New Gaming Rig - Review Please

Stellar

Stellar

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 29, 2003
Messages
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AMD Athlon 64 3700+ Processor (San Diego) Socket 939 Retail ***Free 2nd Day***
Zalman CNPS7000B-ALCU Pure Copper CPU Cooler Retail ***Free 2nd Day***
Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra Athlon 64(FX) Skt939 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail ***Free 2nd Day***
Corsair VS1GBKIT400 1GB Kit DDR400 PC3200 CAS2.5 Value Select Memory Retail *** Free 2nd Day ***
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3200826AS 200GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer ***Free 2nd Day***
Sapphire Radeon X850 XT PCI Express 256MB DDR3 Video Card w/HDTV-Out & DVI ***Free 2nd Day***
Antec TruePower 2.0 TP-II 430 430W Power Supply Retail ***Free 2nd Day***
CoolerMaster PAC-T01-EK Praetorian Aluminium Mid Tower Case (Black) Retail

SubTotal $1323.94

..reusing my 8x DVD-RW and Audigy 2.

This will not be an overclocked system. Going for quiet and stability this time around. Needs to at least push all my current and future games at 1600x1200 for the 20.1" LCD I'm buying.

Also, suggestions for a 4-channel fan controller? Sunbeam? Nexus?
 
Brando457 said:
looks good to me want to buy me one :)
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Win I hit the lottery, I'll buy everyone an SLI rig. Then I'll invite everyone over to my place for a LAN party in my psuedo-playboy grotto.
 
You might not want to invest in a top of the line video card with the new cores coming out relatively soon. Depending on what you play a Radeon 800XL could suit you very nicely.
 
Craftish said:
You might not want to invest in a top of the line video card with the new cores coming out relatively soon. Depending on what you play a Radeon 800XL could suit you very nicely.
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Far Cry (by far my favorite game) is not playable at 1600x1200 High on an x800XL paired with a faster processor, the 4000+. Even the 850XT dips into the low 30s in some areas at that res. when paired with a 4000+.

Also, I'm ordering this machine on Monday of next week, unless G70 or R520 magically hits the shelves by then and goes for less than MSRP at that, like the card I'm buying, then I'm sticking with my first choice.

I can always trade up when the time comes.
 
Stellar said:
Win I hit the lottery, I'll buy everyone an SLI rig. Then I'll invite everyone over to my place for a LAN party in my psuedo-playboy grotto.
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<3

:)
 
Asus motherboard -> DFI or MSI
Corsair Value -> Crucial (or TwinMOS SP if you're getting the DFI or don't mind getting a Booster)

Predictable, aren't I?
 
ashmedai said:
Asus motherboard -> DFI or MSI
Corsair Value -> Crucial (or TwinMOS SP if you're getting the DFI or don't mind getting a Booster)

Predictable, aren't I?
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Again, not going to be overclocking.
 
True, you could probably get by without the booster. But that's why I said Crucial first. Although my brain still doesn't want to accept the existance of an un-overclocked San Diego.

DFI's not just the best because it whomps everyone else at OC, you know.

If you don't want to go with either of those, there are some nice ones by Foxconn.
 
No overclock,use the stock amd cooler and save $ by not getting an add on cooler. The AMD coolers are pretty quiet,IMO. Maybe get a bigger ANTEC PS like the true 2.0 480 or 500, the choice is excellent but future add ons might need moe power??? Looks good. I have an ASUS A8V and really like it alot! Never had a problem. I have corsair XMS RAM and it runs like silk.
 
magoo said:
No overclock,use the stock amd cooler and save $ by not getting an add on cooler. The AMD coolers are pretty quiet,IMO. Maybe get a bigger ANTEC PS like the true 2.0 480 or 500, the choice is excellent but future add ons might need moe power??? Looks good. I have an ASUS A8V and really like it alot! Never had a problem. I have corsair XMS RAM and it runs like silk.
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I have the stock cooler on my current 3000+ Newcastle and it's a little bit whiny for my tastes. $30 for better heatsink doesn't really bother me. Like I said I'm looking for stability and quiet this time around and I think the Zalman will give me just that.

In fact at this point the only thing concerning me is the noise that will come from the chipset and the x850. I'm considering a Zalman ZF700 AlCu and still looking for a good fan controller that I could possible also hook my chipset fan into to slow it down.

You make a decent point about the PSU, thing is my self-imposed budget was $1300 for this and I'm already over it, so I'm *trying* not to spend *too* much more.
 
TheMostWantedPolishTwin said:
looks bada$$ to me... though I'd get Thermalright XP-120 instead of the Zalman..
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I might if the damn thing didn't cost $50+ w/o a fan.
 
Looks like a nice setup! You might want a little bigger PSU (just in case - for upgrade purposes like adding more HD's), but you should be ok with the 430.
 
CompuDrew said:
Looks like a nice setup! You might want a little bigger PSU (just in case - for upgrade purposes like adding more HD's), but you should be ok with the 430.
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Yeah, I already changed that, since ZZF came down on the 480w and it's only $7.99 more, went with that.

How happy are you with your A8N-e so far?? Is the chipset fan annoying to you?
 
Stellar said:
How happy are you with your A8N-e so far?? Is the chipset fan annoying to you?
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I really like it. I have no complaints about it. Easy to set up and very stable. The fan on mine <knocks on wood> is quiet.
 
If you know how to test for stability when you overclock and your not a nOOb to overclocking then an overclocked system can be just as stable as one thats running at stock speeds.

And you could save quite a bit of money going with a 3200+ Venice and overclocking it. It will also run cooler then the San Diego.
 
burningrave101 said:
If you know how to test for stability when you overclock and your not a nOOb to overclocking then an overclocked system can be just as stable as one thats running at stock speeds.

And you could save quite a bit of money going with a 3200+ Venice and overclocking it. It will also run cooler then the San Diego.
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Stability is relative. I want ROCK SOLID stable and quiet. I'm going to be undervolting all my fans, enabling CnQ, and 5x HTT.

Not to mention, I want to hang on to all my warranties. I want this hardware to last me a while.
 
A good overclocker's system tends to be MORE stable than a "stock" rig, because we do a better job of selecting stable parts in the first place (theoretically) and those of us with our heads screwed on straight tend to mandate an overnight pass in memtest followed by an overnight pass in Prime95 (although there's a couple other programs for stability testing the CPU, that's the most popular). Why go to all this effort building and tweaking a system, when it's going to crash on you randomly, when a few adjustments or reducing the OC by a few MHz will make it completely stable?

HTT actually does very little to influence system performance even over large variations, the idea is to keep the HT multiplier such as to have the resulting speed be near or slightly under 1000. It's one of those "enough bandwidth is enough, any more is meaningless" issues.

And yes, overclocking is a bit addictive...in my case the whole $150 A64 Venice 3000+ kicking the ass of a $500 A64 4000+ at stock kinda influences things.
 
ashmedai said:
A good overclocker's system tends to be MORE stable than a "stock" rig, because we do a better job of selecting stable parts in the first place (theoretically) and those of us with our heads screwed on straight tend to mandate an overnight pass in memtest followed by an overnight pass in Prime95 (although there's a couple other programs for stability testing the CPU, that's the most popular). Why go to all this effort building and tweaking a system, when it's going to crash on you randomly, when a few adjustments or reducing the OC by a few MHz will make it completely stable?

HTT actually does very little to influence system performance even over large variations, the idea is to keep the HT multiplier such as to have the resulting speed be near or slightly under 1000. It's one of those "enough bandwidth is enough, any more is meaningless" issues.

And yes, overclocking is a bit addictive...in my case the whole $150 A64 Venice 3000+ kicking the ass of a $500 A64 4000+ at stock kinda influences things.
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This of course is all YMMV. At this point I'd rather buy my way into gauranteed, warrantied performance.

You guys don't need to explain overclocking to me, I am posting this from a system I built for overclocking. Been there, done that - not the direction I want to take with this new machine. I thought I stated that in the OP?
 
Like I said, we're addicts, it's like talking to a Jehova's Witness or something. They have trouble thinking outside that context. The varying milage doesn't vary very much on Rev. E unless a specific component isn't up to the job and is messing everything up.

Add Epox to my prior list of motherboards now, they're good performers, stable, and towards the lower end of the price range.
 
ashmedai said:
Like I said, we're addicts, it's like talking to a Jehova's Witness or something. They have trouble thinking outside that context. The varying milage doesn't vary very much on Rev. E unless a specific component isn't up to the job and is messing everything up.

Add Epox to my prior list of motherboards now, they're good performers, stable, and towards the lower end of the price range.
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My Epox 8kda3j is plagued with voltage regulation issues. Also the placement of the ATX connector on their entire K8 line is terrible.
 
Stellar said:
My Epox 8kda3j is plagued with voltage regulation issues. Also the placement of the ATX connector on their entire K8 line is terrible.
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Hmm...maybe it's just certain ones. I'll have to look into it further.
 
Pretty nice rig but I'd also agree with a X800 XL, it's the right time for it and I'd add it runs at 68GT levels on most games and runs cooler and quieter then any other current high end gfx, except maybe the new sapphire blizzard ("the" x850 xt).
 
fullgrip said:
ashmedai, :eek: dude did you need to update you DFI bios to fit the venice?
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Two parts to that answer.

You're concerned if you can just plug it in and go I asssume? Answer's that the original BIOS it ships with already can run a Venice just fine so no worries there.

BUT you should flash with a either the 3/10 official or one of the 5/10 beta BIOS images ASAP because they improve a bunch of things.
 
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