amd questions

i'm trying to weigh in differences between an amd or pentium for a new computer and have seen a couple of things that need calrifying.i want to build something reasonably priced, but upgradeable in order to keep the technology gap down to a continent away versus a whole planet. i've always built pentium systems but i really want to see how an athlon system will hold up.

first of all....i would like feedback on the NFORCE2 and KT400 chipsets, i would like clarification on 8x agp and agp pro (as seen on p4 boards), power supply recommendations (because i hear they're finicky), and video card recommendations (because i heard some issues with gforce cards and amd systems not playing well together).

any help would be appreciated.

>>i would like feedback on the NFORCE2 and KT400 chipsets,

The nForce2 world is finally settling down after some driver updates and BIOS flashes, but there are still some growing pains. The KT400 world is still up in the air because it was pressed into action before the standards committee finalized the specs. When they do, you'll see KT400A chipsets.

>>i would like clarification on 8x agp and agp pro (as seen on p4 boards),

8x agp is so much eyewash, no card on the market can exploit 4x speeds, what more 8x. Some of the newer cards are 8x-compatible but don't run anywhere near 8x speeds.

>>power supply recommendations (because i hear they're finicky),

As always, buy a quality PSU, like Antec or Enermax.

>>and video card recommendations (because i heard some issues with gforce cards and amd systems not playing well together).

Right now the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro is the top performer and most compatibility issues are mostly "self inflicted" :D nVidia just announced its GF/FX to much consternation amoungst enthusiasts. Search this site for comments, :D

AGP 8x and AGP pro are two different things. AGP 8x refers to the AGP protocol being used. Right now it isn't offering anything but small to no gains over AGP 4x. AGP pro is a type of AGP socket. You have AGP pro 50 and 110. These sockets are slightly longer than standard AGP slots, and are designed to feed extra power to cards that need it. These are usually professional grade cards.

The nForce2 chipset has proven be to much better than the original nForce, and right now has shown to be faster than KT400, as well as being extremely stable. nForce2 is the current chipset of choice among most enthusiests. Part of the reason for this is the dual channel DDR support, as well as the fact that PCI/AGP busses can be locked at their speced speeds, even when altering the FSB. This is possible because the clock generator for these busses are part of the soughtbridge chipset, rather than an external clock generator. As such the clock generation for PCI/AGP are kept indpendent of the FSB clock generation. This is a major help for those that overclock.

A good power supply is always recommended, regardless of whether you use an Intel or AMD chip. Good, clean, well regulated power is a must for todays power hungry processors. Antec and Enermax are among the most widely used. Just take a look at my sig. All that hardware is being run on a 300W Antec PSU. It is because of the quality of that unit that I am able to get all that hardware to work on a unit that is only rated at 300W.

The video card doesn't know what CPU you have. Any issues with the video card would be chipset related, and can happen because of poor chipset design, or implementation by the mobo maker. This isn't an AMD system issue. Right now the nForce2 boards are not having any problems with any cards, from any manufacturer, even in AGP 8x mode. There are some know issues with SiS chipsets for the P4 and some ATi cards.

thanks for the help....i'm pricing out my new amd system at the time of this post.

later