My New Athlon 64 X2 SLI Setup

[speeddemon17]

I apologize for not searching the threads, but my question is very specific to my setup, so I just posted. This is the first time I've built an Athlon 64 rig, so I have no experience with Socket 939 - I need advice on the right cooling solution my parts below (with NewEgg.com Item #'s):

DFI LP UT nF4 SLI-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813136158
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 2000MHz HT Socket 939 ADA4200BVBOX
Item #: N82E16819103547
XFX PVT42EUDE3 Geforce 6800 XTreme 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
Item #: N82E16814150130
CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)
Item #: N82E16820145575
ASPIRE ATX-AS600W-BL ATX12V/ EPS12V 600W Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817148025
COOLER MASTER Centurion 532 RC-532-SKN1 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811119094

Any help will be appreciated - thanks in advance.

 

[SparkyJJO]

well first off I've heard that the 3800+ is the better buy over the 4200+ just a note on that.

are you looking for a cooling solution for just the CPU or the vid card as well? For the CPU, the zalman CNPS9500 is good (I have it), the TT big typhoon (so I've heard), scythe ninja is good too, along with the tuniq tower. Those are off the top of my head, there are probably others that are great as well.

For the vid card, get an AC silencer series that fits the card, those work really well. Something like This one here

 

[scrawnypaleguy]

Welcome to AT.

For your rig, what are you looking for? Are you going to be oc'ing? Are you looking for quiet/silence? A good all-around cpu cooler is the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro. It can be had for as little as 25 bucks, and it's quieter than the stock cooling solution (although with those heatpipes, the new coolers are very good performers). If you want even better cooling, look into a Thermalright SI-120 or Scythe Ninja.

You also might want to look into replacing your stock video card cooler with a Zalman VF-900 or whichever Arctic Cooling model fits.

If you want to replace the chipset cooler on your mobo with something quieter or passive, look into the Jing-ting chipset cooler. It's expensive, but it's the only option for passively cooling your motherboard without making your own cooling solution from scratch.

 

[soloz2]

have you already purchased everything yet?

if not I have a few suggestions.
Will you be overclocking? if so then these suggestions will probably benefit you quite a bit
1. with the 4200+ you are paying extra for a higher multiplier, the 3800+ would probably be the better deal, or an Opteron 165 with double the cache
2. with the money you save on your processor get better cooling for your cpu. you can get a freezer 64 from svc.com for $15. a Big Typhoon would be the best air cooler
3. for the gfx cards if you can swing it go with 6800GS or 7600GT's. or a single 7900GT
4. scrap the Corsair RAM and go with some G.skill extreme series. DFI's typically play very well with G.skill RAM
5. do not get an Aspire PSU. if you plan on overclocking they often cannot keep stable rails under stress. I have had personal experience with this. An FSP or a Sunbeam Nuuo 550w would be better

even if you have already purchased everything do not be worried, you have a good setup!

 

[speeddemon17]

Sparky,
I know what you mean about the 3800+ vs. the 4200+, but I wanted to go faster since I was laying out this much cash, and didn't want to upgrade again for a good while. As far as cooling, I am looking to cool the video card, too, but wanted to concentrate on getting the X2 cooler first. The only negative reviews of this Lanparty mobo is that the lower fan might get in the way of the video card. Therefore, I wanted to do this step by step.

Scrawny,
I was going to try to overclock, but not extremely. I don't want to risk frying this setup, so I will use the BIOS settings using little baby steps. I do want silence as much as possible - my wife hates my current setup (not this one)! Which is more silent?

Both of you, thanks for the input, and the welcome!

 

[Howard]

Choose a different PSU. You can also save some money on the mobo by getting one that doesn't support SLI (2 6800s doesn't strike me as particularly worthwhile).

 

[soloz2]

quiet coolers for your cpu:
tt big typhoon
ac freezer 64
just about anything zalman

quiet cooler for your gpu:
zalman vf900
vf700

quiet case fans:
yate loons
nexus (orange ones)
panfanlo
tt thunderblades are decently quiet

quiet power supply
Seasonic S12 series... quietest psu I've ever heard (there are fanless ones, but I wouldn't get one)

 

[speeddemon17]

#@$%! Already purchased!
Thanks for the input - primary goal is for the cooling solution to fit, I heard too many stories of Dremel work to make them work on this mobo.

 

[soloz2]

freezer 64 should work without any modification at all - with the stock clips. It should be just as easy as installing the stock cooler.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: speeddemon17
#@$%! Already purchased!
Thanks for the input - primary goal is for the cooling solution to fit, I heard too many stories of Dremel work to make them work on this mobo.

u dont have to worry about that fan on the north bridge. It will touch but it wont interfer with it. If you REALLY must absolutely change it, you need to get a fan with the same height clearence otherwise it will mess up your primary PCI-E slot. I had the LP SLI-DR to your board before i got this expert series.

Anyhow that little fan is noisey at max rpm. U might want to remove it and apply AS5 on the northbridge and remove the thermal pad under it. It would require you removing the board. There are many tutorials for our board at www.dfi-street.com There are also tutorials on how to overclock with your board and what each bios settings are, you should really check it out.

 

[letdown427]

So what have you purchased so far?

Scythe ninja will fit on the board, no problems, as will the thermalrite SI-120 (personal experience with both on ultra-D's)

Both very quiet, scythe possibly quieter due to lower fan RPMs being possible with same cooling performance.

two graphics cards will be noisier than one, unless ug et two of those silent 7600gts. I'd say get one 7900gt instead. better performance, and runs cool, so with aftermarket cooler, would be very good IMO. 7900gtx is ultimately quiet, but a lot more money...

I also second the get a decent PSU bit seasonic S12's do seem the quietest.

And as was said, ditch the corsair ram for G.Skill. That's if you want it to work easily anyway 🙂 If yu want to spend a week or so resetting, clearing CMOS and flashing BIOSes, then yes you could probably get the corsair to work fine, but get the G.Skill. Very good memory, and DFI boards love it too.