New build for Late June - My first custom build - AM2 Build

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maverick777

Gawd
Joined
Jun 5, 2006
Messages
540
Hello everyone. I posted a build awhile back and decided to go with an AM2 build. Let me know how it looks. I'm going to pass on Conroe, so no intel suggestions please.

Case: Coolermaster Stacker 830 (I love this case)
Mobo: Asus M2N32-Sli (I really like the look, and it's the best AM2 SLI board out IMO)
CPU: AM2 4000+ (hoping to upgrade to k8l when it comes out)
Heatsink: Zalman 9500 AM2 version (gotta love that chrome. wish it had a red LED though)
Ram: 2gb OCZ Platinum DDR-800 (will upgrade to 4gb in August, is that overkill?)
PSU: Aerocool Zerodba (going with this because it's very quite and is very stable)
GPU: eVGA 7900GT (going to buy a 2nd one in August)
Heatsink: Zalman vf-900 (would be awesome if they came out with a chrome version to match the 9500 :D)
HDD: 1x 74gb Raptor, 1x 320 WDD 16mb Cache (will buy a 2nd raptor in August)
DVD: Sony 16x Dual-Layer
Keyboard: MS Natural 4000
Thermal Compound: AS5
Fans: 4x Scythe 120mm 1200rpm w/ Fluid Dynamic bearings

Budget: ~$1800
Games: Oblivion, CS:S, Fear, Farcry, NFS Most Wanted, GTA San Andreas
Apps: PS CS, Illustrator CS

I know I'm taking a hit going with Nvidia for Oblivion, but I don't really like crossfire implementations. I want the build to be very quite, hence the 120mm fans and quite components. I know I'm taking a hit on some performance due to some of the components I chose but I like their looks : ) and low noise (Zalman 9500, VF-900, Zeroba).

Does anyone here have the M2N32-SLI? I curious about the Ram compatibility. Some reviews stated problems.
 
Hey, I would provide an opinion but I am also doing my first custom build soon using AM2. I look forward to seeing how your build goes! Do you plan on overclocking at all?
 
Why not go for the X1900XT? When it gets too slow, you can sell it for ~$275-$300 and get the next card for $100-$150.

The 9500 AM2 is a nice cooler, but very pricey. IIRC it performs the same as the 9500 for S939. The Scythe Mine cools about as well as the Scythe Ninja when a fan is used, and the Ninja performs significantly better than the 9500 when it comes to silent cooling. Reference

Yate Loon D12SL-12 fans are $4 ($3.50 for 3 or more) at Jab-tech so you can save a bit here; they're about the same as Nexus fans but they run at a higher speed at 12V. Undervolt them if you need to.

4GB of memory is definitely overkill for Photoshop.
 
I don't plan on doing anything wild and crazy with overclocking. The M2N32 board isn't really as friendly for overclockers. If you plan on doing that, I'd suggest waiting for a DFI board.
 
I'm definately looking into the Yate Loon D12SL-12's. As for why I'm going with Nvidia, I'm getting an SLI mobo, so there's one reason. I don't like crossfire setups because it's messy and noisy. Power consumption becomes pretty important when running a crossfire setup with 2 x1900 series cards. x1900xt's are also about $50-100 more than a 7900gt at his point. So other than Obilivion, I think the Nvidia cards will do fine.

Getting the 9500 for the looks. It should cool even better than the old 9500 since the bottom is completely flat now (old one was slightly curved due to the manufacturing process). I did look at the Scythe but I just don't like the way it looks. And I'm sure cooling won't be a problem since I'm getting a 35watt 3800+ :D

I was thinking about getting 4gb of ram because of Windows Vista and upcoming games like Crysis. But I may just wait until December to make that decision.
 
maverick777 said:
I'm definately looking into the Yate Loon D12SL-12's. As for why I'm going with Nvidia, I'm getting an SLI mobo, so there's one reason. I don't like crossfire setups because it's messy and noisy. Power consumption becomes pretty important when running a crossfire setup with 2 x1900 series cards. x1900xt's are also about $50-100 more than a 7900gt at his point. So other than Obilivion, I think the Nvidia cards will do fine.
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I never said anything about Crossfire. Is it really that important to go with 2 cards? It's just more hassle, and at best, you pay out the same in the end as going single card.
 
I'll take the x1900xt into consideration as I get closer t ordering if the price comes down a little. As for Conroe, there's several reasons why I'm not waiting.
1. I'm buying at the end of this month so Conroe won't be out in time
2. Intel vs. AMD doesn't really matter too much when you run games at higher resolution with everything turned up.
3. Eventually AMD will catchup to Intel should the time come when CPU performance actually affects my gaming experience.
4. There are no SLI mobos for Conroe currently out so that I could just buy a cheap Pentium D and wait.

So unless an awesome mobo w/ sli for Conroe comes out by the end of this month, I'm not going to consider Conroe an option.
 
As we've continually seen during the past couple of years, AMD's Athlon 64 and X2 processors are the best of the best, but even within the family you'll still want to opt for something faster than an Athlon 64 3500+ in order to make good use of any high end GPU.
Click to expand...

So, looks like the AM2 4000+ is a fine choice as long as its going to be Athlon. :)
 
zyonuf79 said:
So, looks like the AM2 4000+ is a fine choice as long as its going to be Athlon. :)
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Well, the scaling for the X1900XT is so non-steep (gentle?) that it practically doesn't exist. It's only when you get two of them that the CPU becomes a bottleneck.
 
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