It's not worth the trouble to use a s939 mobo for a new computer, unless you already have the components. At least get an AM2 or newer.

I used to be a big 939 fan. My opinion? It's not worth fixing a broken one these days- not when you can get a "budget" AM2+/ AM3 platform for peanuts, that'l run rings around any 939.

sgt76 wrote:

I used to be a big 939 fan. My opinion? It's not worth fixing a broken one these days- not when you can get a "budget" AM2+/ AM3 platform for peanuts, that'l run rings around any 939.

I'm actually a fan of the s754/s939 platform myself. I kinda see them as a souped-up 64-bit Athlon XP with many boards supporting SATA-2 and some even PCI-E.
I've even got 2 rigs atm and both are working great!
But as much as I like them, it's not worth building one from scratch at this time. Parts are too 'weak' compared to what AM3 has to offer atm and it's usually not cheap.
Also s754/s939 come with a couple other issues, like many of the VIA SATA-1 southbridges not working with SATA-2 drives and a couple other chipsets that were troublesome (like the NF chipsets).

And as good as AM2 was (or is), since they have a much worse upgrade path (DDR2 getting more expensive relatively to DDR3, AM2 chips not working in AM3 boards and AM3 boards being priced similar to AM2) it's not worth getting an AM2 system from scratch either.

Maybe in 5 to 10 years when s754/s939/AM2 can be considered 'retro/vintage' it would be more fun rebuilding a rig like this 😉

There are a few points to rebuilding:

1) Total costs should be a tiny fraction of a new system
2) You only need to replace 1 or 2 parts- and caveat 1) above applies
3) Your exepctations are in line with what you have at hand- meaning don't expect 980x performance from a s478 system that you pulled out of the neighbour's garbage
4) and this is important (to me at least)- you are not wasteful by nature and want to help the planet by not dumping your toxic trash into landfills- go green!
5) You don't care for the never-ending cycle of upgrades and are perfectly happy with what your build can (or cannot) do

so in this case, if I was the OP I would rebuild only if the only missing part was the mobo. I would resist all temptations to get a dual core- you wouldn't feel much difference anyway. I've had both single and dual A64s (3000+, LE-1600, 5200, 6000) - the singles keep up with the duallies for most things and by the time they don't, the application probably demands something more than the entire platform can deliver.

I would resist all temptations to get a dual core- you wouldn't feel much difference anyway.

I have to strongly disagree with that statement. I have never found that to be true... even back before multiprocessing systems became commonplace, I have always seen a huge difference between the two. Back then, it didn't affect single application performance that much, but multitasking and overall system responsiveness was like night and day. The difference is much more pronounced now that multithreaded software is the norm, so that single applications do get a significant boost from multiple cores.

Tetrium wrote:

He could sell the DDR1 to generate some extra cash.

I could do that, but I doubt I could get a good deal, even though it's one the fastest DDR's around:

GSKILL F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX
DDR-400 PC 3200 2GB(1GB x 2)
CL 2-3-2-5
2.6~2.75Volts

Tetrium wrote:

And my suggestion was to go for AM3 dual core. Those can be had for like €40
nowdays, 3Ghz

But that means mobo + ram + cpu and possibly a new PSU? I know my Enermax Liberty 400w is good (up
to 440w real power) but I don't think it's that good (I wish...).

RogueTrip2012 wrote:

Go for that Conroe865PE so you can use your DDR1 and AGP card. Buy a cheap dual-core, save your pennies and buy a Quad-core as soon as you can for it.

Now that's smart thinkin'! Don't over reach but instead maximize your investment to its full extent.

RogueTrip2012 wrote:

Then for the love of god go buy a monitor that can atleast do 1280x1024 (surprised your 17" can't do this res, or can it?) or 1600x1200, even.

My old Samsung SyncMaster 757MB can handle all that and beyond, but to my eyes anything above 1024x768 is really small and I don't like sitting real close to a CRT. Though I'd love to buy an LCD, I'm not sure how they handle REALLY fast games plus hate ghosting and other "groovy" effects. Problem with LCD's is of the native res is really high then you gotta have a really powerfull machine to go with.

sgt76 wrote:

5) You don't care for the never-ending cycle of upgrades and are perfectly happy with what your build can (or cannot) do

That's exactly my philosophy! It explains why I had an Athlon XP 2500 (OC'd to 3200) on a ABIT NF7-S rev 2.0 for so long...

I've turned to Intel but I still need help, as the last Intel CPU I had was a Pentium 3 @ 1GHz...

CPU: Intel Core2Duo E6600 2.4Ghz (65nm)

Mobo (here's the challenge):

ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0

ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA

ASROCK 775i65G REV 2.0

ASUS P5PE-VM MICRO ATX

ASRock ConRoe865PE (can't find it in Europe, gotta keep shipping costs to a minimum)

Didn't have much time to investigate as much as I'd like, but work is chaotic, hence the really late feedback.

Do any other board manufacturers have similar solutions?

I was thinking maybe MSI or Gigabyte.

What do you guys think it's the best choice?

Have you checked how much these parts will set you back?

I've used the asrock 4core-dual boards:

- They hold their prices well on ebay in the uk. But you can get one cheap if you are prepared to wait. Cheap as in £15-20.

- They use a via chipset but we have never had trouble with it, it's used pretty much 24/7.

- They are socket 775 so will take single core if you want, or dual/quad core eg q6600 iirc. Btw I completely agree with old thrashbarg's comments on single vs multi, from experience moving from a p4 single core 2.6 to a lowly e4400.

- Having agp and pci-e was a godsend when setting up the box for cheap, and again when the graphics card fan failed and killed the card. Easy to find a spare in the cupboard.

- I think the pci-e may be 4x not 16x, if that matters.

Tetrium wrote:

Have you checked how much these parts will set you back?

One of the following motherboards:

ASROCK 4COREDUAL-VSTA -> 48£

ASUS P5PE-VM MICRO ATX -> 43£

ASROCK 775I65G REV 2.0 -> from 45€ to 52£

Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 REV.2.0 -> from 64€ to 49£

And the CPU:

Intel Core2Duo E6600 2.4Ghz -> depends if I win on some bidding item or not...

All prices with shipping included. May get less on bidding items...

Which motherboard should I get? Stable, reliable and with some OC potential is the goal...

^^
I also have one of the 775Dual-VSTA boards (yeah, I pretty much have one of every weird Asrock board), but I didn't recommend it since I haven't had particularly good luck with mine. Mine developed a weird issue where it'd start making a squealing noise and hard freeze at random times. The PCIe slot (which is indeed 4X) is a bit picky about which cards will work, too.

A note about the 775i65G, I've heard good things about that one, it's pretty much the mATX version of the Conroe865PE, plus onboard graphics. But be aware, it doesn't support any of the Core2 processors out of the box, so if you don't get one that was already flashed with a newer BIOS, you will have to use a P4 chip to boot it and upgrade the BIOS... a bit inconvenient if you don't happen to have a S775 P4 laying around.

Also read some interesting things about the 775i65G and the feedback was really good.

About having old S775 P4's at hand... Should be no problem as I have plenty of those available at work (EOL PC's just stacked up against a wall). 😁

njaydg wrote:

Also read some interesting things about the 775i65G and the feedback was really good.

About having old S775 P4's at hand... Should be no problem as I have plenty of those available at work (EOL PC's just stacked up against a wall). 😁

s775 EOL? Stacked against the wall like junk?
Man...time sure flies fast, unbelievable 🤣!

Bear in mind... They're mostly Pentium 4's with 512MB of RAM so not much use for production environment.

Guess I'll be borrowing one of those CPU's for testing/flashing the motherboard (as soon as I get it).

It's stuff like this that make me think I'm getting old... 🤣

[UPDATE: 06/02/11]

Just finished buying my new old hardware:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 + Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7

ASRock 775i65G R2.x

Hope I made a good deal... I'll let you all know when the stuff arrives and after I've done some proper testing with it. 😀