I am building a new PC and wanted somebody with a bit more experience to sound in on a few things, especially in reguards to overclocking.
My plan is to try and overclock an Opteron 175 or X2 4400 to 2.4gig or 2.6 gig using Air Cooling, however stability is more important to me than breaking any records, so 2.4gig with 100% stability is more important than 2.6gig with 95% stability, so keep that in mind when replying. I am not trying to be a hardcore overclocker here, just to get a few hundred mhz's extra. The system will be mostly used for gaming. Also, I realize some will be like "Why are you going to use a X1900XT with an A8N32?" Well, the reason is that I like the boards features.
The parts I want to use are:
CPU: Opteron 175 or X2 4400 (not interested in anyother cpu type, even if it OC's better)
Motherboard: Asus A8N32-SLI or a RD580 based board (when they come out) if I like the features and reviews. (Not interested in other boards).
Memory: Corsair TWINX2048-4000PT (DDR-500 3-4-4-8) or Corsair TWINX2048-3500LLPRO (DDR 433 2-3-2-6)
Video Card: 7900GTX or X1900XT
Sound Card: Creative X-Fi
Hard Drive: Raptor 74Gig and Raptor 150 gig (Not really interested in Raid at this time).
Case: Antec P160W
Case Fans: 2 x 120MM Fans
Power Supply: OCZ 520 or Antec TruePower 2 550
CPU Fan & Heatsink: Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro but not sure if it fits or if I could get something smaller that does fit, for good performance.
My Questions for more experienced people center around the overclocking aspects, memory and CPU heatsink/fan:
1. Will getting an Opteron 175 present me with any problems, such as incompatabilities with the Asus A8N32, heatsink problems or driver issues with dual-core based updates for games or drivers?
2. Are 2.6gig stable OC's common on 175's and X2 4400?
3. I am looking at the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 for a Heatsink/Fan option but will it fit with the case and motherboard I have selected? Are their better choices out here that should work for what I want to do? If I don't need some huge Heatsink to get to 2.4 or 2.6, I would rather go with something smaller...
4. Which memory should I use from the two I have listed above? From all benchmarks I read, the difference between them is virtually nothing, and when compared to other memory types, the difference of 1-2fps doesn't really matter to me. Does how high you clock memory or the latenczy matter that much in final performance? Also, if better memory or Kingston memory exists, I would consider it. (I am limited to Kingston and Corsair memory due to being required to buy locally for a work related loan).
5. I was leaning towards the Antech Truepower II 550, however I like the OCZ 520 as well. Would either make a difference? What would provide me the "Edge" that might allow this to OC better?
6. What do you think of my choices here? Obviously things like cases and motherboards will always be debated, but I went with what I like for these instances.
My plan is to try and overclock an Opteron 175 or X2 4400 to 2.4gig or 2.6 gig using Air Cooling, however stability is more important to me than breaking any records, so 2.4gig with 100% stability is more important than 2.6gig with 95% stability, so keep that in mind when replying. I am not trying to be a hardcore overclocker here, just to get a few hundred mhz's extra. The system will be mostly used for gaming. Also, I realize some will be like "Why are you going to use a X1900XT with an A8N32?" Well, the reason is that I like the boards features.
The parts I want to use are:
CPU: Opteron 175 or X2 4400 (not interested in anyother cpu type, even if it OC's better)
Motherboard: Asus A8N32-SLI or a RD580 based board (when they come out) if I like the features and reviews. (Not interested in other boards).
Memory: Corsair TWINX2048-4000PT (DDR-500 3-4-4-8) or Corsair TWINX2048-3500LLPRO (DDR 433 2-3-2-6)
Video Card: 7900GTX or X1900XT
Sound Card: Creative X-Fi
Hard Drive: Raptor 74Gig and Raptor 150 gig (Not really interested in Raid at this time).
Case: Antec P160W
Case Fans: 2 x 120MM Fans
Power Supply: OCZ 520 or Antec TruePower 2 550
CPU Fan & Heatsink: Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro but not sure if it fits or if I could get something smaller that does fit, for good performance.
My Questions for more experienced people center around the overclocking aspects, memory and CPU heatsink/fan:
1. Will getting an Opteron 175 present me with any problems, such as incompatabilities with the Asus A8N32, heatsink problems or driver issues with dual-core based updates for games or drivers?
2. Are 2.6gig stable OC's common on 175's and X2 4400?
3. I am looking at the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 for a Heatsink/Fan option but will it fit with the case and motherboard I have selected? Are their better choices out here that should work for what I want to do? If I don't need some huge Heatsink to get to 2.4 or 2.6, I would rather go with something smaller...
4. Which memory should I use from the two I have listed above? From all benchmarks I read, the difference between them is virtually nothing, and when compared to other memory types, the difference of 1-2fps doesn't really matter to me. Does how high you clock memory or the latenczy matter that much in final performance? Also, if better memory or Kingston memory exists, I would consider it. (I am limited to Kingston and Corsair memory due to being required to buy locally for a work related loan).
5. I was leaning towards the Antech Truepower II 550, however I like the OCZ 520 as well. Would either make a difference? What would provide me the "Edge" that might allow this to OC better?
6. What do you think of my choices here? Obviously things like cases and motherboards will always be debated, but I went with what I like for these instances.
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