HiI am planning my upgrade and just need a little help. Reviewing other posts the AMD Athlon 64 seems like the way to go (based on opinions from this forum).On this side of the planet there's less than $100 between the AMD64-3400 and the AMD64-3500 but the 3500 uses the 939 socket whereas the 3400 uses the 754 socket. So which of the two is the better buy? Is one socket better the the other either in terms of future upgrades or performence?

Well Socket 939 is a bit more future proof depending on how you view it. Me I most often upgrade mainboard and CPU at the same time depends a bit on how often you upgrade.But the 3400+ Clawhammer keeps up and quite often surprass the 3500+ so it

Hi ParI am glad I asked for help. I see now how interdependent all of these things are. It did not occur to me to assess the impact of the Video card in my planning.Thanks for your help

There is a 3400+ S939 for the same price as a 3400+ S754, so either way I would go for the S939 version.

what 3400+ 939 is that a new model?

Hi KurtJust checked again with two suppliers here and the 3400+ is only supplied on the 754 socket (at least in NZ that I can find). The 3400+ on a 754 Socket makes a fairly attractive option from a cost point of view (around $NZ430 say $US300).

That must be brand new if it available anywhere it has to be US I think.The only company that ships internationally from there is www.magnum-pc.com I think. Excellent store btw may be cheaper too though freight to NZ will of course be an issue I guess :).

>Hi Kurt>>Just checked again with two suppliers here and the 3400+ is>only supplied on the 754 socket (at least in NZ that I can>find). The 3400+ on a 754 Socket makes a fairly attractive>option from a cost point of view (around $NZ430 say $US300).> New Zealand would probably be why, I just noticed it on a Canadian site about a week ago (Tigerdirect.ca) and did read on Tomshardware.com that the 3200+ and 3400+ were going to come as S939 at the same price. Could be a while before New Zealand may get it though, not sure how quick you guys get stuff compared to the US and Canada.

Just note that they are not the same. Socket 939 CPU:s have 512 kb cache and the Socket 754 1 mb.Socket 939 has dual channel Socket 754 not. Also check clock speed of course. If it

Well the 3400+ and 3500+ regardless of socket (i.e. 754 or 939) are all clocked at 2.2ghz (on the ones they sell here) and they are within $100 of each other so the choice really comes down to motherboard.Whilst the 939 probably has a better future, the LanParty 754 board is appealing. If I go with the 3500+ 939 then I need to find a m/b that is as flexible as the DFI LanParty. Currently we only have 3 m/b choices for Socket 939 (ASUS,MSI and Gigabyte) so the choice is limited.Too much choice...

The Newcastle 3400 is clocked at 2.4Ghz, while the Clawhammer 3400 is clocked at 2.2. Just FYI.

Mike.I dwelt long and hard on the issue before chosing the slightly faster 3700 socket 754. The reason is the cache is bigger on the 754 chips than the 939 chips and in my view makes more difference to performance than dual channel memory. I did not bother with future proofing as I took the view that in a couple of years time when I upgrade again it will all be obselete anyway.RegardsHoward

Good Point Howard and one that has not escaped me. This kit is made obsolete so quickly nowadays that it perhaps does not pay to plan too far into the future anyway.The 3700+ is still quite expensive downunder but I am coming to the same conclusion about the 754 socket. It also provides greater scope in m/board selection. I have had such great feedback to this question and it has made the job of choosing much easier. Having decided on the socket its just a matter of choosing the CPU speed that is within my budget.

Thanks PrestonAll of the 3400+ on my supplier lists are showing only 2.2ghz so they must be the Clawhammer. I could not find any 3400 at 2.4ghz only the 3700, 3800 and the FX-53 are at that speed and at twice the price!

Yes but how is the 939 3400+ clocked? Anyway you can say the newcastle have a 200 mhz disadvantage even if that is not always true of course. But if you overclock the clock speed differential do get smaller even if Newcastle do clock a bit higher due to less cache.Also of note is that Newcastle generally run at 2T command rate. I am not sure you can run 1T on all newcastle or 939 A64:s.On my Clawhammer I gain more from running IT and clocking it a bit lower then maxing the CPU clock and run 2T.May sound like greek but it