Athlon64 2800+ smart or not

[ufuk21p]

Is it smart to buy an athlon64 2800+, how long will this socket last, and how does s 939 gaming compare with s 754, say 3700+ vs 3800+, I can afford a 2800+ and say if I wanted to upgrade later (1.5 year tops), can I upgrade to 3700+ without paying a fortune. I don't want to risk not finding a 3700+ on the market when I look for it. btw. I dont want Intel Prescott cus i've seen one and it was too loud, and s 478 stops at 3.4-3.6 GHz as I heard.
Thanx for replies.

[Yawgm0th]

Socket 754 might not go past 3700 at all. It certainly won't go far. Socket 939 is the intended socket for desktop Athlon 64s. That said, getting a 2800 system and later upgrading to a 3700 is still an okay idea, if you're on a tight budget. If you have over $1000 and are trying to build a gaming system, socket 939 is the best choice. If you are building a gaming system and have a budget, than socket 754 is probably the best choice. Going with Intel would leave slightly better upgrading options, but less bang-for-buck in the long run.

In terms of performance, the model numbers pretty much say it all. I remember from the reviews that either the 3700 or the 3800 was rated slightly above how it actually performed, but I can't remember which. :D Go check out my thread in the Processors section for more regarding this.

In terms of price, the 3700 is very expensive. It's currently priced around $700. However, that will drop to an acceptable level by the time you want to upgrade.

When it comes down to it, it all depends on what you're buying (whole system, just mobo + CPU, etc.) and how much money you have.

[wayout44]

Socket 754 should be around for sometime to come but it's now positioned as a budget solution which will eventually turn into a 32-bit platform (the 3700+ will be the fastest 64-bit CPU released for this platform according to AMD and then 32-bit CPU's using a different rating system will take over as a Duron replacement) where as the socket 939 is the mainstream 64-bit platform and socket 940 the 64-bit enterprise platform.
These should remain like this at least until the K9 series processors are released.

P4 are now becoming socket 775 based which according to Intel should ramp to about 4GHz but these will be very hot suckers.

[ufuk21p]

is there by any chance that AMD will start to produce s 754 cpus (athlon64 specifically) based on 0.09 micron rather than 0.13 micron cores.
Btw, I agree that for a platform not intended for future use for the enthusiast the 3700+ is a very expensive processor.

[Gammit]

I'd go with the socket 939, as it seems to have a better future for updrading.