New System Build

[Hott Nikkels]

btt

 

[Hott Nikkels]

Ok, here's how my new and improved setup looks... what do you all think?


Hard Drive
----------

Seagate Barracuda 160GB 7.2k RPM SATA
$105
N82E16822148018


Power Supply
----------

XCilio "450BL" ATX 450w Power Supply
$50
N82E16817189003


Case
----------

Antec Solution Series ATX Midtower
$55
N82E16811129152


Motherboard
----------

Soltek "SL-K890Pro-939" Via K8T890 Pro 939 PCI-E
$120
N82E16813180068


Processor
----------

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester 1.8ghz 512K L2 939
$150
N82E16819103499


RAM
----------

Corsair VS 1GB DDR PC3200 (512x2) 2.5
$100
N82E16820145440


Video Card
----------

MSI GeForce 6600GT PCI-E 128mb
$180
N82E16814127147

Misc
----------

Sony Black 3.5" Floppy
$5
N82E16821103116

Thermalright Heatsink XP-90
$50
N82E16835109119


----------

Total $815

 

[xodius]

Here is a question for you...My computer more or less died. Since there is no real easy way to explain it I will start from the begining, lol.

Computer=very slow, it was a 2.53 P4 1.5GB ram with a 9800 Pro. I tried to reformat and it had an error. So I pulled one HD and was able to reformat the other...then my DVD fried/died. Do I pulled that. Jumped my CDRW to take its place and it would install windows XP but at a snails pace...I mean I would start it on Friday at noon and it would be done installing around Saturday at about 8-9pm!

So I tried a few things, swapped out cables and reset some jumpers, nothing worked but my HD did get slower. I though spyware/old drive.

Tried it with my newer drive only about 4 months old a Seagate Barra 160GB and same issues.

Next, lol, I took the opportunity to upgrade my system especially since I am not a Intel fan. Picked up a Gigabyte K8NS-Ultra 939 with a AMD 64 3500+ and the same Graphics card.

Now when I tried to load it says it can not find the HD and it is really starting to annoy me If anyone has any suggestions I am all ears!!

 

[ComatoseDelirium]

Hott, sounds good, I would get the DFI Mobo, but Soltek is a good cheaper brand. I would get the heatsink you the XP-90 if you are buying from newegg only, but the XP-120 is better and can be had for the some price from xoxide http://xoxide.com/thermalright-xp-120-cpu-cooler.html plus its better.

Xp-120 the best, xp-90 the second best.

Also the Xp-120 will work with 3000+ the reviews say so

 

[masshass81]

Get the DFI hands down. Read the review.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2337&p=1

Better customer support, OC ability, and higher quality parts more than justifies the extra $15. Ask anyone who has a DFI board and read the reviews - they're far superior compared to the Solteks.

I have no experience with XFX, but I've read in the video thread about their horrbile support. As for the MSI, it is also a good card and you might achieve a bit higher of an OC compared to the EVGA due to the copper HSF.

Other than that, looks good. :thumbsup:

 

[DrMrLordX]

I agree, for Socket 939/NForce 4, I'd go with the DFI. The layout problems on the DFI boards are only problematic if you're going for SLI + water block(which you aren't) or if you choose a HSF for your CPU that is too big. There's a lot of info about the DFI boards around to help you make intelligent decisions in this regard. I think the XP-90 will fit on it without too much difficulty, seeing as how the XP-120 also fits the board as indicated here:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=679438#post679438

You might do okay with the Soltek board, but who knows? I can tell you from personal experience that, when using a low-multiplier CPU like your 9x 3000+, you want a board that can push extremely high HTT speeds while remaining stable. And for that, you want DFI.

EDIT: Some folks also had issues with the shipping BIOS on the DFI NForce 4 boards. See if you can't get yours shipped a newer BIOS. Feel free to check out www.dfi-street.com for more info about the board if you're still curious.

 

[Hott Nikkels]

Great info guys, I think I'll go with the DFI board. I feel the $15 is justified.
Between the XP-90 and the 120... I dunno... I think I'll get the XP-120, if my ram is small enough, which I think it will be. My case should be cool with 4 120mm fans in it (2 case, 1 CPU, 1 PSU) I'm hoping to be able to overclock up towards 2.6ghz on my 3000+ Winny 90nm.

Thanks for all the help people - one last question
Do you think it's not smart to do all this upgrading at this point in time? Should I just wait for PCIe to reach its full potential and DDR2 to as well... I really want to upgrade now but my friend says it's pointless I might as well wait for PCIe to reach full potential and DDR2 to come out... but I've had this computer for like 4-5 years and I want to play some of the new games that are out, and are coming out! PCIe and DDR2 could take like a year almost to reach good potential...

AMD Athlon XP 2100+ OC 200mhz
512 mb PC 2100 DDR
GeForce FX 5200 Ultra 128mb
MSI VIA KT333 KT3 Ultra2 Motherboard
200gb 7200rpm Western Digital HD

That's my current setup... I wanted to get that new computer and use this as my Linux box. Should I just wait like my friend said... or you think I have the go to get the new comp now? I have the money... and I'll have the money later to upgrade... or buy a new computer... in a year or 2s time when PCIe and DDR2 get off and going

Thanks

 

[DrMrLordX]

AMD is taking a cautious stance towards DDR2. It offers more bandwidth at the cost of higher latencies, and Athlon64s don't often need higher memory bandwidth(not compared to P4s anyway). If you're going to wait for anything, try waiting for the April CPU releases. AMD should be putting out their SS/SOI revisions of their 90 nm Athlon64 cores. They should OC better than Winchesters.

 

[Hott Nikkels]

What core would O/C better then the Winchesters? Are they just upgrading them or is there a new chip / core coming out?

 

[ribbon13]

I wouldn't worry about waiting, enjoy the rig now, and when Toledo's are within a fair price, grab one!
DDR2 blows. A64s are barely scratching Dual Channel as it is.

The newer cores for 939 are going to be
'San Diego' (FX line +1)
'Venice' (Winchester +1)
'Palermo' (Sempron +1)

then later
'Toledo' (A64 * 2) <-- :thumbsup:

 

[DrMrLordX]

Palermo is already out for Socket 754(I have one, and it's great). Are they going to release Socket 939 Semprons?

 

[DrMrLordX]

Originally posted by: Hott Nikkels
What core would O/C better then the Winchesters? Are they just upgrading them or is there a new chip / core coming out?

The San Diego is what I was thinking of, primarily. It's the same 90 nm process as the Winchester along with Strained Silicon(SS) and Silicon on Insulator(SOI) technologies incorporated into the manufacturing process.

From what I understand, the incorporation of SS and SOI will allow the chips to run at higher overall clock speeds with less power leakage(i.e. less heat). This makes for better overclocking.

My Palermo-core Sempron 2800+(uses SS/SOI as well) runs at 1.6 ghz stock, but it can clock to 2.4 ghz and remain stable at about 1.52 vcore. Avalon did even better, getting his to 2.72 ghz. You can see Avalon's thread here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=28&threadid=1528904

The Venice and Toledo cores will also likely use SS/SOI. Toledo will be AMD's first desktop dual-core CPU, which could be very interesting.

 

[Hott Nikkels]

I think I'm going to wait for the Venice, and wait to see what a good board to use with the Venice to overclock will be. I think the DFI would be good, but who knows, I hear that the new Venice core will be incompatible with nForce... perhaps they fixed this with a bios update or something however.

I read a thread where someone got ahold of the Venice 3800+ for testing and ran it at about 2.8-3.0 on air, stock HSF as well. It clocks stock at 2.4, but I figure I could get ahold of a 3200+ Venice and clock it close to 2.8 on that Thermalright XP-90.

 

[masshass81]

Just be prepared to wait at least until March before the venice cores are readily available at a reasonable price. But they do seem very promising.

As for DDR2, like the others said, theres no reason for AMD to implement it and they will not do so for this year, at least. So if you want to wait for DDR on an AMD platform, then you must wait until 2006.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20050117150731.html

And tell your friend that he is going to be waiting forever if he wants to reap the full potential of PCIe. PCIe has twice the bandwidth of AGP 8x (4Gb/s vs 2.1Gb/s), and we havent even hit the cap on the latter... So with his logic, no one should buy AGP 8x.

 

[Hott Nikkels]

Haha alright... he's a bit full of himself anyways but he's my friend, what can you do.
As for DDR2, yeah, I'm waiting, and I might just stick with DDR until DDR3 comes out because I hear it is better then DDR2 and fixes all the issues DDR2 has... it is much more efficient (what the GeForce6600GT uses... etc.)
It's not a big surprise that AMD is waiting... As for waiting until March for Venice, isn't March almost over They say they're shipping 4/4/05, I know the difference in the Model number of the chips to tell if it's the new Venice or not, and as long as places like Monarch and Newegg check their sites, I'll be all over it when it comes out. Hopefully the first batch, is a good batch. I'm sure it will be, knowing they'll want to make a good impression esp. with overclocking