Athlon 64 3000+ Socket 939
ASUS A8V + onboard audio/LAN
200GB SATA 7200RPM 8MB
512MB 400MHz DDRSDRAM

This shit is the shit. I replaced my Athlon 1800+, ABit KR7A, 512MB, SB Audigy, D-Link 538TX, and noticed a difference in boot time (also POST is much faster, just 2 seconds cold boot to OS bootup) and startup time of a few apps (Gimp and OpenOffice) and in ripping + re/encoding media. The best part is the first time I booted up I didn't have to configure shit, bootup time was not extended by detecting devices, and all my devices functioned right away and kept my settings (like for my keyboard, video card, etc, didn't need to reconfigure because it was routed through a different chipset or something).

But since I had a 64-bit CPU, I wanted to install a 64-bit OS, and put it on the SATA HDD. Installed (Ubuntu x86-64), selected the software packages I had before, copied over my home folder, and everything worked as it did before with no reconfiguring. The only software I'm missing is WINE, as it won't compile yet on x86-64. I was happy to find all Win32 codecs still worked with MPlayer, I thought maybe it wouldn't be possible.

I don't have a copy of Windows XP 64-bit so I didn't try that yet, but I tried Windows 2000 and played some Half Life 2 and it worked as well as could be expected with 512MB and GeForce 4 4200 64MB. I didn't really play it before on my old hardware though so I don't know what the difference is.

Hmm, I guess I didn't really need an upgrade...............

Oh well, having USB2 ports instead of USB is nice for my MP3 player, and the onboard audio is better than the SB Audigy (that would randomly change hardware address and Windows would have to redetect it every other boot-up... I don't want flaky hardware in my PC. The SBLive does the same shit on a different mobo, must be Creative).

Mine:
Athlon64 3200+ Socket 754 (was cheaper)
Gigabyte K8NS Pro
60GB boot and 250GB data HDs (both Maxtor)
1GB PC3200
Radeon 9700 Pro All-in-Wonder

There are things that aren't common knowledge about vid cards and
mobos. The Radeon requires a large inital amperage load to operate
correctly, and the power supply/mobo isn't giving it. The system doesn't
even start up with that card installed. I've ordered another PS
and hope it will.

The Gigabyte K8NS mobos are particular about the type of RAM they
use. I have 2x512MB DDRs installed. I took them out and installed
a 1x1GB DDR. Both reported 1GB installed. When I put them together
(in any combination), only 1GB shows. Dammit. I returned 1GB to Newegg
for a refund. Everything else rocks though.



> This shit is the shit. I replaced my Athlon 1800+, ABit KR7A, 512MB, SB Audigy,
> D-Link 538TX, and noticed a difference in boot time (also POST is much faster,
> just 2 seconds cold boot to OS bootup) and startup time of a few apps (Gimp and
> OpenOffice) and in ripping + re/encoding media. The best part is the first time
> I booted up I didn't have to configure shit, bootup time was not extended by
> detecting devices, and all my devices functioned right away and kept my settings
> (like for my keyboard, video card, etc, didn't need to reconfigure because it
> was routed through a different chipset or something).
>
> But since I had a 64-bit CPU, I wanted to install a 64-bit OS, and put it on the
> SATA HDD. Installed (Ubuntu x86-64), selected the software packages I had
> before, copied over my home folder, and everything worked as it did before with
> no reconfiguring. The only software I'm missing is WINE, as it won't compile
> yet on x86-64. I was happy to find all Win32 codecs still worked with MPlayer,
> I thought maybe it wouldn't be possible.
>
> I don't have a copy of Windows XP 64-bit so I didn't try that yet, but I tried
> Windows 2000 and played some Half Life 2 and it worked as well as could be
> expected with 512MB and GeForce 4 4200 64MB. I didn't really play it before on
> my old hardware though so I don't know what the difference is.
>
> Hmm, I guess I didn't really need an upgrade...............
>
> Oh well, having USB2 ports instead of USB is nice for my MP3 player, and the
> onboard audio is better than the SB Audigy (that would randomly change hardware
> address and Windows would have to redetect it every other boot-up... I don't
> want flaky hardware in my PC. The SBLive does the same shit on a different
> mobo, must be Creative).
>

I'm STILL Rick James, bitch

> Mine:
> Athlon64 3200+ Socket 754 (was cheaper)
> Gigabyte K8NS Pro
> 60GB boot and 250GB data HDs (both Maxtor)
> 1GB PC3200
> Radeon 9700 Pro All-in-Wonder

Nice system, how is the All-in-Wonder, is there a ton of software you need to install just to be able to watch TV or do 3rd party apps work just with the drivers installed? I've got a TV Wonder which is pretty decent but I wish I had something with component inputs.

Hmm the 754 wasn't cheaper for me, except I could have gotten a cheaper mobo. But if I went 754 I would have actually gotten a more expensive one, the ABit one with Guru which dynamically overclocks your CPU (a friend has one, overclocks his Sempron 3000+ from 1800 to 1950). Now there's an ASUS one that does the same in the BIOS without the need for OS software, sweet, wish I had that. But the Athlon 64 939 has a locked multiplier, so I don't know what kind of performance I could have really gotten out of it and how much tolerance the AGP has. Another thing I could have done was gotten PCI Express but I felt the upgrade was kind of unneccessary as it was and didn't want to have to buy a new video card as well so I got AGP. I just care about a CPU upgrade, and besides, video card onboard RAM is sufficient and there's no real need to swap to system memory constantly so AGP is fine for now even if I want a new card. I would have gotten more RAM too but my RAM usage is ~200MB at startup (0MB swap used) and doesn't really get that high, so I could put it off.

> There are things that aren't common knowledge about vid cards and
> mobos. The Radeon requires a large inital amperage load to operate
> correctly, and the power supply/mobo isn't giving it. The system doesn't
> even start up with that card installed. I've ordered another PS
> and hope it will.

That's too bad. A friend got a GeForce 6600 and it has a standard connector on it for additional power from the PSU, crazy. I don't need to raise my electric bill. Speaking of which the Athlon 64 compares very well to the Athlon XP for heat but power usage is 50% more (89 watts)... I'm doing fine with my 360w PSU though.

> The Gigabyte K8NS mobos are particular about the type of RAM they
> use. I have 2x512MB DDRs installed. I took them out and installed
> a 1x1GB DDR. Both reported 1GB installed. When I put them together
> (in any combination), only 1GB shows. Dammit. I returned 1GB to Newegg
> for a refund. Everything else rocks though.

Crazy... I think it's better to have 2xWhatever, since you can have that dual channel memory access.

The s939 athlon multiplier can be changed you can lower it from x11 (I think thats it's default) down to something like x4 because of that Cool’n’Quiet™ stuff. Checkout this nice little program http://www.cpuheat.wz.cz/html/main.htm

Took me a while to workout I had to change windows powerprofiles to get Cool'n'Quite to work. You'd think they'd mention shit like that in the manual!