KnightPalatine
Member
First, I would like to thank everyone who gave me the benefit of their knowledge and experience over the past few months.
I completed work on my new rig today. What came to pass:
Athlon 64 3000+
Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 HSF; Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound
AOpen AK86-L motherboard
1GB (2x512MB) Buffalo PC3200 (Samsung chips)
Western Digital WD1200JBRTL 120GB HDD (Ultra DMA 100, 7200rpm, 8MB cache, 8.9ms seek)
Plextor PX-708A multi-format DVD writer
BFG Asylum fx5900 (128MB)
Onboard audio
Koutech IOFlex FW-4 3+1 Firewire controller card
Antec Sonata case with included 380 True Power PSU
Win2K Pro
Initial impressions:
I'm still loading software but not a hiccup so far. This thing is quiet. Even with the side cover off, I could hardly hear it. All buttoned up, I barely know it's running. I'm showing 41 deg. C CPU temp in normal use. When I've finished loading software and Ghosting the drive, I'll try OC'ing a bit. I flashed the BIOS to the new, 1.06q version: no hassles there at all.
Minor Nuisances:
The mobo, from what I can tell, doesn't support single SATA drives. I spent a long time banging my head against the wall trying to make that work. On top of it, the drive I had was the first model SATA from Seagate, now semi-obsolete. I picked up the WD UDMA drive today at Fry's for $48 after sale and mail-in rebate.
I meant to check my Sonata before building but forgot. I had read that early Sonatas shipped with USB 1.1 circuit boards on the front panel instead of USB 2.0. Antec didn't mention this at the time, preferring to leave it up to their customers to figure out why their USB 2.0 devices weren't working. Two-thirds of the way through the build, guess which one I found out I had? Antec are shipping retrofit boards to customers but it means I'll have to go back into the case. I left the front USB and Firewire ports unconnected until I get the new circuit board.
Some layout issues with the mobo. I had to slightly bend one of the choke coils out of the way of the Thermaltake's locking arm. The other side of the CPU socket was even more congested, so there was no option there. The HSF of the 5900 blocks a PCI slot and one of the USB headers, though that's a consequence of the 5900 being a two-slot solution.
Future plans:
A LCD display definitely, though my Samsung 955DF CRT looks tons better with the new video card. We'll see how the Buffalo RAM holds up I hope that wasn't a false economy. Possibly a M-Audio Revolution sound card in place of the on-board AC '97 codec.
I'll try to give some real-world impressions when I've had a chance to do some real work. I have video editing software on order (Pinnacle Studio 9). I'm a complete, utter, abject newbie there, so wish me luck. And of course, given the choice at the same price, I snagged one of the few remaining FX5900/Call of Duty bundles...
I completed work on my new rig today. What came to pass:
Athlon 64 3000+
Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 HSF; Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound
AOpen AK86-L motherboard
1GB (2x512MB) Buffalo PC3200 (Samsung chips)
Western Digital WD1200JBRTL 120GB HDD (Ultra DMA 100, 7200rpm, 8MB cache, 8.9ms seek)
Plextor PX-708A multi-format DVD writer
BFG Asylum fx5900 (128MB)
Onboard audio
Koutech IOFlex FW-4 3+1 Firewire controller card
Antec Sonata case with included 380 True Power PSU
Win2K Pro
Initial impressions:
I'm still loading software but not a hiccup so far. This thing is quiet. Even with the side cover off, I could hardly hear it. All buttoned up, I barely know it's running. I'm showing 41 deg. C CPU temp in normal use. When I've finished loading software and Ghosting the drive, I'll try OC'ing a bit. I flashed the BIOS to the new, 1.06q version: no hassles there at all.
Minor Nuisances:
The mobo, from what I can tell, doesn't support single SATA drives. I spent a long time banging my head against the wall trying to make that work. On top of it, the drive I had was the first model SATA from Seagate, now semi-obsolete. I picked up the WD UDMA drive today at Fry's for $48 after sale and mail-in rebate.
I meant to check my Sonata before building but forgot. I had read that early Sonatas shipped with USB 1.1 circuit boards on the front panel instead of USB 2.0. Antec didn't mention this at the time, preferring to leave it up to their customers to figure out why their USB 2.0 devices weren't working. Two-thirds of the way through the build, guess which one I found out I had? Antec are shipping retrofit boards to customers but it means I'll have to go back into the case. I left the front USB and Firewire ports unconnected until I get the new circuit board.
Some layout issues with the mobo. I had to slightly bend one of the choke coils out of the way of the Thermaltake's locking arm. The other side of the CPU socket was even more congested, so there was no option there. The HSF of the 5900 blocks a PCI slot and one of the USB headers, though that's a consequence of the 5900 being a two-slot solution.
Future plans:
A LCD display definitely, though my Samsung 955DF CRT looks tons better with the new video card. We'll see how the Buffalo RAM holds up I hope that wasn't a false economy. Possibly a M-Audio Revolution sound card in place of the on-board AC '97 codec.
I'll try to give some real-world impressions when I've had a chance to do some real work. I have video editing software on order (Pinnacle Studio 9). I'm a complete, utter, abject newbie there, so wish me luck. And of course, given the choice at the same price, I snagged one of the few remaining FX5900/Call of Duty bundles...
