2200+ setup.
--
"Thanks for giving me the courage to eat all those ants." --unknown
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )