My New MEGA Rig :)

[Rimnet]

Thanks a lot man. I really needed that I think you are right in everyway, really. Now that i think about it too, RAID is a little too much for me, I am playing games mainly. RAID i dont think is going to help too much concidering that games probably dont do as much reading and writing as much as they access the RAM and CPU. oh well.!

 

[jaeger66]

ATA RAID 0 is mostly hype, only useful if you're doing video editing. And if one drive fails, everything is gone. I'd also keep the 2100 or at least a 2000, it should fall in price when the T-Bred's come out in a week or so. I'm also not sold on the Samsung RAM, some people have great success and some do not. Just remember that PC2100 is all an Athlon can use.

As for the MSI, don't trust THG! They consistently benchmark incorrectly. The GB seems to have a bunch of little glitches that add up to be very annoying. Try the MSI/GB forums on www.amdmb.com.

 

[jaeger66]

MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU
AXP 2000+
512 MB Crucial PC2100
Leadtek GF4 Ti 4400
WD 1200JB
Maxtor D540X 120GB
Audigy
Antec True 380

Just my $0.02.

 

[Rimnet]

Originally posted by: jaeger66
MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU
AXP 2000+
512 MB Crucial PC2100
Leadtek GF4 Ti 4400
WD 1200JB
Maxtor D540X 120GB
Audigy
Antec True 380

Just my $0.02.

Interesting. I will definitly find out about the MSI board. BTW, why the Leadtek and not the Gainward? AMD cant use 2700???? REALLY? then why do they have the 333 boards, isnt 2700=333?

 

[jaeger66]

Athlons cannot use PC2700 since their fsb is 266. It will work, but the extra bandwidth of 333MHz is wasted. You can't shove 2.7GBps of data through a 2.1GBps wide pipe. If you run games at 640x480 you might get an extra 2 fps, but that's it. And if your PC2700 can't run at CAS2(almost all PC2100 can regardless of rating), you won't even get the theoretical benefit.

 

[jaeger66]

My choice of Leadtek is mainly due to a bad experience with a defective Gainward card. The bad experience being that their USA support department is apparently a payphone on the Santa Monica Pier.

 

[Rimnet]

oh ic, that is wierd, do you think the T-breds will support more bandwidth for the memory? jus wondering

 

[jaeger66]

T-Breds are the same as AthlonXPs, so no. The only difference is that they use a smaller die.

 

[Rimnet]

oh yah true dat. Maybe the new, new one then oh well guess i will get 2100 then. As for the RAID 0, screw that. Now, i just have to figure out if i want that MSI board

 

[Transistor]

I would get either a VANTEC CCK-6040 or Thermalright SK-6 heat sink. They are both copper heat sinks that work very well. Both can be had for about $27 at Newegg. If sound is an issue, just go with the models that are sold with slower fans. The Vantec comes in a 4800rpm and 7000rpm version. Of course you can purchase aftermarket 60mm fans also if you want it to be quieter or higher performance.

 

[handoverfist]

Originally posted by: tokamak
what on earth do you need 200gb of storage for?

poRn? :Q

 

[VTrider]

" There is absolutely no point to DDR333 right now unless you're running on a platform with integrated graphics that shares your sytem memory. "

" In spite of all of these new chipset releases and new types of memory, my recommendations still stick: for the Athlon XP, your best bet is either the VIA KT266A or the KT333 with DDR266 SDRAM."

Quoted: Anand himself Comptuer Power User Magazine June 2002, pg. 38


(Hmm, I guess I'll have to reconsider my DDR333 purchase after all!)

-VTrider

 

[murphy55d]

Just to comment on the VIA/SB conflicts, I am running a KT266A board(soltek purple ray) with an SB Live 5.1, no conflicts for me at all.

 

[Rimnet]

Originally posted by: handoverfist

Originally posted by: tokamak
what on earth do you need 200gb of storage for?

poRn? :Q

i was gonna say that, but i felt it was a bit too inappropriate. truthfully though, i love DivX

 

[Rimnet]

Originally posted by: VTrider
" There is absolutely no point to DDR333 right now unless you're running on a platform with integrated graphics that shares your sytem memory. "

" In spite of all of these new chipset releases and new types of memory, my recommendations still stick: for the Athlon XP, your best bet is either the VIA KT266A or the KT333 with DDR266 SDRAM."

Quoted: Anand himself Comptuer Power User Magazine June 2002, pg. 38


(Hmm, I guess I'll have to reconsider my DDR333 purchase after all!)

-VTrider

Anand is saying to use SDRAM instead of DDR????? That is very very odd.

 

[t4t3r]

no via/audigy problems here. i have an epox 8kha+ and sb audigy and they both work flawlessly. hope you get the same results!




t4t3r

 

[jaeger66]

Anand is saying to use SDRAM instead of DDR????? That is very very odd.

DDR IS SDRAM. "DDR SDRAM" is the correct terminology.

 

[Ionizer86]

I'd go with a PAL8045 + quiet 80mm fan.

Ya, that Heat Pipe 001 is gonna be loud :Q Definitely go for a 80mm sink cuz 80mm fans have much better air/noise ratios than 60mm fans. I'd get an AX7 since I've used an 8045 and an AX7, and the AX7 outperforms the 8045 by like 6ºC with the same L1A fan.

The 2100+ chip may not be the most economical buy. 1800+ chips are a lot cheaper.
On the hard drives, I think the 1200JB is faster than the 800JB, making it a better choice for a primary drive, but I don't know.

 

[GoSharks]

Originally posted by: jaeger66
ATA RAID 0 is mostly hype, only useful if you're doing video editing.

i agree, in my system i have 3 cheetah 36xl's, two of them in software raid0. even though i had put all of my apps on there, i didnt notice any difference other than faster loading times for ns4.79. that was basically it, and i was coming from using just one of the drives before.

when i started video editing, things began to change though. just playing and doing random seeks in video became a much faster, instant in the case of seeking, task when i put the video on the raid0 drive(s).

 

[aka1nas]

I agree with other posts that you should not get the fastest CPU available as you will be paying a very large premium for having the fastest tech out. At least go down a speed grade from the highest, it should be nearly $100 cheaper and only 33Mhz slower, which is absolutely not noticable. I disagree with the statement about ATA RAID only being usefull for video editing. Anything that is dependent on transfer rates will receive a noticable improvement. I.E. Moving files over a network, Serving for a bunch of people in a game, all typical LAN party tasks if you end up taking your new rig to one. Also if you are going to do RAID at all, I would say NOT to use onboard RAID and get an add-in card. In my experience, my onboard RAID boards have always been flaky with RAID compared to my adaptec 1200A card. I am currently running my hard drives in a similar config to the one you proposed, OS and apps on a seperate drive, and media and games on a RAID 0 array. Make sure you buy good memory from a reputable dealer, as flaky memory is never fun to diagnose and troubleshoot. I wouldn't fuss about PC2700, you probably won't notice it. Just get a hell of a lot of PC2100. Not familiar with that heatsink, I wouldn't stress about it too much if you aren't O/Cing, the stock fan is fine(BTW, current Athlon XPs using the palamino core probably won't overclock well anyway, as they are pretty much at the end of their life expectancy as T-bred based ones will be out very soon ). Other than that, every thing looks pretty good.

 

[MrGrim]

2 x IBM 60GXP 40GB
WD1200JB

The results speak for themselves.

 

[VTrider]

I disagree with the statement about ATA RAID only being usefull for video editing. Anything that is dependent on transfer rates will receive a noticable improvement.

Sorry, didn't mean to convey that RAID was 'only usefull for video editing at all - I also agree with the bandwith/transferring advantages



- VTrider

 

[billyjak]

I have the Abit KR7A Raid board and just built a KR7A 133 Raid board, I don't use raid.
With a SB Audigy Platinum, Athlon 1900xp oc/1.738 with 512k of Samsung pc2700 and and a WD 1200JB and it flies.
No problems with the Audigy Platinum on my setup.

The new one I just built is with the 2000xp chip.
It's better to get a dedicated Raid setup loke mentioned above if your going to Raid it.

 

[Yobbo]

This is looking a lot like my new computer, I've already ordered the 80gb and 120gb drives (and already have the ti4400...)...

Just one thing: I don't suggest VIA, way too many problems
I'm actually going Intel, so I'm going w/Intels nice and reliable chipset, can't go wrong w/that (and the 2.2ghz isn't that badly priced, pretty close (and a lot cooler than) an XP)

And the Audigy plat is overkill, I am going with the audigy oem (save myself $100 and its more or less the same thing)...and that PSU is overkill, but its up to you