Help! Dream PC - Confused

[Megatomic]

The FX multipliers are fully unlocked meaning you can change them up and down. Also, when comparing the FX to the S754 A64 chips it had the advantage of a DCDDR memory controller. But now you can get S939 A64s with DCDDR memory controllers, too.

If I were shopping for a shiny new A64 system I'd get a S939 MB (NF3 250 Gb) with an A64 3500+ and 1GB of PC4000. As far as video cards go, if you use Linux then as you already know NV cards rule. But if you game, that's where things get sticky. If you want to stay around $200, the ATI 9800 Pro is the best in that price range. Over the past 1 year I've had 3 5900s, 1 5700x, 1 9800NP, and 2 9800Ps. The 9800 Pro is the best gaming card I've had in my system to date. It's staying here until the next generation of GPUs are out making the current new generation cheap enough for me to buy (~$200 is my sweet spot).

 

[eLinux]

Megatomic...thanks a billion for the excellent ideas and recommendations.

Any specific manufacturer who takes the cake for the best mobo that has the nForce3 chipset?

 

[Megatomic]

I prefer Abit, Epox, and Asus. Right now I'm still waiting on one of them to release the perfect board for me. I just haven't seen it yet.

 

[eLinux]

So this is what I have so far...

Opinions/thoughts/ideas on the build would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

http://secure.newegg.com/app/WishR.asp?ID=741801

 

[chuckywang]

You might as well buy the memory as a double set and save yourself about 50 bucks.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=20-145-523&DEPA=0

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: eLinux
So this is what I have so far...

Opinions/thoughts/ideas on the build would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

http://secure.newegg.com/app/WishR.asp?ID=741801

did you see the rig i posted?

 

[Megatomic]

eLinux, if you buy that computer it will smoke! One thing for you to consider, the 256MB 9800 Pro most likely is a 9800XT with a 9800 Pro BIOS. If you were to upgrade the cooling on the card to, oh say something like an Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer, you should be able to flash the BIOS to a 9800XT and have even better performance. The Rojak Pot site has an excellent guide to help you determine if the card is flashable and then show how to flash it.

I'm jealous.

 

[Megatomic]

Hey, I just caught something for you eLinux. That board doesn't require ECC/registered RAM. Standard DDR will be just fine.

THIS is what you want I think.

 

[eLinux]

Thanks for the comments folks...

I might just do that with the graphics card.

@mega...about the memory. See this link:

http://www.pcstats.com/releaseview.cfm?releaseid=1130&page=2

That website states that the motherboard supports up to 4gigs of registered memory. I've seen the same comment (up to 4gigs of registered memory) at several websites and pages; I believe one of those websites was Gigabtye's site itself. Do you think it's worth buying memory that is not registered? And what would be the huge advantage of buying registered memory?

Thanks!

 

[eLinux]

Newegg doesn't have the motherboard in stock, which is a real shame. I'm probably going to buy it from another online store. I can't keep waiting for Newegg to get on the ball here with motherboards.

 

[Megatomic]

eLinux, look HERE. This is the official product page for the board and I see nothing about ECC/registered.

Memory


1. Type: Dual channel DDR400/ 333/ 266 -184pin

2. Max capacity: Up to 4GB by 4 DIMM slots

I'll dig a little deeper (downloading the manual now).

 

[Megatomic]

Well, pages 16 and 17 of the manual are dedicated to memory and there is no mention of ECC or registered to be found. But it does say that 3 modules are not supported. The system will not boot with 3 modules installed. :Q

 

[eLinux]

Humm...strange.

So what's your take on it? Go with registered or not?

 

[Megatomic]

I say contact Gigabyte support and ask them to make sure. I'd lean towards standard DDR though.

 

[eLinux]

Does standard DDR RAM have ECC or not?

 

[jacktesterson]

If its a dream machine get rid of the Burner (keep the DVD Burner), get a cheaper powersupply and case (I dont mean quality) and up to a Xt800 or 6800GT

 

[shortylickens]

-

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: eLinux
Does standard DDR RAM have ECC or not?

No. Since this is an A64 motherboard, only Opteron CPUs support registered and/or ECC RAM. The memory controller is on the CPU, so the motherboard has nothing to do with it.

 

[eLinux]

I dont' plan on RAIDing the SATA drives...just want to have a ton of storage.

That shouldn't be a problem, should it?

 

[shortylickens]

Again I'm curious.
Do you want to boot from the SATA or just use them as storage drives?
I reccomend booting from PATA hard drives. They are also easier to format from the command prompt or a Windows or Linux setup program as they are more likely to be found right away.
My SATA drive is not even found when I go into my BIOS. I just enabled everything SATA related and then loaded up the motherboard SATA drivers. Then windowsXP finds it as a SCSI device (??) and everthing works fine.

 

[eLinux]

Okay, that's cool...that's actually good to know, too. I might just get a smaller PATA drive to boot off of and install Windows on that

I really appreciate the heads up, shortylickens.