Yeah..it's hard to believe than anyone buying the latest Dual Core on socket 939 has less than 6 months left as the "Top Gun" AMD Platform.

Does this realy matter to the average reader at PR? Not realy, but I like to look at the LS-7 Vette or new Shelby Mustang and dream...

Eventually, tommorows high end will be todays bargain bin special, so I like to stay on top of whats comin down the pipe.

Looking at AMD's 2006 roadmap, in April the 5000+ X-2 (3ghz) will arive on the brand spanking new M-2 socket that will be using DDR-2 667

To be King of the Hill, your current Motherboard, Memory and X-2 CPU will all have to go on EBAY, but at least that pair of 600$ high end PCIE Express video card will carry over

The realy sad part though, is I don't think it will be much of a performance boost judging by a slight performance difference (Sometimes slower!) on width hungry P-4 made the switch to 533DDR-2.

It's also worth mentioning that Sata 2 HD's are allready out, and NVIDA has SLI-2 on the way...

I kinda laughed at the Intel Dual Core when I found out it had to have a new Motherboard!

I remember thinking how kewl it was when I found out you could upgrade your regular 939 AMD to a dual core CPU without changing a thing... but AMD was just delaying the inevitable.

It seemed that it was just yeserday socket 939 arrived in volume, the true form of what AMD 64 was supposed to be. The initial relase of socket 940 and the FX-51 was a bomb because it required Server type ECC memory, wich was expensive, and did not have good timings or Overclocking ability

The most common upgrade AMD-64 for the consumer was socket 754, wich was castrated at launch by a buggy non PCI locking NF-3 150 chipset, and only using single channel memory, but it was still quite a bit faster than a dual channel Athlon XP.

NF3-250 finally brought that platform to life, but it's time in the sun was cut short by the release of socket 939 NF-4 just a few months later.

I guess all this whining is because I'm realy sad, the last socket Athlon XP rolled out of the factory last month, and during testing last night, my trusty old DFI LP/Mobile 2500+ went to it's grave screaming away at 260x10, after spanking another PR member at 2560MHZ in an informal X-800 vs X-800XL 3DMARK 05 Overclocking shootout

Last Hurrah
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=1143625

Yep..dunno what happened..just quit, the board LED's come on when the power supply is turned on, hit the power button and the CPU fan moves a hair, but then stops.

Did all the usual trouble shooting..different memory, vid card, power supply...Nada, That leaves the CPU or Motherboard, I have to tear apart another rig and throw the CPU in to know for sure, but it realy doesn't matter much at this point.

Of all my computer hardware, I treasured this one the most, it was the pinacle of many years of Socket A performance, it was the board I truely honed my OC skills on, overall it was an amazing platform that lasted 5 years with gradual updates along the way.

Socket A
Born-June 2000
http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20000605/index.html

Died-June 2005
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=24544

You will be missed old friend...

soccet A was a truly great platform, I coulden't aford a fast cpu when I built my first pc so I got a 1ghz athlon and it worked in a last generation soccet A board allowing me time to save money for an upgrade.

(I latter fried that chip unfortunatly by forgoing thermal compund when I was using it to test a mobo)

That was a damn good right up Necro, almost brought a tear to my eye.

Socket A will be missed, although eBay will always be your friend

Quote: Originally Posted by Dex That was a damn good right up Necro, almost brought a tear to my eye. Socket A will be missed, although eBay will always be your friend

heh, I look at my NF-7 and in my mind it is still new. Well its one hell of a server now! Nice write up.

Nice article, my AN-7 and moby 2500 is still pumpin out the framerates though on any game out there.
No need to upgrade for me. I upgrade when my FPS can't compete or I can't run any games with full bells and whisltes.
I think I have enough Socket A chips to start a revolution.

I think ill be upgrading my existing socket A rig from a 2200XP to a 3200XP or at least a 2800XP if i can find a suitable deal on eBay.

Mind you, at the moment it keeps up with most new games on med/low settings.

AOpen mobo, 2200XP and a Geforce 4200Ti. Although I have a 939 based system (specs in sig), my socket A and trusty 4200Ti still retain a huge amount of appeal

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro Looking at AMD's 2006 roadmap, in April the 5000+ X-2 (3ghz) will arive on the brand spanking new M-2 socket that will be using DDR-2 667 To be King of the Hill, your current Motherboard, Memory and X-2 CPU will all have to go on EBAY, but at least that pair of 600$ high end PCIE Express video card will carry over

That just means I hafta get a phase change and oc it to 3ghz thats all. I am sorry to hear about your board or cpu. I know how much you loved that thing.

Socket A was a very good platform..Im still on my athlon XP 1800+ (running at 2.2Ghz) Ive gotten to 2.3 and even 2.4 (on air)..but my fans are failing and still say this thing could get to 2.5Ghz or higher if I go to watercooling, better mem (Im on PC2700 now) and a mobo that was a better voltage selection (this can only go up to 1.75..) Before I upgrade to A64, Id see how far I can get this thing before it bites the dust... I have to replace my current case fans though.

You can still however buy the semps and the higher end XP's on newegg.com.

Kinda sucks. If something happens to my cpu or my mobo im going to have to upgrade both to 64bit. A task that I have held off of becuase of the cost and non-standard of it. This was the socket that brought me into the computer world. RIP Socket A!

aww, i really loved the type up it brought a tear to my eye and joy even if im an intel fan i still like AMD as much as i like intel. RIP Socket A
Oh and i was thinking that when i get back to Dubai i will look around in this Pc Shopping Mall has everything u need and build an AMD Socket A system to show how much Socket A has done for us

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It was that pic I saw a while back that stuck in my mind and inspired part of the post..kinda brings a tear to the eye, but I a glad they did it for history's sake.

It so reminded me of the day I read they built the last passenger car Small Block Chevy, and to a slightly lesser degree, but just as sad, the last Big Block...

It was the 1979 Pontiac 6.6 TA optional for the Trans Am, you could only get it with a 4spd, not to be confused with the wimpy 6.6 LITRE that you got punked with by getting the Turbo 350 auto...that got you out 403 cubic inch Small Block, a streched out version of the 350 Olds that was pathetic 185HP, and did not have nearly the potential when tweaked due to weak block that cracked in the main webs and other weak internals when trying to push past the 300-350HP mark.

Overall, the Disco Era 400 Pontiac was considered pretty stout for the smog era, even with the pollution controls and weak 3.23 gearing that realy took the it's toll on performance, out of the box was a laughable 220HP, but Hot Rodders new what that the fat 320 lbs-ft of torque could do to a set of tires!

Quote: This 1979 Trans Am, 400ci Pontiact Engine, with T-Tops, 6.6 Liter, was one of 2917 made that year. All were manual transmission automobiles. Factory, this car had 220 bhp @ 4000 RPM (SAE net) and 320 lbs-ft @ 2800 RPM (SAE net). The tachometer redline is set at 5000 RPM. Estimated original price for this Trans Am was $9143.45. A road test in 1979 produced a zero to 30mph in 2.9 seconds, zero to 60mph in 6.7 seconds. Standing quarter-mile: 15.3 seconds @ 96.6 mph and a top speed at redline of 123mph. 70-0mph: 179feet and an estimated fuel economy of 12 mpg (city).

http://www.ineedanap.net/Cars/1979-tech.html


Just like getting your hands on a "Sleeper " 1.8GHZ Mobile 2500+ wrapped in a Abit NF-7 or DFI LP that could reach into the 2.7+GHZ and 250+ FSB range on air...there was a real high performance engine under the "Screaming Chicken" hood decal if you knew just what to do with it!

A mild tweak of carb jetting and timing got you in the 250HP and 350lb-ft range after you lost the restrictive catlytic converter after putting on that "test pipe" you picked up at the local Auto Parts store

Mid to high14 sec quarter miles times were common, and the speed in the traps would reach into the 100MPH range if you opened up the hole in the back of the shaker scoop

Now add headers and traction bars and sticky street tires you were knocking on the 13 second barrier, but 3.73 gears made sure of it!

The serious guys would blueprint the engine while adding 9 to1 forged pistons, heavy duty rod bolts and shotpeening, some internal oiling mods and heavy duty oil pump.

Add a 750 holley and an aftermarket aluminumn intake, 450-480 lift 280-290 duration street cam, a recurved HEI distributer (With high output coil and module) sub frame connectors and slicks to rocket you into the low 13 or high 12 second zone while making 350-400HP

It realy took a hardcore guy to get one of these tanks into the 11's, a racers diet of fiberglass and aluminum with the removal of the interior and heavy 5MPH bumpers internal structures would get race weight down from 4000lbs to around 3500LBS.

That in itself was not enough though, 11 to 1 Forged Pistons, Aftermarket Rods, Head Porting, aftermarket 7Qt oil pan, 4.10 gears, aftermarket Ignition and a healthy500-520 lift 300+ duration $Solid$ Lifter Cam (Wich then required an adjustable valvetrain)

These changes were needed garauntee your "Super Star" runs could be done like clockwork at this power level (450-500HP)

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