04-10-2006, 06:21 PM
Upgrading doesn't have to mean going to brand new technology. Going from an athlon 64 3000+ now to an X2 or a dual core opteron will be a significant upgrade in a year or two, particularly when games start appearing that actually take advantage of multiple processor cores.
And in terms of socket 939 being dead: I can still purchase new in the box processors for socket A motherboards. Socket 939 may not have new processors developped in the future, but they'll be available for years and years. And the current top end 939 processors will be better than the low end of socket 940 or M2 which will be out in a few months.
I agree about the quality of the power supply, but I'm confident 350 watts can be enough, provided we're not talking about high end systems and the quality of the PS is sufficient. I played with the PS calculator linked to earlier in this thread, and with a dual core opteron, 9800 Pro AIW, two hard drives, two DVD burners, 2 gigs of RAM, etc., it only suggested more than 350 watts if the processor load was near 100%. The system Deebye is buying, even with a dual core processor and second hard drive added, should be fine with his power supply. Just like Deebye, I've heard great things about the reliability and quality of antec PS's.
gekko
And in terms of socket 939 being dead: I can still purchase new in the box processors for socket A motherboards. Socket 939 may not have new processors developped in the future, but they'll be available for years and years. And the current top end 939 processors will be better than the low end of socket 940 or M2 which will be out in a few months.
I agree about the quality of the power supply, but I'm confident 350 watts can be enough, provided we're not talking about high end systems and the quality of the PS is sufficient. I played with the PS calculator linked to earlier in this thread, and with a dual core opteron, 9800 Pro AIW, two hard drives, two DVD burners, 2 gigs of RAM, etc., it only suggested more than 350 watts if the processor load was near 100%. The system Deebye is buying, even with a dual core processor and second hard drive added, should be fine with his power supply. Just like Deebye, I've heard great things about the reliability and quality of antec PS's.
gekko
"Life is sacred and you are not its steward. You have stewardship over it but you don't own it. You're making a choice to go through this, it's not just happening to you. You're inviting it, and in some ways delighting in it. It's not accidental or coincidental. You're choosing it. You have to realize you've made choices."
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"