New Rig Comments

[obeseotron]

I'm probably going to try and order a new PC in the next couple days and I was wondering if I could get some suggestions.

I already have
250GB Hitachi SATA drive
NEC 2510A DVD Burner
LiteOn 48x12x48 CDRW
Logitech MX Duo
Klipsch 4.1
19" KDS CRT
Antec TruePower 550
512MB Corsiar XMS3200 (from old PC, will probably use temporarily until I figure out what speed RAM the new PC can make use of)

AMD Athlon64 3200+ Newcastle 2.2Ghz 512k $270
MSI K8N Neo Platinum $129
Thermaltake Venus 12 + Artic Silver 5 $35
PNY Geforce 6800GT $345 (Provantage deal)
Antec p160 Case $122


Total before RAM $901

I will almost definitely be overclocking, and I'm especially interested in suggestions on which chip (Clawhammer vs Newcastle and 3200 vs 3000) to get.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: obeseotron
I'm probably going to try and order a new PC in the next couple days and I was wondering if I could get some suggestions.

I already have
250GB Hitachi SATA drive
NEC 2510A DVD Burner
LiteOn 48x12x48 CDRW
Logitech MX Duo
Klipsch 4.1
19" KDS CRT
512MB Corsiar XMS3200 (from old PC, will probably use temporarily until I figure out what speed RAM the new PC can make use of)

AMD Athlon64 3200+ Newcastle 2.2Ghz 512k $270
MSI K8N Neo Platinum $129
Thermaltake Venus 12 + Artic Silver 5 $35
PNY Geforce 6800GT $345 (Provantage deal)
Antec p160 Case $122


Total before RAM $901

I will almost definitely be overclocking, and I'm especially interested in suggestions on which chip (Clawhammer vs Newcastle and 3200 vs 3000) to get.

drop that 3200 to a 3000, and use the save money for another 512 RAM. the 3000 will easily be able to OC to 3200 speeds.

 

[obeseotron]

I've heard about some better overlocking results from athlon64's lately. The three chips I was thinking about were the 3000 and 3200 newcastle and the 3200 clawhammer. I know that the 200Mhz difference is greater than the extra 512k of cache, but as chips from the same line tend to overclock to a similar level do you think a clawhammer 2ghz might be a better decision as if it could be overclocked to a similar level of a newcastle 2.2Ghz. If 2.5 or so is about the limit with both current athlons wouldn't the clawhammer end up faster because of the bigger cache? Or do Newcastles overclock better than Clawhammers making that a better choice?

 

[Tostada]

Nick: He already said he was holding off on getting the memory until he saw how it overclocked.

I don't think that MSI board is worth it unless you're actually going to make use of the better GB LAN performance it offers. It's a little quirky and has a pretty bad layout. I'd just go with the $99 Epox 250Gb board.

Is the Venus 12 all that? Why not just get the Silent Boost K8 or the Zalman 7000 AlCu?

I do think it's a bit of a waste having such a badass system on a 19" KDS ...

Looks like an excellent system overall. There's not really much that could be improved on unless you wanted a Raptor 74.

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: obeseotron
I've heard about some better overlocking results from athlon64's lately. The three chips I was thinking about were the 3000 and 3200 newcastle and the 3200 clawhammer. I know that the 200Mhz difference is greater than the extra 512k of cache, but as chips from the same line tend to overclock to a similar level do you think a clawhammer 2ghz might be a better decision as if it could be overclocked to a similar level of a newcastle 2.2Ghz. If 2.5 or so is about the limit with both current athlons wouldn't the clawhammer end up faster because of the bigger cache? Or do Newcastles overclock better than Clawhammers making that a better choice?

These are important questions, probably worthy of its own thread in the CPU forum...

 

[Markfw]

That 2.2 newcastle is very close to 3400+ speed already, and a small OC will get you to 3500-3600+ range. The thermaltake Silent Boost K8 is quieter and cools at least as well as the venus. I have 3 ! The case is OK, but I really like the Antec 3700-BQE.

 

[obeseotron]

Originally posted by: Tostada

These are important questions, probably worthy of its own thread in the CPU forum...

I took your advice
CPU discussion.

The gigabit ethernet isn't an issue, but firewire is, so no Epox. The KDS 19" is certainly a pretty poor piece of hardware, I got it for under $300 4 years ago, which was an incredible deal for a 19 incher at the time, but you get what you pay for to some extent. I'd like to upgrade the monitor also, but that may have to wait for another time, especially because I'm not sure whether I'm on or off campus next year.

And I forgot to mention I already have an Antec TruePower 550 before.