Processor and Motherboard
Hardware
by: je.saist
| What follows is a write I did on computer componets. It
has been
edited from the original format for several reasons. For those
wishing
to locate the original article, it is aviable here
in pdf format. Part 1: Processor Theory Part 2: Hardware Part 3: Thread Response This portion focus's on the actual hardware in use, so now we'll talk about some brands and what to buy. Do keep in mind that these prices as quoted literally can change from day to day, and may not be accurate. Mentioned earlier is the fact that I have a short list of manufacturers that I have found to offer products I consider acceptable. Asus : http://usa.asus.com/ Abit : http://www.abit-usa.com/ DFI : http://www.dfi.com.tw/index_us_noflash.jsp?SITE=NA Chaintech : http://www.chaintechusa.com/tw/eng/ Sapphire : http://www.sapphiretech.com/ ECS : http://www.ecs.com.tw/ Motherboards The motherboard is the "heart of the computer" and can easily make or break the computing experience. A bad or cheap motherboard can cause an instable system. But trying to figure out what motherboard is which can induce a headache. Motherboards are generally seperated by socket and price-range. So lets run over some socket combinations:
There is a lot of cross-over between different processors and the types of sockets used. This is why you can find an Intel Pe ntium4 3.2ghz Northwood for $210 and an Intel Pentium 630 Prescott for the same price. The P4 Northwood is for socket 478, while the 630 which has a lower clockspeed and supports X86-64 is for Socket LGA 775. When you go shopping for a motherboard keep your socket in mind as your upgrade path will be limited by the socket. For example, while Socket A boards are very cheap now, there is no upgrade path beyond the AthlonXp 3200+. AMD has a distinct advantage in the motherboard space as well as processors. If you bought a socket 939 motherboard you should be able to use a Dual-Core AMD Athlon X2 just by upgrading the bios. Currently, as far as I know, all shipping 939 motherboards support Dual Core Athlon X2 out of the box. You can also run dual core processors on current 350watt power supplies. You can get away with a 400watt power supply with ATi CrossFire and AthlonX2. If you intend to run Nvidia SLI, you probably want to play it safe at 500watt, although Antec's true power 430watt worked well in my case. If you want to use a dual core processor with Intel you will have to buy a brand new motherboard as well as making sure you have at least a 500 watt power supply. From what I've tested, I'd actually reccomend a 600watt or HIGHER power supply if you have intentions to run Nvidia SLI or ATi CrossFire. Chipsets The chipset is the part of the computer that connects the Central Processor to the rest of the computer. Items such as your hard-drives, Optical Drives, PCI Bus, AGP Bus, and just about all other functions are routed through the Chipsets known as Northbride and Southbridge. The typcial model of the Northbridge includes the memory controller that the processor uses to access System-RAM. AMD X86-64 processors, however, have the memory controller on the processor itself which elimates much of the performance difference between Northbridge types.
Time to take a look at some actual retail products. Socket 754: For those on a budget and
looking at ECS's 755-A2 board. It weighs in at about $43
over at Newegg. With the release of Sempron64 you can pick up
a X86-64
processor for under $100 and have an upgrade path to the socket 754
Athlon64's. Currently the Socket 754 Athlon64 tops out at 3700+, but
there are some indications that it could be joined by a 3800+ or 3900+
early 2006.
I think that the best board currently avaible for Socket 754 is DFI's Lan Party UT. You can nab it for around $110 if you look around The Lan Party UT has been the only one to stably run my A64 3200+ at 2.4ghz. Socket 939: Currently the ultimate upgrade
path. Already houses the dominating Athlon64 4000+ with native support
for AthlonX2.
Of the budget boards to pass through my hands, ECS's 939 board was one of my fav's. You can get it for around $74 off of newegg. Soltek also had an AGP version I liked, weighs in at about $105 Of the high-end 939 boards I've run through here, DFI also caught my attention. For PCI-Express the DFI UT NF4 performes well at $125 : For Nvidia-SLI, be prepared to drop out some cash : DFI puts out an SLI at $170 However, I haven't had hands on it. Another good brand I've hands on with is Abit's Fatal1ty lineup. http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=246 http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=262 However, at the time of posting, I most of the sources I trust were sold out. Socket 478 / Socket LGA 775 Since
I don't have very many Intel systems move though the business I do, I
don't have a list of favorites I can reccomend. I trust ATi and
have
had good experiences with the Radeon IGP systems. However, while
Radeon 9100 IGP boards are easy to find, the Radeon Xpress 200 Intel
boards are still hard to find.
http://www.ati.com/products/radeonxpress200intel/index.html If you are in the market for an Intel board, read around http://www.anandtech.com or http://www.hardocp.com first. What follows is one of the comparision lists I made up for one of my clients. Keep in mind that this is a budget box, intended to offer decent performance while presuming that you want to stay under $1000. Actually, the "power system" I think slips under $800 with Fed-Ex or UPS ground shipping. Also keep in mind that many of the listed prices are probably no longer accurate. Just follow through the links or look for the brands.
 |