Opinions needed on hardware

[Teslacoiled]

Hi!
I very much need to upgrade my PC.
I play games (HL2, FEAR...) , and will definitely overclock! And around $700 to spend.

I'm in Ukraine, so the prices are a little bit higher, and I don't have as many brands to choose from as in W.Europe / North America.


I already have a 400W Fortron PSU.

-Epox EP-9NPA+Ultra - mobo ($120)
-Athlon 64 3200+ Venice core ($160)
-Zalman CNPS7700Al-Cu - CPU cooler ($40)
-2x1GB DDR3200 Samsung RAM ($230)
-Geforce Inno3D 6600GT (Innovision) ($160)

Some questions:

1. Should I buy the Venice BP or BW? I've been reading that the BP overclocks better, but the BW is a revised (fixed) version of the venice core. I'm not a hardcore overclocker, so will the BW be a better, safer choice?

2. Is Samsung RAM ok for overclocking? Maybe Kingston better?

Can't wait to start upgrading! Thunderbird 1.4 + Geforce3 + 512 MB now. :-D

Please post suggestions, opinions.
Thx in advance!
Tony.

 

[ribbon13]

1. You should buy an Opteron 144 and Why
2. Overclockers bang for buck ram

edit:
Ukraine? See if you can get Corsair VS1GBKIT400 for RAM. It should provide very good performace for your dollar.

 

[eXx08]

WHy are spending $240 on RAM and $160 on video card, do what I will be doing and get a 7800GT and 1GB Value RAM.

 

[Teslacoiled]

ribbon13: about the opteron, I don't think I'll be able to find it. And about the RAM...after searching extensively these forums, and also some other sites, I was under the impression that the brand of the memory isn't as important for the A64. Of course it should be stable and reliable, I won't buy a no-name memory. That's why I asked about Samsung or Kingston, are they good and will they help me overclock (again, moderately!).

thekillerjks: The 7800 here will cost me over $400! Better spend 115 on an additional GB of RAM than 240 on the 7800. Maybe I would have, but I do not have enough money for it right now. And I have read good reviews about the 6600GT, and its performance if overclocked a little bit is very close to the vanilla 6800's. The 6800GT costs about $350 here.

thx for replying both of you, I'll be searching for what you have suggested, maybe I'll find something. Miracles happen. :-D

Anyone else got something to say? I would be grateful!. :-D
thx,
Tony.

 

[ribbon13]

Corsair is the only brand besides Crucial I'll trust for my workstation/server builds. It's anything but no-name. (Rig in my sig cost $18,000, and I wouldn't trust anything but Corsair in it.) Given your memory situation though, I'd just find the cheapest brand-name 2x1GB DDR400 kit you can, and run a divider for overclocking. A64's built in memory controller makes the peformance hit of a divider null.

the 7800 GT for $400 isn't bad given how much the other stuff you listed costs, and what one costs here. How are the prices on 6800 GTs over there? X800 GTOs?

 

[Teslacoiled]

Oh I know about Corsair, but it's rather hard to find... I have 2 sticks of Crucial RAM in my PC that I ordered directly from Cucial's website 5 years ago.

What do you mean by "run a divider for overclocking. A64's built in memory controller makes the peformance hit of a divider null."? Pardon my noobness in the OC'ing arena. ;-)

And like I said before, the 6800 GT cost around 350. If I buy a 7800GT for $425, I'll have to buy everything else for $275. This way I'll have a powerful video card, but the memory and CPU will be the bottleneck, right?

I just can't pay over $700 right now.

Will the 6600GT be the bottleneck?I will be glad to run games like HL2 on High settings, 1024x768 , AA off or 4x and with AF... I read really good reviews about it.

What about the cooler and the mobo?

thx for the replies! I will be waiting for more.
Tony.

 

[ribbon13]

Divider means you can run your memory and CPU HTT at different speeds without affecting performance. With Socket A Athlons (like say you had a Thunderbird with 333FSB, but you ran the RAM at stock DDR400), it's was a severe performance hit. So yay for A64s. :beer:

6600GT should be able to cope with 1024x768 res pretty well.

For minor overclocker, stick with stock cooler, and get a retail 3200+. Should save a few bucks.

 

[Phluxed]

6600GT runs 1024x768 very well, but struggles with 1280x1024 and the likes.

 

[Teslacoiled]

Thx again for the input!
I'll post the results of the upgrade and the overclocking. I'll start buying everything tomorrow.
Oh and about the retail A64... It's about $40 more than the OEM, which is the price of the Zalman cooler. Better buy a better cooler than the standard one that comes with the A64, and this way I'll get to play with some thermal compound! LOL
If there's anything I should know, plz post and I'll be checking here.

Oh and what about the BP and the BW Venice question?

 

[Teslacoiled]

About that Sapphire X800GTO2... Is it the "X800GTO FireBlade Edition[/b]"?! or GTO2 FireBlade Edition?!

How can I be really sure it's the GTO2 I'll buy, not the GTO?

Maybe stupid questions, but I couldn't find anything to be sure...

Tony.

 

[Teslacoiled]

No idea, huh?

 

[ribbon13]

the model number for the GTO2 (if you can get one, don't hesitate for a second!) is 100130
the model number for the Fireblade is 100129

If you can get a GTO2 you'll be very happy

 

[Teslacoiled]

Thank you ribbon13! You've been very helpful all day long!
I'm gonna search every single website and store here, maybe some worker left a GTO2 with a pile of GTO. LOL
Wish me luck!

Thank you again,
Tony.