Planning on new WC PC

[Talisker]

Hi folks...

I spent the last few days reading posts on this forum and was able to get a pretty good overview thanks to all the good input.

I actually intended to buy a Qpack and just built a nice 'lil game PC. Then the thought of OC came to my mind. Last time I played around with OC was with an Athlon 1400+ when those were new on the market... that was apparently a while ago...

After the initial OC thought, the WC thought stopped by , then the wallet walked out on me...*lol*

So, I decided I need a winter project and build a cute WC system with it's custom build case.

Now, I have a few questions..... the first of many...*S*

The Case I build myself...

The CPU:
I'm looking at the 754 and 939 Sockets and try to figure out the best deal....

754
3000 Newcastle 135.-
3200 Clawhammer 139.-
3700 Clawhammer 205.- with free HD

939
3000 Venice 131.-
3200 Venice 152.-
3500 Venice 211.- (BWBox, ASBox, BNBox... What does that mean?)

Seems the 3000 Venice is a popular Chip to OC and with the 939 ready to be further upgraded)

The Clawhammers seem to be the better deal, tho since they have 1MB L2 Cache.

---> I would tend to buy a Clawhammer?

Motherboard:
Asus K8N-E with AGP, no PCIE
Asus K8N4-E Deluxe no AGP, with PCIE ( read a few bad reviews about it, tho)

Video Card
Guess PCIE is the way to go.
Sapphire Radeon 100600L X800pro for 199.-

Watercooling
-CPU, Swiftech Storm
-GPU, MCW55
-Chipset, Maze4
-Radiator, Black Ice II or Black Ice Extreme ll
-A reservoir
-I have nor decided on a pump yet

Does it make sense to cool RAM and HD?

Thats it for now..... more will follow.
I'd appreciate any inputs on my choises..
Thanks, guys

 

[DFI Daishi]

typically, s754 overclocks really well, dual channel memory doesn't do a whole lot for your gaming preformance (so long as you have a reasonable memory overclock) and i don't think that a PCI-E video card is a good investment unless you really plan on doing SLI or crossfire at some point in the future (as compared to AGP). meaning that s754 is a quite valid option to get some good gaming performance, at a lower cost.

you probably want to go with the 3200 venice, if you choose s939. the 9x multi on the 3000 really doesn't do anything good for you. i think about the only advantage of going with a PCI-E s939 solution, again, assuming that you don't want SLI, is that the NF4 tends to be an absolutely awsome overclocker. i think that the BFG NF4 mobo reviewed by [H] is a great option, if you are going for a good overclock, don't care about SLI, and don't feel like paying extra for a DFI. as a special extra bonus, it looks like a typical big-bore chipset block will clear the vid card on this thing.

regarding cooling component selection, the swiftech apex kit with an added GPU block is a great choice. i would get a good aftermarket air cooler for the chipset, and a reasonably quiet fan. the thermalright NB-1/NB-1c or swiftech MCX 159 are great performing coolers, and i think they will fit on a non-sli NF4 board. my MCX 159 JUST fits on my NF3 with vid card installed.

i understand that pricing in the US is different, however i was able to get my x850XT AGP for about the same price that an x800XL PCI-E was running. the week after that, and i could have gotten a x850XT-PE AGP for what i paid..........just keep an eye on what will give yo the best graphics card for your money. the 7800 GTs are SO fearsome......

 

[doox00]

I think you are building a new system right now, it would be foolish not to build a pci-e based system or socket 939. As both are much more future proof. In a year if you wanted a new video card and were on agp your choices will be very limited, same with a new processor.

 

[DFI Daishi]

I think you are building a new system right now, it would be foolish not to build a pci-e based system or socket 939. As both are much more future proof. In a year if you wanted a new video card and were on agp your choices will be very limited, same with a new processor.

dude, s939 is being phased out as well. i don't see it actually happening, however if you're going to use the logic that s754 is on the way out, you should at least admit that the same is true fo s939.

PCI-E, as it stands is also on the slate to be phased out. PCI-E rev 2.0 is supposed to replace current PCI-E spec by the end of next year.

 

[doox00]

regardless, pci-e and socket 939 are more future proof than agp and 754 right now. Now you can get the pci-e 6800gs for 200 bux that performs at 6800gt levels. In 6 months when he needs more punch, he can add a second 6800gs and do sli for $150.00 (guessing at costs in 6 months for 6800gs)

 

[Viper87227]

I have a few reccomendations on your PC specs. For starts, since you will be OCing, and 1MB cache seems to tickle your pink... you should concider a socket 939 opteron. With the right stepping, they will out OC any A64 processor, have 1MB cache, and are still pretty cheap.

Opteron 146 Retail - $190 from Monarch - Same default clocks and multi as the 3200+. Retail boxed so you get AMD's warrenty. IMHO, $40 more for the 1MB L2 Cache and awesome OC potential is worth it.

Its the luck of the draw, but get a cabbne (rare) or cabye core, and you should be able to get 3ghz stable no problem. Get a cabge core, and your still looking at 2.7Ghz+. For $190, nice deal no matter how you look at it.


Now, on your video card. If you feel like fighting the masses on black friday... CompUSA is going to have the X800XL for $200.

 

[Erasmus354]

Or you could spend a few $ more and get a CABYE 0540 from Ebay for 199$

 

[DFI Daishi]

I have a few reccomendations on your PC specs. For starts, since you will be OCing, and 1MB cache seems to tickle your pink... you should concider a socket 939 opteron. With the right stepping, they will out OC any A64 processor, have 1MB cache, and are still pretty cheap.

Opteron 146 Retail - $190 from Monarch - Same default clocks and multi as the 3200+. Retail boxed so you get AMD's warrenty. IMHO, $40 more for the 1MB L2 Cache and awesome OC potential is worth it.

Its the luck of the draw, but get a cabbne (rare) or cabye core, and you should be able to get 3ghz stable no problem. Get a cabge core, and your still looking at 2.7Ghz+. For $190, nice deal no matter how you look at it.


Now, on your video card. If you feel like fighting the masses on black friday... CompUSA is going to have the X800XL for $200.

good multi? yeah, gets you more out of the proc per speed, without holding back you ability to max your FSB! great!

more stringent testing, often resulting in better OCs? hell yeah, great reason to get one!

extra cache? ........maybe i've just been out of the loop, however last time i bothered to look, the extra cache was doing bugger all so far as increased gaming performance is concerned. has opinion shifted on that one?

x800XL for $200 US? damn......if it wasn't for damn near everything else about the US, those kinds of prices on hardware would kind of tempt me to go over there.

 

[Viper87227]

extra cache? ........maybe i've just been out of the loop, however last time i bothered to look, the extra cache was doing bugger all so far as increased gaming performance is concerned. has opinion shifted on that one?

Nope, oninion on the cache hasn't changed much. Its certinaly not the selling point of the CPU, that would be the OC potential. However, it certainly doesnt hurt

 

[DFI Daishi]

regardless, pci-e and socket 939 are more future proof than agp and 754 right now. Now you can get the pci-e 6800gs for 200 bux that performs at 6800gt levels. In 6 months when he needs more punch, he can add a second 6800gs and do sli for $150.00 (guessing at costs in 6 months for 6800gs)

i guess that my perspective is that the trend so far has been that a single new card often outperforms two older cards in SLI. get the best single card that you can (unless you have enough money to easily afford a pair of the best) and then replace it when you are able to upgrade to another high end card.

 

[doox00]

x800XL for $200 US? damn......if it wasn't for damn near everything else about the US, those kinds of prices on hardware would kind of tempt me to go over there.

you must be french or canadian, or... omg, both!

 

[DFI Daishi]

you must be french or canadian, or... omg, both!

http://www.uwaterloo.ca/

more the second, than the first.

your social system is broken, your military is over funded, over used and badly run, and your president has about the intelectual capacity of a grade schooler.

making fun of the US is an international sport. it's just the fact that france and canada have both recently gone against the US on international issues that has made you notice it a bit.

 

[doox00]

yep bush sucks, can't stand em. I do not much care for republicans in general, and bush just makes me feel that much stronger about it.

I do not think our social system is any more messed up than any other country though. Way to much money is wasted all over the government, that goes for any countries government. Having a strong military and putting alot of money into is not a bad thing. What would Canada do if the US decided to own you tomorrow?

 

[Viper87227]

Bush is indeed a bastard... but I suggest we not turn this thread into a discussion of politics

 

[Erasmus354]

Bush is indeed a bastard... but I suggest we not turn this thread into a discussion of politics

Indeed, there is a specific forum for that...

 

[Talisker]

Thanks for all the input.... Wow

Well.... the whole phasing out part. I'm aware of that, this days I look at an PC to hold up for about a year. Then it's about time to rebuild. *lol* Unless you are hardcore and too much dough.

Thats why I thought about the 745 socket, stay within a budget and in a year get something new, see where the standard is heading.

SLI... hmmm, I'd guess the dual card thing will be taken over by a new bus system and blasting singlecards. well, just a personal guess.... Anyhow, I don't need SLI, might be fun tho.

I'll check out the Opterons.... didn't pay to much attention.
Does Opteron support dual channel Ram?

I'll be back......

Thanks guys

 

[Viper87227]

Thanks for all the input.... Wow

Well.... the whole phasing out part. I'm aware of that, this days I look at an PC to hold up for about a year. Then it's about time to rebuild. *lol* Unless you are hardcore and too much dough.

Thats why I thought about the 745 socket, stay within a budget and in a year get something new, see where the standard is heading.

SLI... hmmm, I'd guess the dual card thing will be taken over by a new bus system and blasting singlecards. well, just a personal guess.... Anyhow, I don't need SLI, might be fun tho.

I'll check out the Opterons.... didn't pay to much attention.
Does Opteron support dual channel Ram?

I'll be back......

Thanks guys

Yes... opterons work exactly the same way as any socket 939 Athlon64 chip. On socket 940, Opterons require regestered ECC ram, but on socket 939 they support normal dual channel DDR. More or less these are the same exact cpus as the A64's with San Diego cores, just clocked lower, and have more efficant stability testing before they are shipped.

 

[computerpro3]

making fun of the US is an international sport. it's just the fact that france and canada have both recently gone against the US on international issues that has made you notice it a bit.

the idea of france and canada standing up against the us is so comical that...well, I dunno

 

[Talisker]

Very interesting...... Viper I'm glad you brought that up...

Opteron 146
Asus A8NE
EVGA 6800GS


I think I would be ok with that... I won't do SLI anyhow.
Opteron really seems to have excellent potential, that should be fun....

Does Swiftech Storm and Maze4 fit on this board? Does anybody know?

 

[Viper87227]

Very interesting...... Viper I'm glad you brought that up...

Opteron 146
Asus A8NE
EVGA 6800GS


I think I would be ok with that... I won't do SLI anyhow.
Opteron really seems to have excellent potential, that should be fun....

Does Swiftech Storm and Maze4 fit on this board? Does anybody know?

Storm will... maze4, what for? Chipset? If so, dont bother. WCing the chipset on A64 is not necessary because the previosly hottest component, the memory controller, is on the CPU.

 

[Talisker]

Very interesting..... seems alot of things changed in the last couple of yrs...*lol*
I might still add a chipset cooler (WC), that should cut the noise down.... I also try to cancel as much noise as possible and make the system quiet.

Thanks Viper, appreciate the input.