Finally geting ready to make the move to dual core. The system will be running an HTPC in an NSK2400 (for now) case. Duties will be PVR, Music, and light gaming. Sticking with integrated graphics for now. CPU will be 3800+ X2EE.
My questions are:
Board: I want stable, cool, adjustable, undervolting and overclocking options if possible. I will not be doing really heavy tweaking, but I like to be able to OC lightly for gaming or encoding. Considering Abit NF-M2 Nview, but I also would not mind saving ~$35 to go with a cheaper (Asrock?) board. Quality is more important than getting the last mHz out of my CPU. Is the Abit good for all around quality, or is it just a tweaker's board? Recommendations welcome (DVI would be nice, but not essential, spdif out also welcome).
Memory: This is where I get really lost. Given my intended use, what is the sweet spot. DDR2 667 or is 800 worth the small premium? I'm not going to spend endless hours tweaking my latency settings. I just want something that works and does not bottleneck the system.
Also: 2*512 or 1* 1Gb? I can't afford the 2 Gb for now Does dual-channel make much difference with AM2?
My questions are:
Board: I want stable, cool, adjustable, undervolting and overclocking options if possible. I will not be doing really heavy tweaking, but I like to be able to OC lightly for gaming or encoding. Considering Abit NF-M2 Nview, but I also would not mind saving ~$35 to go with a cheaper (Asrock?) board. Quality is more important than getting the last mHz out of my CPU. Is the Abit good for all around quality, or is it just a tweaker's board? Recommendations welcome (DVI would be nice, but not essential, spdif out also welcome).
Memory: This is where I get really lost. Given my intended use, what is the sweet spot. DDR2 667 or is 800 worth the small premium? I'm not going to spend endless hours tweaking my latency settings. I just want something that works and does not bottleneck the system.
Also: 2*512 or 1* 1Gb? I can't afford the 2 Gb for now Does dual-channel make much difference with AM2?
