Help with components for my Athlon X 2 system

[aniruddha23]

First post here so let me say hello to all.

I am planning to build an AMD Athlon 3800 X2 based system but have a tough time deciding what components to get.

I am looking for suggestions Mainly for the Mobo and RAM.

This systems primary pupose if for office applications and software development tools such as Eclipse, Rational Application Developer Etc. It may also run a DB2 database.

Gaming is very secondary on the list but a good gaming machine would be a bonus. Value cards preferred.

Ideally a mobo which supports fast ram [dunno if that makes sense] and Sata.

Have pretty much finalised the 3800 X2 for the processor but if there are alternate suggestions, they are welcome.[except intel]

Any thoughts?

UPDATE

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor

OEM Brushed Silver CoolMaster

PSU COOLER MASTER Real Power RS-450-ACLX 450W

ABIT KN8 Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard

CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200)

eVGA Geforce 6600GT 128-P2-N368-TX Video Card

Dell Ultrasharp 2005fpw

NEC Silver IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3550A - OEM

Leadtek TV2000XP/EXPERT TV/FM Tuner Card, REMOTE - Retail

YET To Decide

Whether upgrade to 4200 X2 is worth it

How much of a performance boost cna I expect by upgrading RAM from 2 GB to 4 GB?

 

[Bobthelost]

Any current generation motherboard will support SATA and the fastest DDR RAM you want to look at is CAS 2 DDR400 ram (assuming you're not overclocking)

 

[DaveSimmons]

Welcome to the forums!

There are literally dozens of threads from people setting up X2 systems, discussing all of the parts. It might help you to read a few of them, then update your post with any questions you have left.

 

[aniruddha23]

Yeah no overclocking here.

Any specific model number or link for mobo? I heard asus boards are good.

Also does anyone know if dual cores will actually improve database or application server performance?

 

[OSX]

Dual core only helps if the program has been compiled to use SMP/ Dual Core. However, it lets you run background stuff and the server on seperate threads, giving a boost even if it's not smp/ dual core optomized.

 

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: aniruddha23
I am looking for suggestions Mainly for the Mobo and RAM.

Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127222
Good solid mobo from reputable manufacturer.

RAM 1 gig: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440
RAM 2 gig: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145579
Value RAM since you won't be looking to overclock.

Video card is a tough one to nail down without an actual price preference. You can get a 6800LE or a 7800GS for around $75, which would be fine for most games, but if you spend another 50-75 you can get a significant upgrade in that dept.

 

[aniruddha23]

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1

Originally posted by: aniruddha23
I am looking for suggestions Mainly for the Mobo and RAM.

Mobo: [L=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127222]

Video card is a tough one to nail down without an actual price preference. You can get a 6800LE or a 7800GS for around $75, which would be fine for most games, but if you spend another 50-75 you can get a significant upgrade in that dept.

Thats very helpful.

Think I like the board and teh 2 gig combo. Dont mind spending around 150 ish on the video card. Any suggesstions?

 

[aniruddha23]

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1

Originally posted by: aniruddha23
I am looking for suggestions Mainly for the Mobo and RAM.

Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127222
Good solid mobo from reputable manufacturer.

Nother quick question. I get a good discount from crucial for RAM. any link to which one would be compatible?

 

[alimoalem]

as long as the crucial ram is DDR you should be fine. make sure it's not DDR2. yes, definitely go with th 2gb kit. if you can spend $180-190 on the video card, the 6800gs would be the best solution, otherwise i would get the 6600gt or maybe an x800 in your budget. i don't know how much the x800gto costs but if it's in your budget, go for it

 

[m1ldslide1]

Nother quick question. I get a good discount from crucial for RAM. any link to which one would be compatible?

You can use any memory you like - PC3200 or DDR400 (same thing) is what you want. You'll want to get whatever capacity in 2 sticks so that you can use the dual-channel memory feature (2x512mb=1gb or 2x1gb=2gb). Also make sure you don't spend much more than the sticks I suggested -- more expensive RAM is usually only a good value for serious overclockers.

For the $150 range on the video card I think:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130271
This comes out to $154 after rebate, and the 6800GS CO SE from eVGA will be an excellent card.
The next step up in my opinion is the $260 7800GT...

 

[Bobthelost]

The more you spend on the graphics card the better your gaming experience will be, but if you just play Civ4 or maybe the sims 2 every now and again there's no real point in going for the 7800GT.

 

[aniruddha23]

Things are looking great till now.

Would the 450 W supply be enough for this config? I expect 2 HDD's ! DVDRW, 688 Video Card, Athlon 3800 X2 and I guess floppy drive.

If not I can cancel with newegg right away.

 

[aniruddha23]

Originally posted by: alimoalem
as long as the crucial ram is DDR you should be fine. make sure it's not DDR2. yes, definitely go with th 2gb kit. if you can spend $180-190 on the video card, the 6800gs would be the best solution, otherwise i would get the 6600gt or maybe an x800 in your budget. i don't know how much the x800gto costs but if it's in your budget, go for it

I am kinda confused by the RAM part. The mobo says PC 3200. when I click on DDR2 it says PC 3200. So do I click on DDR2 or not?

Whihc is the right ram for this board?

http://www.crucial.com/store/listmodule.asp?family=DDR&tabid=DDR+PC2700

OR

http://www.crucial.com/store/listmodule.asp?family=DDRII&tabid=DDR2+PC2%2D3200

 

[Bobthelost]

You can only use DDR

450W is enough to run overclocked SLI systems. Yours isn't going to draw more than 210W at full load. However i'd think about getting a fortron, not sure about that PSU brand, whereas fortron are the kings of the budget range. Either the 400W or the 450W will be plenty.

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: aniruddha23
Things are looking great till now.

Would the 450 W supply be enough for this config? I expect 2 HDD's ! DVDRW, 688 Video Card, Athlon 3800 X2 and I guess floppy drive.

If not I can cancel with newegg right away.

it's more than enough...i'm just wondering what you meant by "688 Video Card"

 

[aniruddha23]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
You can only use DDR

sorry abt my ignorance but why is that so? If teh mobo says PC 3200 shouldnt I use PC 3200 which comes under DDR2?

and to add to the list of questions

Whats the diff between these types UNBUFFERED and REGISTERED . The latter seems more expensive.

 

[Bobthelost]

No, you'd just clicked on the wrong box at the top of the screen

http://www.crucial.com/store/listmodule.asp?family=DDR&tabid=DDR+PC3200

Look under where it says DDR in bold font, there are four different speeds availible. DDR2 is a different design, that happens to share most of the same terms because it's so similar to DDR.

You DO NOT want PC4000, it's overclockers RAM and even for them it's not worth the money for the most part.

Registered is not something you want, it's got an extra check built into it for server use which your motherboard wouldn't support (it might not even work at all with registered RAM) it's slower and more expensive too. Unbuffered is good.

 

[aniruddha23]

Thanks a lot

Anyone knows whats so special abt that ballistix thing on crucial? not an overclocker but a performance freak. yes.

 

[Bobthelost]

It's the speed, if you look at the notes you'll see stuff like:

DDR PC3200 ? 2-2-2-6 ? UNBUFFERED ? NON-ECC ? DDR400 ? 2.8V ? 64Meg x 64

If we break that down it means:

DDR PC3200 = Double Data Rate RAM that will run @ 400mhz speeds. What you want.

2-2-2-6 = This is the latencies of the RAM, the lower the numbers the better, but the really important one is the first, and even then it won't make much difference going from 2 to 3.

All the rest is rather complex and uninteresting, you want 184 pin RAM, probably a 2x1gb set like this one http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.Asp?IMODULE=CT2KIT12864Z40B

However you can get faster sets like it from newegg if you go with a different manufacturer, there are loads out there and i've never heard of ASUS boards having compatability issues. Just check with us first eh?

 

[aniruddha23]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost


All the rest is rather complex and uninteresting, you want 184 pin RAM, probably a 2x1gb set like this one http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.Asp?IMODULE=CT2KIT12864Z40B

However you can get faster sets like it from newegg if you go with a different manufacturer, there are loads out there and i've never heard of ASUS boards having compatability issues. Just check with us first eh?

well let me be shameless and ask for a recommended newegg link for RAM. the 2 gb kit from crucial looks exactly what my budget allows.

also does the 3800 X2 come witha afn? is it good enuff? again no overclocking here.

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: aniruddha23

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
You can only use DDR

sorry abt my ignorance but why is that so? If teh mobo says PC 3200 shouldnt I use PC 3200 which comes under DDR2?

ddr has 184 pins while ddr2 has 240pins. some concept as trying to fit an amd cpu with 939 pins into an intel board with 775 pins. doesn't fit, plain and simple

as for the ballistix ram, it overclocks like mad. i don't think you'll be overclocking but it's not horrifically expensive so i wouldn't tell you not to get it. it's rumored to crap out early though so maybe that'll be a concern

 

[Bobthelost]

The fan for the 3800X2 is fine. If you buy a retail version it will come with one, if you buy an OEM then you get less waranty and no fan as standard. Buy retail.

I'm afraid i'm too lazy to find you this link http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145579 to the cheapest 2gb stick that i like the looks of (you can save $6 by going with a different brand)

Or this one : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231032 for the high speed version. Remember that while there is a performance boost it's in the region of 2- 3% (for around $50) in which case you might as well buy the 4200X2 which would show around 10% difference.

 

[aniruddha23]

it's more than enough...i'm just wondering what you meant by "688 Video Card"

oops

menat the 6800.

Think I have all my questions answered for now. Will post the final config once I order and hopefully pix of it once assembled.

You guys rock.

 

[aniruddha23]

Two more questions.

1 Will I need to purchase the thermal paste thing for this CPU?

2 Which HDD would you recommend? performance more imp.

Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

OR

HITACHI Deskstar T7K250 HDT722525DLA380 (0A31636) 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

 

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: aniruddha23
Two more questions.

1 Will I need to purchase the thermal paste thing for this CPU?

2 Which HDD would you recommend? performance more imp.

Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

OR

HITACHI Deskstar T7K250 HDT722525DLA380 (0A31636) 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

1 You dont have to purchase thermal paste if you're buying the retail version (comes with sinc and fan). The heatsinc from AMD comes with some thermal compound already on it and should be fine. There are alternatives, like the arctic silver 5, but you dont need to go that route

2 I'm a big fan of WD drives. I've probably used 10 of them and haven't had a single problem. I'm running a WD160JS right now. I have heard that the hitachi is a fast drive though. Make sure not to make SATA3.0 a priority -- it's bandwidth that all drives available today are incapable of saturating. SATA150 is good times enough for even the raptor150.