New Computer Advice

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
S

srjrol

Member
Jul 3, 2005
92
0
0
I am building a new system and I was thinking of going with:

AMD 64 3500+ with venice intergrated into the chip
Mushkin 1gb pc3200 DDR 400Mhz 2-2-2-5
and the DFI Lanparty motherboard

I was also wondering if there was any advantage to getting a better motherboard...this seemed like the best one that didnt have SLI...cause I will be using a Radeon card.

Please share your thoughts, thanks.
 
F

furballi

Banned
Apr 6, 2005
2,482
0
0
You can overclock the 3000 to 3500 speed. Corsair Value Select running at 5:6 memory divider is just a hair slower than the expensive RAM. Just bump up your FSB by 5MHz to make up for the slower speed.

The DFI may be good if you have a good CPU and intend to overclock down to the last MHz FSB. I prefer the Abit AX8 with the new chipset, Abit AN8 with the heatpipe on the NF4 chipset, or the Epox Epox EP-9NPA. All board should allow you to hit 270MHz FSB. This is more than adequate for most users.

A good video card is the key to a good gaming experience. Don't focus too much on the motherboard and high CPU clock speed. Bump up the RAM to 2GB and you're going to be fine.
 
B

BOLt

Diamond Member
Dec 11, 2004
7,380
0
0
Originally posted by: Mrvile
Get a 3000+, a cheap NF4U motherboard, 2GB value ram, good vid card.
Click to expand...

The difference between the MSI mobo and the DFI Ultra-D is like $20-30... who not get some quality there?
 
Mrvile

Mrvile

Lifer
Oct 16, 2004
14,066
1
0
Originally posted by: BOLt
Originally posted by: Mrvile
Get a 3000+, a cheap NF4U motherboard, 2GB value ram, good vid card.
Click to expand...

The difference between the MSI mobo and the DFI Ultra-D is like $20-30... who not get some quality there?
Click to expand...

Depends, will be overclocking? And MSI is a pretty high quality motherboard, overclocks almost as well as the DFI, mind you.
 
K

KoolDrew

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
10,226
7
81
For a CPU the best bang for the buck is easily the A64 3000+ Venice. As for motherboard the best overclocker is the DFI NF4 Ultra-D. For RAM some cheap UTT such as OCZ Value VX should be good.
 
S

srjrol

Member
Jul 3, 2005
92
0
0
I am not looking to get out cheap necessarily. Is the 3500+ easily overclockable as well?
I thought the timing on the memory was supposed to make a major difference...am I wrong about this? Can anyone recommend a good 2gig pack of fast memory for about 200?
 
overst33r

overst33r

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
5,761
12
81
the 3500 overclocks a little worse, i have yet to see a high OC on the 3500 (2.8-3 ghz) The best OCs apparently come from the 3000's
 
nick1985

nick1985

Lifer
Dec 29, 2002
27,153
6
81
Originally posted by: srjrol
I am not looking to get out cheap necessarily. Is the 3500+ easily overclockable as well?
I thought the timing on the memory was supposed to make a major difference...am I wrong about this? Can anyone recommend a good 2gig pack of fast memory for about 200?
Click to expand...

timings have almost no effect on an athlon 64.

get 2 gigs of regular cas 2.5 value ram, get the 3000 over the 3500 and OC it to 3500 speeds. then you would havea rig for the same price as you posted, but way better.
 
T

The Pentium Guy

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2005
4,327
1
0
MSI is actually full of problems, unresolved issues, lack of support, and bugs. Some people have had great success with it, but I can't say that for others, especially my friend who had to RMA his board twice before he got one that actually worked.
 
S

srjrol

Member
Jul 3, 2005
92
0
0
Whats a good board besides the MSI? I would like it to have pci express 16x for the new card, and as I said before I dont need SLi.

And where can I get a good price on the 2gigs of cas 2.5 value ram. I checked newegg and it didnt seem very cheap.
 
Hacp

Hacp

Lifer
Jun 8, 2005
13,923
2
81
Originally posted by: nick1985
Originally posted by: srjrol
I am not looking to get out cheap necessarily. Is the 3500+ easily overclockable as well?
I thought the timing on the memory was supposed to make a major difference...am I wrong about this? Can anyone recommend a good 2gig pack of fast memory for about 200?
Click to expand...

timings have almost no effect on an athlon 64.

get 2 gigs of regular cas 2.5 value ram, get the 3000 over the 3500 and OC it to 3500 speeds. then you would havea rig for the same price as you posted, but way better.
Click to expand...


On the top of the CPU/OVerclocking forums, there is a sticky showing that timings ARE good for the AMD 64s.
 
M

Matt2

Diamond Member
Jul 28, 2001
4,762
0
0
Rig in sig.

'Nuff said. This chip will do 2.8GHZ as soon as my XP-90 arrives.

I was a bit skeptical about the 3000+ chip, but damn, this is one fast little chip.

oh and unless you wanna play BF2 @ 1600x1200x32 4xAA, you don't need 2GB of RAM.

I play BF2 @ 1280x1024 (LCD native resolution) 4xAA 4xAF and I ahve never seen a hitch unless I had a bad ping.
 
S

srjrol

Member
Jul 3, 2005
92
0
0
very nice comp...kinda funny cause that is almost exactly the system that I am building for myself. I guess I will save some money and go with another monitor instead of the extra gig of ram. What is the XP-90?
 
Mrvile

Mrvile

Lifer
Oct 16, 2004
14,066
1
0
Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
MSI is actually full of problems, unresolved issues, lack of support, and bugs. Some people have had great success with it, but I can't say that for others, especially my friend who had to RMA his board twice before he got one that actually worked.
Click to expand...

Once you get it working though...FWOOSH
 
M

Matt2

Diamond Member
Jul 28, 2001
4,762
0
0
Originally posted by: srjrol
very nice comp...kinda funny cause that is almost exactly the system that I am building for myself. I guess I will save some money and go with another monitor instead of the extra gig of ram. What is the XP-90?
Click to expand...

"heatpipe" CPU cooler.

If you wanna go with 2GB then surely do so because you WILL need it eventually. I almost bought 2GB when I build this system a couple of weeks ago and was kicking myself in the butt cause I didn't. But now that I've seen 1GB in action on this system, I don't feel a need for it. I can wait 45 seconds for a BF2 map to load, I don't need to spend another $106 just so BF2 will load in 30 seconds instead of 45.

Also the 1GB sticks don't overclock as well I have heard and if you run 4x512 you're gonna get kicked down to 2T timing. It's almost a lose lose situation right now with memory... almost.

Are you planning on getting the X800XL? Great card for $250, I mean great. Doesn't overclock very well at all, but a great value out of the box. A VERY small performance hit in most situations when you use AA due to the 16 pipes. Great image quality too.
 
S

srjrol

Member
Jul 3, 2005
92
0
0
I was only getting the 2gb because my parents are paying and i havent hit the price they agreed to pay just yet. =D
 
M

Matt2

Diamond Member
Jul 28, 2001
4,762
0
0
Originally posted by: srjrol
I was only getting the 2gb because my parents are paying and i havent hit the price they agreed to pay just yet. =D
Click to expand...

I would most definately get the 3000+ or the 3200+ (if u find a good price for the 3200). You'll save a bunch of money amd you can throw it into a better video card like a 6800GT (if you were gonna get the X800XL) or an X800XT.

Overclocking will save you bundles of money which you can use to upgrade other parts of your computer.

Overclocking is really the only reason I can keep up with this expensive hobby! Gotta pay the tuition!
 
S

srjrol

Member
Jul 3, 2005
92
0
0
Thanks a lot. Would you mind taking a look at my total config before I place the order. One other small thing...I haven't really overclocked anything except my old p4 using an asus utility build into the BIOS which said overclock...and I said sure...Is it something that is pretty easy to do?

Here is a link to my shared wishlist if you wouldnt mind taking a look

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom