Configure me a solid A64 setup...

[thirdlegstump]

Basically I want to go for Athlon 64 3200+ but I am not sure which board to go with. I do not need overclocking abilities. Just a solid, fanless board that will run stable with tight memory timings with Firewire and onboard IDE and SATA. I need a gig of memory. Doesn't need to be ECC. I will be using a Powercolor ATI 9200SE video card as it is fanless and fast enough for basic 2D use. (This will NOT be used for gaming!) If nVidia cards work smoother for this purpose, I'll consider it too. Don't want to spend more than $60 on the video card.

I need a power supply and HSF recommendation. I'm quite happy with this 300w Fortron with a 12CM fan but I believe I'll be needing a bit more juice for this rig. I'm thinking 400w should be plenty. As for HSF, I've been happy with Zalman 3100 and 6000 CNPS at low settings but am not sure if it'll work with the new socket format. Has to be just as quiet but dissipate enough heat to keep that sucker running stable.

I'll be using a Lian Li midtower (I think PC-6B)

Also the recent Seagate drives aren't as quiet as the older Barracuda IV's. Any alternatives with comparable noise levels? (especially during seek times) I need 3 years of warranty.

Think, speed, stability and very low noise.

Thanks.

 

[MDE]

The Zalman CPNS7000A AlCu will fit an A64. 300W is probably enough, but if your PSU doesn't have an adjustable fan, Newegg has a 350W Fortron with an adjustable 120mm fan (I have it, it's dead silent on low).

 

[thirdlegstump]

sweet. what about hard drives?

 

[MDE]

Dunno, my Maxtor DM9+ is pretty quiet (as well as my Raptor, no squealing here). Just make sure it's a fluid bearing. Seagate is still widely recommended, as well as Samsung.

 

[thirdlegstump]

I've got a few of the 34GB Raptors and find them rather noisy. There's a high pitched whine and also chatter during reads/writes. The Seagate B IV's were far more quieter, almost dead silent. I've also got 3 of the 120GB IDE Seagates with 8MB cache and find them quiet when they're not doing anything but as soon as I start accessing the disk, I hear quite a bit of chatter. I haven't checked out the latest Maxtors though as I generally distrust their reliability....

 

[Markfw]

For Motherboard, I recommenrd the ASUS K8V. Has been bullit-proof for me and many other WITH GOOD MEMORY. I recommend Kingston Hyperx PC3500 CAS2. Power supply, Antec for Fortron, I like my Antec true power 430. For HSF, my Thermaltake silentboost K8 is very quiet, very easy to install (much more so than the Zalmann IMO) and runs very cool. 32c-42c at the most at sustained full load. Seagate are supposed to be the quietest, my my Maxtor with fluid bearings (any drive ending in P0) is very quiet, so its up to you there.

 

[thirdlegstump]

I wonder if any of the newer Barracudas have the acoustic management turned on by default??? If not, how is it enabled?

 

[thirdlegstump]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
For Motherboard, I recommenrd the ASUS K8V. Has been bullit-proof for me and many other WITH GOOD MEMORY. I recommend Kingston Hyperx PC3500 CAS2. Power supply, Antec for Fortron, I like my Antec true power 430. For HSF, my Thermaltake silentboost K8 is very quiet, very easy to install (much more so than the Zalmann IMO) and runs very cool. 32c-42c at the most at sustained full load. Seagate are supposed to be the quietest, my my Maxtor with fluid bearings (any drive ending in P0) is very quiet, so its up to you there.

Yea but you've got a Radeon 9800 Pro running there! Unless you're using one of those VGA heatpipe heatsinks, it's probably pretty noisy no?

I've been using Buffalo Ch-5 DDR400 for a long time with many nF2 boards and have had nothing but great luck with them. Should I expect similiar results with these RAM or should I need to go with something more higher end?

 

[thirdlegstump]

b

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Buffalo Ch-5 DDR400 is a very good value and plays well with A64 from what I've seen, stick with it.

 

[thirdlegstump]

Thanks for the tip. Should I go for NF3 or Via?

 

[JBT]

Via, unless u can wait to see what the NF250's have but then again you still might want to go with via.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: deathkoba
Thanks for the tip. Should I go for NF3 or Via?

Depends on wether you have a particular usage and if you plan to overclock or not. Honestly, all the A64 chipsets are close in performance for gaming@stock speeds but some chipsets do better than others for CAD/CAM jobs, model rendering and other CPU + memory intensive operations, or for number crunching and scientific calculations as Hardwarezone pointed out in their A64 chipset comparison. Another consideration is what 3rd party controllers are used on the particular board, some LAN and SATA controllers perform better than others and have lower CPU usage. Just google reviews on any board you are interested in so you can see what the pros and cons are

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: deathkoba

Originally posted by: Markfw900
For Motherboard, I recommenrd the ASUS K8V. Has been bullit-proof for me and many other WITH GOOD MEMORY. I recommend Kingston Hyperx PC3500 CAS2. Power supply, Antec for Fortron, I like my Antec true power 430. For HSF, my Thermaltake silentboost K8 is very quiet, very easy to install (much more so than the Zalmann IMO) and runs very cool. 32c-42c at the most at sustained full load. Seagate are supposed to be the quietest, my my Maxtor with fluid bearings (any drive ending in P0) is very quiet, so its up to you there.

Yea but you've got a Radeon 9800 Pro running there! Unless you're using one of those VGA heatpipe heatsinks, it's probably pretty noisy no?

I've been using Buffalo Ch-5 DDR400 for a long time with many nF2 boards and have had nothing but great luck with them. Should I expect similiar results with these RAM or should I need to go with something more higher end?

No, its not noisey at all. And on the memory, I won't dispute others, but I know what works like a rock for me and I stick with my recommendation. Haven't been wrong yet.

 

[thirdlegstump]

A64 doesn't support DC memory correct? This is for every board? I may go for one big chunk of 1GB dimm in this case.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: deathkoba
A64 doesn't support DC memory correct? This is for every board? I may go for one big chunk of 1GB dimm in this case.

Correct, and good idea, you may actually want to go to 2 gig some day. Also, they are more stable with less dimms.

 

[FishTankX]

Let me guess. Building a DAW?

 

[thirdlegstump]

NAW. Yea. Also will be used for video with a matrox card.

 

[Venomous]

Best board to date is the Aopen AK89MAX. Has every option under the sun, inexpensive, fast, very tweakable and has cool & quiet.

 

[thirdlegstump]

b

 

[thirdlegstump]

bump dat T aight

 

[zodder]

A64 3200+
MSI K8T NEO-FIS2R - it has every possible feature you could ask for and it's solid as a rock.
1 gig Corsair XMS3200LL

Just use the retail heatsink. Mine does a fine job at 215.

Make sure your PSU has that 4-prong 12v connector, too. I'm almost positive that all A64 boards require it. I know the MSI does. Antec is always a good choice. Enermax, too.

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: MonkeyDriveExpress
The Zalman CPNS7000A AlCu will fit an A64. 300W is probably enough, but if your PSU doesn't have an adjustable fan, Newegg has a 350W Fortron with an adjustable 120mm fan (I have it, it's dead silent on low).

I also recommend this PSU. While not silent it has somewhat of a wooshing noise (from air movement) at lowest but it is very tolerable.

-Por

 

[thirdlegstump]

b

 

[FishTankX]

This powersupply. Incredible for a DAW. You're best bet.

Also, i'd highly reccomend This.

You put that on a hefty Athlon64 heatsink and put a papst 8412NGL on there and one papst 8412NGL to cool your harddrives and your system won't be pushing more than 23 or so DB.