Motherboard/CPU comparison

[Eli_1]

I'm trying to build a little gaming computer. I don't need it to be a top-of-the-line-uber-computer, I just want something I can play Counter-Strike with a nice framerate.

Here's the two motherboards/CPUs I'm looking at:
---------------------------------
Motherboard #1:
Shuttle - nVIDIA nForce2 chipset - Socket A ATX Motherboard - 3 RAM sockets - 333MHz Frontside bus - AGP 8x/4x.

CPU:
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ OR 2800+ OR 3000+, all with a 333MHz Frontside bus - Socket A.


Motherboard #1:
Soyo - Intel chipset - Socket 478 ATX Motherboard - 3 RAM sockets - Dual Channel support - AGP 8x/4x - 400MHz/533MHz/800MHz Frontside bus.

CPU:
Intel Pentium 4 2.4Ghz / 512k Cache / 800Mhz FSB / Socket 478 / HyperThreading

-------------------------
Here's the specs and prices on those.
Motherboard #1
CPU #1
Motherboard #2
CPU #2
------------------------------------

Which one of those do you think will get me "the most bang for my buck", for gaming?

[effect]

dont get a chipset.

[Yoni]

dont get a chipset.

wtf?

And for a gaming computer, get AMD.
A video card is extremely important for gaming computers as well.

Counter-Strike? You can play that with nice framerates on 3+ year old computers.

[effect]

What do u mean "WTF" Chipsets fucking suck

[Yoni]

Oh yeah, RAM sucks too. Don't get any.

[Grok]

Get the one with dual channel RAM capability.  DDR screams.

[cefx-]

Grok is right.
Get the one with dual channel ability.
nForce2 is nice, since it's like having a decent soundcard...

Your best bet, money wise, is AMD.

[hismajesty]

Your best bet, money wise, is AMD.

And performance.

[Eli_1]

Ah, cefx, you're contradicting yourself. You tell me to get the one with Dual Channel support, (which only suppots P4 CPUs) then you say to get the one which supports AMD CPUs.

The main problem I'm having is understanding frontside bus speed. Why is it the one with lower frontside bus 333MHz - AMD) will provide better performance than the one with 800MHz FSB (Pentium 4)?

[Stealth]

They should both support DDR RAM - that's fairly standard on modern motherboards..

[Eli_1]

They both support DDR. I was led to believe Dual Channel Memory and DDR were two different things.

[Yoni]

Ah, cefx, you're contradicting yourself. You tell me to get the one with Dual Channel support, (which only suppots P4 CPUs) then you say to get the one which supports AMD CPUs.

I was looking at motherboards a week or so ago and I thought that too, but I discovered it's wrong.
There are AMD boards that support dual channel DDR. For instance, see the Gigabyte GA-7N400-L board.
http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_GA-7N400-L.htm

About the FSB, that's the speed the CPU communicates with the RAM.
In games, this won't matter much, since the game code will be mostly kept in the L2 cache and the game data will be mostly kept in the video RAM (so you communicate with the AGP port, not the main RAM). So for games, you can allow yourself to get AMD's lower FSB of 333MHz (or 400MHz in some processors).
In memory-intensive applications, this will matter and Intel would be a better idea.

Stealth is right: 5 years ago RAM was regular SDRAM - then RDRAM and DDR started being offered, around the same time. Intel played around with RDRAM for a while, but it was expensive and Rambus were idiots, so it practically no longer exists. All new systems today use with DDR.

Edit: Added link for motherboard.

Edit 2:

They both support DDR. I was led to believe Dual Channel Memory and DDR were two different things.

They are. DDR stands for "double data rate" (full name: DDR SDRAM), it's basically a faster version of SDRAM.
Dual channel memory means you can put in two sticks of RAM, and the CPU will be able to access them in parallel, at the same time.
Not all boards that support DDR support dual channel memory.

[effect]

Oh yeah, RAM sucks too. Don't get any.

right....

[Eli_1]

Thanks a lot, Yoni. That was exactly what I was looking for. I typed the model number of the board you linked me too at TigerDirect, and came up with this.
Click me or die!
Four RAM sockets, all supporting Dual Channel Memory. And the price tag seems reasonable. I've never built a computer before, $116 for a motherboard like that isn't a bad deal is it?

Oh yeah, RAM sucks too. Don't get any.

right....

You missed it, he was making fun of you.

* Eli_1 does the it's-way-over-your-head-with-airplane-sound-effects move

[effect]

Oh really is that what he was doing? i wouldnt of guessed , cause its not like we are at the most flame filled forum there ever was.

doonkoph.

I dont care either way , stick with your crappy chipset and i hope it blows up on you.