939 AMD64 new set-up - what would you buy on a budget?

[nemiAMD]

I have read all the reviews and done as much research as possible to build my new AMD64 system.

I am after the best bang-for-buck and with that in mind I intend to moderately over clock my system.

I have a 6800 (vanilla) AGP board that I am bringing over from my old system. So I have narrowed my choice down to:

EDIT : This list changed - see further down for what I actually ordered and the thought processes that took me there!

Epox 9NDA3+ (Nforce 3 Ultra)
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2253
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=13-123-222&depa=1

AMD64 3000+ (90nm Winchester core) (1.8Ghz).
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=19-103-499&depa=1

2x512MB of DDR500(PC4000)
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=20-156-026&depa=1

All of this in mind of over clocking from 200FSB to 250FSB, with the Ram at 1:1 lock with the FSB so running DDR500 and the CPU running at 2.25Ghz (previously 1.8Ghz).

I have read lots of comments in this forum and the reviews and it would appear that 2.25Ghz for the 90nm 3000+ is well within my reach. I am *guessing* that the RAM is OK for this application.

My questions are:
1) What CPU cooler would you suggest (with over clocking and cool stable operation in mind)?
2) Anything I have overlooked?
3) without a board to experiment with am I correct in thinking the RAM may over clocked past its rated 500Mhz?
4) Will this set-up allow me to experiment with even greater overclocking ? i.e. Can i use a different FSB:RAM ratio and over clock the CPU FSB further while keeping the RAM freq. within spec?

Many, many thanks for your feedback.

 

[Shimmishim]

First of all... if you don't need firewire, go with the 9nda3j... it's about 20 or 30 bucks cheaper.

for your ram... i'd spend a little extra for some samsung tccd (patriot pdp has 2 x 512's for around $220) or you could always get some dirt cheap bh-5/ch-5 which will cost you about $150 (twinmos speed premium... you'll have to get two sticks of 512 as they do not have a dual channel kit)...

1. for 2.25 ghz, the stock cooler should be good enough.

2. think everything else looks fine.

3. if you get pc4000, it should do above the pc4000 rating.. don't know how much more but it should.

4. yes. fyi: fsb's don't exist on a64's... they're called htt's htt = fsb because there's no northbridge on the a64 boards (mem controller is on the physical chip)


i wouldn't be surprised if you could hit 2.5 to 2.6+ with that setup even with the stock cooler.

 

[nemiAMD]

I would like firewire - An I liked the Anadtech review of this board which showed good OC potential.

1 - It is OEM so I'm thinking of a
Thermaltake Venus 12 CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=23&manufactory=BROWSE

2 - great 🙂

3 - I see one comment that this stuff :
pqi TURBO Series Dual Channel Platinum Kit 184-Pin 1GB(512MB x 2) DDR PC-4000
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=23&manufactory=BROWSE
...goes to 280Mhz and is only a couple of dolalrs more than the last one i listed so I'll take my chances. Agin bang-for the buck.

4 - ok I know it is HT but I still don't understand that say, I can set the CPU to use base frequency of say e.g. 270Mhz and have the ram run at less than 270Mhz base (some kind of divider?)?

 

[mwmorph]

1. go amd cooler. it is hard to beat. you can oc to 2.6-2.7 without sweat.

2. dont go DDR2 they ususally perform worse actually because of poor timings. go quality ddr1 and oc the crap out of it.

 

[nemiAMD]

Ok, after reading
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=1475190&enterthread=y

and working out that selecting memory clock of 166 or 133 (instead of 200) allows memory clock underclocking ...

I now intend to go with vanilla PC3200 (400MHz) RAM and aim for
250 FSB (or HT?) for CPU 1.8Ghz (3000+ 90nm) overclock to 2.25GHz (25% overclock)
and set the memory clock to 166 to run the RAM at 207.5 Mhz (aka which is a 415Mhz DDR) (for a 4% overclock)

;-) ...seems a confident target ?

 

[mwmorph]

seems good. though you may be able to get 280x9 with a 166divider with good ram.

 

[nemiAMD]

Well, It is ordered now 😀

I could have probably saved a few bucks by shopping around but I like the reliability of NewEgg so the list is:
Compact Screwdriver GE506 AN N82E16800999208 1 $10.00
MB nFORCE3-Ultra EP-9NDA3+ EPOX RT N82E16813123222 1 $126.00
CPU AMD 64 |3000+ ATHLON 64 939P% N82E16819103499 1 $151.00
DDR CRSR 512MB X2 KIT|VS1GBKIT400 N82E16820145440 1 $140.29
CPU FAN AMD|VENUS12 K8 A1744 RT N82E16835106038 1 $34.99
Discount for 20-145-440&00-999-208 N82E168COM 1 $-10.00

(free screwdriver ! woo !)

I will of course be exerimenting with lots of overclocking and will post my results... :thumbsup:

It was also nice to see this MB+CPU combo is on Zemo's best-bang-for-buck-list 😱
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=1498956&enterthread=y