Building a New System, need some advice =]

[ayman]

i am currently planning to go for the 939 3500+, MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, 6800GT OC, and as far as ram i cant really decide on what to purchase. I would like 1gb Dual Channel 3200, anything from Corsair XMS to Kingston HyperX or OCZ ram would be good. I dont know much about ram and i would like to know what is good for a reasonable price. Also as far as motherboards, is the MSI the way to go or what? This system will mainly be for gaming and the reason i picked out this mobo is because it has the nforce3 chipset, but if that doesnt increase system performance by much, then i dont need to spend more money. Obviously the more u spend the better it'll prolly be but some suggestions as far as ram and motherboard would really be helpful, thanks much! Also, from what i know, lower latency timings for your ram is better and helps when you overclock, and i picked out some ram sticks with 2-2-2-5 timings, is that what i should be looking at or how is the best way to go about picking out the right type of ram for myself?!?!

 

[XooooX]

The stuff you mentioned sounds good.

 

[ts3433]

Overclocking and going to run 1:1? Get cheap stuff that uses TCCD (Patriot/PDP CL2 PC3200, G.skill PC4400, OCZ Platinum Rev. 2 if you want to spend a little more).
Not overclocking? Since timings (except for possibly 1T/2T command rate) mean absolutely nothing, especially on an A64, pick up some cheap, quality value RAM. Stuff like Corsair Value is often good till 215 or 220 anyway, so if it's a lighter RAM overclock like that, consider this kind of stuff.

 

[Confusednewbie1552]

When it comes to Athlon 64 cheap RAM is the way to go. Get two 512 MB sticks of Corsair Value Select. I'm pretty sure they can do dual channel (correct me if i'm wrong). Low latency doesn't do anything to the Athlon 64 because it's memory controller is on the chip itself. If your looking to overclock get stuff like PC-4400 from OCZ. 1 gigabyte is the perfect amount for gaming. The Nforce 3 chipset that MSI board has is good. Try and find another nforce 3 board if you can, but the MSI isn't bad.

Edit:

Corsair Value Select: http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=20-145-026&depa=1

OCZ PC 4400: http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=20-146-986&depa=1

Also check out www.crucial.com they have RAM that is guranteed to work with your motherboard. Just check out the site.

Also here's the next best thing I'd recommend for a SOcket 939 board: http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=13-131-510&depa=0

Also are you considering doing PCI express and an nforce 4 board?

Oh, almost forgot, Welcome to Anandtech!

 

[Blain]

"Also, from what i know, lower latency timings for your ram is better and helps when you overclock, and i picked out some ram sticks with 2-2-2-5 timings, is that what i should be looking at or how is the best way to go about picking out the right type of ram for myself?!?!"

Dude, you can create some long-ars sentences!
Have you tried our new search function?
It's great... you can actually find threads very similar to the one you just started. :laugh:

 

[ts3433]

Originally posted by: Confusednewbie1552
When it comes to Athlon 64 cheap RAM is the way to go. Get two 512 MB sticks of Corsair Value Select. I'm pretty sure they can do dual channel (correct me if i'm wrong). Low latency doesn't do anything to the Athlon 64 because it's memory controller is on the chip itself. If your looking to overclock get stuff like PC-400 from OCZ. 1 gigabyte is the perfect amount for gaming. The Nforce 3 chipset that MSI board has is good. Try and find another nforce 3 board if you can, but the MSI isn't bad.

Two sticks of anything identical, even if not sold in a "matched pair" or "DC pack," will run dual channel 99% of the time.

Yeah, people here report numerous issues with MSI boards, so I'd try Epox's entry. Should overclock well, too--someone on here got 300 FSB with the G.skill above and a 3000+.

 

[ayman]

thats interesting i didnt know the A64's have built in memory controllers, okay that helps a lot, thx man. I"ll check out some of that value select corsair ram, and about the motherboard, there is an EpoX 939 but i dont know how reliable or how good those are

 

[Confusednewbie1552]

Go to google, type out their name and then review, and read each of the reviews. Then come back to anandtech or any other computer forum and type in the boards name in the search feature (or manually find some if there isn't a search feature on some of the forums). See if anyone has had issues with the board and how bad it is.

Edit: Removed confuse smiley face in the corner

 

[ayman]

yeah thanks for the welcome Confusednewbie1552, appreciate it. Everyone seems nice here. Anyways you have been a great help, thanks. I dont plan on using PCI Express so thats outta the question :Q

 

[ayman]

By the way, if i buy anything higher than DDR400, that won't help me will it, since the Asus motherboard i'm now looking at doesnt specify anything higher than that... ? Or is this where overclocking kicks in, and thats why PC-4000 or PC-4400 would be helpful ? on a side note, i've never overclocked before but i sure hope to learn how when i get my new system

 

[ayman]

if someone can explain why i should go with PC-4000 or PC-4400 as opposed to PC-3200. Obviously the PC-4000 and up is better but from a budget perspective as well as one of what i need is it worth it. Again i would like to build a gaming system, if buying the PC-4000 or higher is only better for overclocking, then please, that's what i'd like to know


Edit:

I'm an idiot with this stuff :frown:

 

[Confusednewbie1552]

I'm not sure if the Asus board can do PC 4400, but i'm 60% positive it can. Basically PC 4400 is better for overclocking, but PC 4000 is good also. It all depends on how far your're planning to overclock. Keep in mind this is the usual case. There are some PC3500 that are just as good as PC4000, but that is somewhat rare.

 

[Regs]

Confusednewbie1552 has a point. OCz has excellent overclocking abilities as well as crucials ballestix. Corsair does to, but it's very expensive. PC3500 EB Rev 2 OCz is a good RAM to mention.

 

[imported_NoGodForMe]

Read this thread on the H where people OC their systems. Take note of the A64 systems and the memory they are using. Those with a high OC are using OCZ and Gskill ram.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=840858
Get the OCZ Platinum EL Rev2, if you want to OC a lot. It's probably more than you want to spend, but that's what people are using to get high OCs. This is the stuff most are going with, read the reviews.
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=20-146-890&depa=0

On timings, you won't get 2225 on an A64 chip. I end up running 2336, others run 2.5, 3, 3, 5 or 2.5, 3, 3, 10. You probably don't understand anything I just said, but if you learn about OCing, you will.

 

[ayman]

man, thanks a lot everyone for the feedback! As for NoGodForMe, yeah i don't exactly know what your talking about just yet but i'll find out soon. But from what i may be chosing from so far will be either theOCZ Rev2 3200 or the OCZ Gold Rev2 4000 ....... same price so if you guys suggest one over the other, let me know

 

[Confusednewbie1552]

Get the OCZ Gold Rev2 4000. They are the same price because the OCZ Rev2 3200 is using low timings, which means nothing for the Athlon 64.