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General discussion

Difference between socket 754 and 939?

Mar 24, 2005 7:15PM PST

Hey guys,

I'm purchasing a new computer but i'm upgrading the motherboard and processor. And soon enough I realised that there is either socket 754 or 939 for motherboards and CPUs. I understand that they need to be both the same sockets but what is the difference between these two sockes..?

The processor = AMD Athlon 64 Bit 3500 Socket 939 or 754 with Fan

The motherboard = Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP nForce 3 Chipset .... and that comes in both 754 and 939.

939 is more expensive, i'm guessing it's the better one. Thanks guys, any answers will be appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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Re: Difference between socket 754 and 939?
Mar 24, 2005 9:38PM PST

The main difference is the memory interface where the 754 is 64 bits wide and the 939 is 128 bits wide. You can see more here:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_9485_9487%5E10248,00.html

Based on that the 939 socket will perform faster in terms of memory bandwidth. If you are doing memory intensive computing then opt for the 939. If the applications you are running are hitting the hard drive a lot i.e. video capture/editing then you may not see as big of a difference. I did read on Tom's Hardware that they thought the 754 socket would be phased out and recommended that if you had the money to opt for the 939. Not sure on this as they (AMD) released a Sempron for the 754 socket. I went with the 754 3000+ to run my linux server at home. I may turn it into a Freevo/Myth box at some point but the memory bandwidth wasnt really an issue for me.

-Dan

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What about..
Mar 24, 2005 10:23PM PST

Thanks for the help. I found links to a lot of PDF files concerning my issue.

And is the extra money worth it for upgrading from a 3000 to a 3500? I will be buying it with the system (swapping the 3000 with a 3500), not buying afterwards and then installing. So that way i'll save time and money.

And the motherboard (stated the model upgrade on the first post I made)... is that a worthy upgrade?