AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400 Dual Core System

[Jaymes]

Hi,

I have ordered these parts (which came this morning) for my new system;

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400 Dual Core
CPU Fan - Asetek VapoChill Micro Ultra Low Noise S754/S939/S940
Motherboard - MSI K8N Diamond nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express
Case - CoolerMaster Stacker Black
Case Fan - CoolerMaster Cross Flow Fan
Graphics Card - ATI Radeon X800 GTO VIVO DVI GDDR3 256MB
Hard Drive x2 - Western Digital Caviar 7200RPM 250GB FDB 8MB SATA
PSU - Tagan TG480-U22 480W PSU ATX 2.01

I still need RAM. I am not too bothered about a sound card.

After reading one of the titles regarding the AMD Athlon 64 X2, the guy there was told to get a more powerful PSU. Is this one ok?

I am mainly going to use the system for programming and some gaming. I have no idea on how to overclock so i'll take your advice on not overclocking.

Can anyone give me advice on what RAM to get?

 

[INM8]

PSU looks find to me. I have to experience with Tagan psu's, but they are supposed to be just fine. As far as ram goes, if you are not going to overclock, any of the major brands (Kingston, OCZ, Geil, Corsair...etc) " Value ram series will suit you just fine.

Only thing you should do is make sure your psu has the -5v line, because iv heard the creative onboard audio needs this to run. Some of the newer psu's do not come with this because it is not commonly used.

Good Luck

INM8

 

[Jaymes]

Thanx for that INM8.

I haven't got the slightest clue on how to overclock anyway. Is there a thread somewhere that can show me how to overclock? Or should I most definitely stay away?

 

[INM8]

Acctually, this post here by Zebo is very good if you want to learn the basics of overclocking:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1497607&enterthread=y

Overclocking certanly wont be necissary for you because you already have a very good processor. A 4400+ at stock speeds is nothing to laugh at. Iv got one myself, and it performs admirably is every sitsuation. However, if you think you are going to want to try overclocking in the future, when maybe you want that extra bit of performance, i would reccomend getting some higher performance ram. The value ram i recommended in my above post is excellent if you dont plan on overclocking, but it probably wont perform well in an overclocked environment.

Its really up to you, and you have a number of choices. You can either get value ram, keep your cpu at stock, and maybe sell that and buy new ram later on when you want to overclock or you could purchase higher performance ram now just incase you ever want to overclock.

With the 4400+, overclocking certanly isnt necissary, but if you know you want to try it, then you are better of being prepared by having the right ram in your pc You already have a good aftermarket cooler so atleast you dont have to worry about that. And im not saying that you cant "try" to overclock with the Value ram, but since it isnt made for it, you may encounter problems.

 

[Jaymes]

Thanx again INM8.

I posted a thread as regards the vapochill CPU cooler in the cooling section of this forum asking if it was any good. A friend of mine recommended it to me.

Is it a decent cpu cooler?

 

[Bona Fide]

It's ok, but I would suggest a better fan, as I hear the stock one is next to useless.

http://www.svc.com Order a 92mm Panaflo, you won't regret it.

 

[exar333]

hey Jaymes, you can also gran the x800 GTO2 and try to mod it to a x800XT....iv heard it works pretty well

 

[INM8]

I havent acctually looked into that one myself, but i just read a review and bjorn3d seemed to like it:

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=831&pageID=1741

I can remember reading another review of it along time ago too, and those guys (cant remember what site) liked it too, but they disliked the retention mechanism. Bjorn3d on the other hand say it is very easy to mount. Im sure it'll work well, just make sure you mount it the right side up so the heatpipes work properly. That should be documented in the manual. Im using the stock x2 4400+ cooler at the moment and thats pretty good too.

 

[Bona Fide]

Originally posted by: ExarKun333
hey Jaymes, you can also gran the x800 GTO2 and try to mod it to a x800XT....iv heard it works pretty well

Actually, you can unlock it to an X850XTPE if you get the Sapphire version.

 

[INM8]

Heres that other review i was talking about earlier: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2005/08/18/zalman_asetek_cooler/1.html

That cooler doesnt seem to perform too bad against the zalman 9500

 

[Jaymes]

Originally posted by: INM8
I havent acctually looked into that one myself, but i just read a review and bjorn3d seemed to like it:

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=831&pageID=1741

I can remember reading another review of it along time ago too, and those guys (cant remember what site) liked it too, but they disliked the retention mechanism. Bjorn3d on the other hand say it is very easy to mount. Im sure it'll work well, just make sure you mount it the right side up so the heatpipes work properly. That should be documented in the manual. Im using the stock x2 4400+ cooler at the moment and thats pretty good too.

...thanx for the info guys. The big problem with living in Cyprus is that the heat is terrible! In the months of May-September, we can have days where the temp reaches 48 degrees cel in the shade!

The CoolerMaster CM Stacker Case I have is pretty decent. It has 3 fans I think, plus another one that I bought called the CM Cross Flow Fan.

So you recommend me changing the fan that came with the vapochill? It does look a tad bit useless, although I haven't plugged anything in yet, so I couldn't give a proper assessment.

 

[INM8]

Well i guess you could try it out. From what iv read, it seems that the fan that comes with the vapochill performs dismally at lower rpm's, but it acctually works well at high rpm's. Only trade off with that is that is it going to noisy to run it at those rpm's. Id try out the one that came with it and see how it goes. If noise isnt an issue for you, then you'll be set. The important thing is too see how the fan performs at lower rpm's (silent mode or equivalent). From reading the reviews and looking at the fan itself i doubt it'll work well at lower speeds, but you wont know untill you try it. On silent mode, it'll perform atleast as well as the stock x2 4400+ cooler which IMO is the best stock cooler around.

be carefull with that mounting mechanism though. Just by looking at it i can see how that could easily cause problems. Make sure its fixed on right before you flip your case up vertically. Double, triple check even and make sure its right because that mechanism looks kinda dogey.

GL with it all

INM8

 

[prodesma]

Hey Jaymes,
I was just googling around for overclocking on the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ when I came across your post. I'm figuring on building a 'puter around this cpu in the coming weeks. I have almost no right to do even THAT much, coming from being a power Mac user all my life. But hey, if you're gonna go, go big. And learning more about the puter I'll be sitting in front of for 60 hoursa week probably isn't a bad idea for a slamming pc intro.

I found a heap of articles that might be of inerest. First, about RAM, specifically about latency and what it means (basically how many clock cycles for an instruction to process through EACH step before it completes (lower is better). Premium (errr, SUPER premium) RAM (that is 50-60% more than basic RAM has the lowest latencies possible. That is like RAISING clock speed on your bus, kinda. It also allows overclocking your bus, so the latencies can raise a bit and still run at very, very normal settings (like your basic/budget ram USUALLY runs). Start here: This is the html version of the file http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair/pr...1_Latency_Settings_and_Performance.pdf.
http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Memory/Corsair-PC3200-XL-Low-Latency-RAM-Review/

I'm not really sure what this article is about, it seems to stray off topic after page one, but this guy Tom really knows his %$@3 on everything that has a keyboard or processor:
http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/19980729/

Okay, now check out the king of low latency RAM, and their latency settings here (notice the TWIN1024-3200 XL is absolutely the lowest possible settings at 2-2-2-5):
http://www.corsair.com/corsair/xms.html#twinx
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=4701809

If you thought you knew it all, read this for a great summation:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_zdext/is_200408/ai_n7183843/pg_2

Okay, now that you're ready to overclock your system, just by the sheer fact you've read about SMALL performance gains, check this out:
http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q3/athlon64-x2-3800/index.x?pg=1

Tell, me why does anybody buy a Pentium D 840 with benchmarks like THAT?! It gets ripped apart by the Athlon 64 X2 3800 in virtually every test. And the 4800 ridiculously faster. Hooray for AMD.

Now imagine that I'm buying the 4400 'cuz of value (same FSB, 2MB cache, yada yada) at $300 less than the 4800, right? Now what if I got me some Corsair XMS 2 x 1GB DIMMs for that $300 running a 2-3-3-6 latency. Then I went and overclocked my bus from 2.2GHz (11x 200 MHz) to say a very safe 2.6GHz (13 x 200MHz) and had the RAM running somewhere around 3-5-5-8.

Wow.

but don't try that with basic Crucial or Kingston RAM, it might overheat or just freeze up, right? "Cuz at a starting point of about 3-5-5-8 it couldn't really handle the overclock at all.

Does that all make sense?

BTW, here's my system plan posted in a CNET forum:
http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6142-0.htm...D=26&threadID=128545&messageID=1452468
But I've actually revised a few components in the last few hours.

If you're okay with spending the extra $100, spring for 2 x 1 GB. This is great performance ram, just a step above the basic stuff (has aluminum heat spreaders), and is the SAME price or less than basic Crucial/Kingston RAM modules ($220 total):
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=3525629

2 x 512 mb Corsair or Geil will run about $100.

My strongest advice is to buy RAM in pairs. I'm sure you prob know this, with a dual processor; but since you've asked what kind to buy, that's MOST important.

Cheers, let us know how your build goes.

 

[prodesma]

Yo, check newegg.com TODAY TO-DAY TOOO-DDAAAAY. (02-Oct-2005)

They have a weekend sale going on:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...Price=&SubCategory=147&Submit=Property
How about 2-3-2-5 OCZ Dual channel platinum 2 x 1GB kit (2GB) for $230!
And Patriot 2-3-2-5 dual channel 2GB kit for $236!
OCZ titanium mirrored copper heatspreader 2GB kit $270

Well, that's after rebates, but so what, buy it and send in the coupons before you sit down to install your new swag. done.

Hooked up! on 184-pin DDR 400 (PC-3200) RAM this weekend, thanks new egg.

 

[Jaymes]

Got 4 GB Ram over the weekend from a local shop.

Cheers.

 

[Cooler]

if you can wait week for ati new line it might be worth it so you can get more bang for your $.

 

[ocforums]

I would go with the OCZ Powerstream 520 PSU,and the DFI SLI Dr main board.For a few reasons,The DFI is the best overclocker around and the OCZ is the Best PSU in this combo with an X2.

I would have alos stayed away from 4GB of ram and gone wit 2 sticks of 1gb performance sticks.Because using 4 sticks forces you to run the memory at 2T instead of 1 to 1 .

 

[Jaymes]

Originally posted by: ocforumsI would have also stayed away from 4GB of ram and gone with 2 sticks of 1gb performance sticks, because using 4 sticks forces you to run the memory at 2T instead of 1 to 1 .

...what does all that mean? I am a novice. What is 2T?