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my upgraded system (follow up from my other thread)

W

WarDemon666

Platinum Member
AMD-64 K8N-NEO Platimum Socket 939 #7025-010 - 195$
Athlon64 3200+ 939pin 512k Retail - $263.37
Ultra 512MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory - $69.97
SAPPHIRE RADEON 9600 PRO ADVANTAGE 128M - $136.00 (or will buy from a friend for $120)
Western Digital / 200GB / 7200 / SATA-150 - $148.00
ATX 8023 480watt PWS Silver/Blue - $59.00
TOTAL: 871 (i think), and I only have to pay tax on the video card, ram and hard drive.. comes up to about $923 or so..

i got a KB, mouse, and monitor..

am I missing anything?

I know the video card sucks, but with this system i will be able to run a LOT faster then my 16 mb mobility radeon in my 2 ghz celeron laptop 😛... Ill but a 6800gt when the price goes down (maybe in a year or so, depending on how much money I save)..

Im currently in school and have no money to waste (hehehe) so im trying to limit myself as much as possible.

If theres anything in this system that isnt compatible, or isnt recommended, please advise me.

All prices are CANADIAN

Thanks!
 
I'm not familiar with the memory. But looking at the price, I'm going to guess that it won't overclock much, if at all over PC3200 speeds. You'll have to utilize the memory clock dividers on the motherboard to overclock the CPU, if you're going to overclock.

Everything else looks good.
 
Could anyone elaborate on memory overclocking?
Does it REALLY change anything? I heard that dual channel is best.. but why?

And one last thing, the athlon64 runs at 1600mhz, thats fsb right? are there any motherboards that run at that speed?

Thanks!
 
Wardemon how about this...

from newegg.com

same motherboard - $140
same proc. - $220

Harddrive.... unless you're going with a 10,000RPM drive I'd go with a ATA 100 Drive, cheaper and you won't have to spend a buttload on a SATA compatable power supply

Maxtor 200GB ATA 7200RPM HD - $116

all prices in USD, not sure what the exchange rate anymore...


Memory overclocking, it goes hand in hand with processor overclocking... you increacse the FSB speed in general, which cranks up the speed on processor and RAM. The only thing is, you gotta spend the money for good RAM, otherwise it won't clock AT ALL.

Dual channel memory... Basicly, instead of having one pathway for all them memory to talk to, there is a second channel that is allowed for the memory to talk to the processor. The only thing is you have to have the exact same RAM in each slot for each channel. (2x 256 or 2x 512) It theoreticly doubles the memory data flow, but I think real world results are showing an over system performance boost of around %5... so you do the math if it's worth it to you or not. GL with the system build.
 
i cant buy from newegg.. the prices i mentioned are tax free!

Thanks for the info on OC'g and dual channel memory. I wont go dual channel i guess, ill try and get some good ram I can overclock... Any suggestions?
 
RAM for overclocking - You're looking for two things, a good name brand and low latency. i.e. 2,2,2 or 2.5,3,3. Oveclocking is a very technical aspect, and the core parts of your system (CPU, Motherboard, RAM) really need to be researched and investigated so you can safly get a good overclock out of your system. I would highly recomend going over to www.ocforums.com and read up on stuff there. Those guys know what they're talking about and you can learn everything you need to from their forums. Okay, lemme get back on track here as far as RAM and overclocking lol...

Check out the memory reviews here at anandtech, they are very well presented and do a great job of getting the pertinent information to everyone. But there are a few names in memory right now that you can't go wrong with.... Crucial, PQI, OCZ... there are many more but these brands really stand out. Grab some memory from these guys with low latencies (2,2,2) and you can't go wrong.

Also, cooling. If you're gonna overclock, expect to throw about $60 - $80 USD on an air cooling system or about $200 on a watercooling system to ensure that you don't fry your processor.
 
That memory is not good. Tiger Direct is the only one that sales it which is always a bad sign. Perhaps just find some memory elsewhere, the rest looks good to me.

Look at Corsair, PDP, OCZ memory. Any low latency stuff at pc3200 will be fine. Your memory should cost about the same as your cpu. Now you can choose 1 512 stick now and add another later if the budget wont allow that but choose good memory or you will hold back the rest of your system.

The 9600 aint a bad card but the 6600 GT's are about 250 US and are a new generation card. With a new box, I'd lean to that. But it just depends on games you want to play and if you want to upgrade later to another vid card as 6800 Ultras become cheaper or whatever.
 
The memory will cost as much as the CPU? Thats insane! 🙁 I cant afford ram @ 260$ canadian 🙁

Damn.

How bad will it hold back my system??

Thanks!
 
I think you can find some real good memory on the FS/FT forum on this site. There are some VERY good traders who are always upgrading their rigs and need to sell ram. The best part is they will let you know exactly how well the ram works, (stablility, overclockability, etc.) And, of course, it is less expensive than buying retail.

Just my 2c,

Leigh
 
Hi WarDemon

The ram you listed is the same that I have. this is my setup (sans video card, not here yet)

Asus A7N8X rev 2.0 w/1010b bios
Athlon XP 2700
Radeon 9600 p (yes, pronounce it 'pee' because its all i could afford)
and, the Ultra 512mb pc3200 400mhz stick that we have in common
as well as all the other bells and whistles in the box... yadda yadda

Now, mind you I haven't OC'd this yet. I want to run it at stock speeds and read up on OC'ing before I get into that realm. So I can't comment on the ram for overclockin. I can however say that it seems to be running fine and its been in there for about 3 weeks without a hiccup. In Sandra 2004 though, it benchmarks right up there with the top rams available in their little drop-down menus. Whether or not they are good OC rams, or even good at all, I couldn't tell ya. So there's my completely useless response.

Wait.... it must be said that I have never had a problem/issue with CANADIAN Tigerdirect. They get thoroughly trash-talked south of the border though, so who knows. Personally I would like some competition with Tigerdirect up here in the great white North (I'm actually south of Detroit though heheh) so I could get some even lower prices.

 
Right now with your processor most of the computer geeks would say the proper RAM is pc3200 or pc3500 and a minimum of one gig with CAS 2 or 2.5 and tight timings. I have no clue as to the timings of that Ultra memory so would be worried. I think it is probably re-branded generic which is not a good thing.

Ram will greatly effect system speed, especially in games or accessing large files like video. I wouldn't try to play HL2 or Doom 3 with that amount of generic ram.

If the cash doesn't allow 1 gig I'd advise buying one really good stick of 512 ram like Corsair or Mushkin. If you dont OC then just select the Value select version. I actually suggest PDP stuff but it is harder(if you cant shop newegg or outpost) to find and may not be available in Canada.

Lots of people are claiming 1.5 to 2 gigs memory is actually necessary to eliminate bottlenecks, but i don't know that I buy that argument just yet. I do believe processor speeds are actually the fastest part of our system with memory, video processing, various interfaces and HDD seek time all causing the slow downs.
 
Originally posted by: leigh6
Way too expensive for that ram. Outpost.com had 1g for 159 with a 40 dollar rebate a week ago.
Click to expand...

What kind?

And do they ship to canada?
If they do, it will have to go through customs etc and will cost more no?
 
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