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Opinions on my new rig about to order

P

pushVTEC

Senior member
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 Case

ASUS M2N-E Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra MCP ATX AMD Motherboard

POWERCOLOR 1900XT512OEM Radeon X1900XT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

ENERMAX Whisper II 535W PSU

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4GHz Socket AM2 dual core

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 dual channel

WD Caviar SATA 3.0gb/s 320 gig hd - although i may choose a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) (250 gig) hd

WD 74k 10k rpm raptor sata 3.0gb/s (gaming and os)

re-using my audigy sound card and dvd-rw

What you think?
 
I would not get the m2n-e, way too many problems with it, (see stickied thread in MoBo forum) what I'm planning on is the DFI am2 infinity.
Also, I would get the x1900xt 256mb and save some cash, not enough increase in fps to justify the cost.
As for the psu, I would opt for an enhance 5140gh or enermax liberty 400w. you don't really need more than that.
Seagate hdd's are better in performance than the wd 7200rpm hdds, and I wouldn't get a raptor, unless your budget is $2000, which I can see it isn't. Instead, get one 500gb seagate 7200.10 drive or something.
Are you ocing? If so, save a bunch of $$$ and get the 3800+ X2 and oc with a scythe ninja (the new one with the am2 bracket) If not, then get the 4200+ X2, you really won't need that much horsepower unless you're running dreamweaver, photoshop and decoding a movie at the same time.
Last thing: what kind of monitor do you have/ want to get?
Hope this helped...😀
 
Yeah I was reading some of the problems, but I heard if you use xms2 you will be fine, and I don't realyl want to spend more than $100 on a mobo. As for the 512 meg video card, people have told me not to worry about it, but I'm think more long term, and I'd rather spend an extra 100 or so now and get more life out of my card than if I just got a 256. I wont be oc'ing so my goal is to get a fast machine without cranking it up. My current machine is about 6-7 years old so I like to get the best, then run them for a while, but I am always open to suggestions. Why wouldn't you recommend the raptor? I'd put my os and any games I have to minimize load times. The current price of my rig as it sits is $1400, I have an LG 17" LCD 1280x1024 max res dvi. I chose the 535 watt because it was rated well, an enermax product, and was only a few bucks more than a 435 watt. Who knows what else i'll add to the machine down the road, and if I get an sli-mobo and two juice hungry video cards and add a few more drives, it would be nice to have the extra power.
 
Originally posted by: pushVTEC
Yeah I was reading some of the problems, but I heard if you use xms2 you will be fine, and I don't realyl want to spend more than $100 on a mobo. As for the 512, people have told me not to worry about it, but I'm think more long term, and I'd rather spend an extra 100 or so now and get more life out of my card than if I just got a 256. I wont be oc'ing so my goal is to get a fast machine without cranking it up. My current machine is about 6-7 years old so I like to get the best, then run them for a while, but I am always open to suggestions. Why wouldn't you recommend the raptor? I'd put my os and any games I have to minimize load times. The current price of my rig as it sits is $1400, I have an LG 17" LCD 1280x1024 max res dvi
Click to expand...

You heard wrong. I have XMS2 5400 RAM and it has been a freaking nightmare, honestly I would look elsewhere for a mobo.
 
You heard wrong. I have XMS2 5400 RAM and it has been a freaking nightmare, honestly I would look elsewhere for a mobo.
Click to expand...

Will do haha, any other recommendations for a reliable am2 mobo for the $100ish range? SLi a plus but not a requirement.
 
Originally posted by: pushVTEC
You heard wrong. I have XMS2 5400 RAM and it has been a freaking nightmare, honestly I would look elsewhere for a mobo.
Click to expand...

Will do haha, any other recommendations for a reliable am2 mobo for the $100ish range? SLi a plus but not a requirement.
Click to expand...

Take a look in the Motherboards forum. I did a search for AM2 and found some people recommending Epox, MSI, Abit.

Wish I had read about these before I bought the M2N-E :frown:
 
MSI k9n platinum or DFI am2 infinity. The DFI has 2 pci x16 slots so maybe you could hack it to SLi.
Also, 512mb doesn't increase the life of your card, unless you're refering to a longer time before you have to upgrade, in which case, that would be foolish, since the difference between the 512 and 256mb versions is 3-5 fps max.
 
Actually the 512MB isn't a bad deal. With a little o/c you've got an X1900XTX and saved some money. If you're running high(er) resolution the 512 vs 256 does make a real difference.
 
i was just thinking 512 because it seemed like when i got my 128 that's what everyone recommended and within 6 months 256 was what to shoot for, so that's why i'm thinking 512, since games as they get more complex could use more ram. But since I usually run my games at 1280x1024, I suppose I could do a 256.
 
Alright I really like MSI boards so I think i'm going to go after one of them. I looked at the specs for the K9n Platinum, K9N SLi platinum, and K9A crossfire Platinum. Are the only differences is the first one doesn't support sli, the second sli with nvidia cards, and the last supports ati's version of sli aka 'crossfire'? If I go after a 256 meg card I would get an sli/crossfire board so if the need ever arrises to get 512 megs of ram, or more processing power I could just add in another version of my card.
 
not necessarily boston dangler, you can get a nvidia 570 ultra chipset and put a x1900xt in it and it will work fine. However what you said holds true for dual gfx. xfire chipsets are only good for xfire, ATi cards, likewise, SLi chipsets are only good with sli nvidia cards. You can still run a single x1900xt on an sli board though...

...ps boston rules! (though the sox sucked it up this year) There's always the Pats.
 
Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
Originally posted by: bob4432
Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
Whatever you pick, nvidia mobo with nvidia video, ati with ati.
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worst advice i have heard in a long time. :thumbsdown:
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?

Please explain how mixing would have advantages.
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Please explain how not mixing would be wrong....
 
Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
Originally posted by: bob4432
Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
Whatever you pick, nvidia mobo with nvidia video, ati with ati.
Click to expand...

worst advice i have heard in a long time. :thumbsdown:
Click to expand...

?

Please explain how mixing would have advantages.
Click to expand...

the only benefit is if you are running crossfire or sli, which the op's board isn't. running a ati gpu on a nvidia chipset or vice versa doesn't matter as long as it is a single card setup, but putting out a blanket statement like you did has bearing on who the machine works. i have run ati and nvidia mixed for years with never an issue, as with hudreds of thousands of people
 
i'd stay away from the corsair personally, bad experiences.

dfi board works great with ocz ram
anything else i'd recommend ocz/mushkin/gskill
+1 on a 3800 over all else, simple oc to 4600 speed would be so easy it's cheesy
check out seasonic psu's while you are at it
and the seagate perp looks like best bang for buck, i'd get a raptor too, if it wasn't a rediculous price premium
put together a system like this and spend the money you save on the vidcard and ram.
 
What does everyone think of G.Skill ram? I found some with 4-4-4-12 timings and it got very positive reviews. (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820231065) However I read that the msi k9a platinum supports 1.8v ram, and the g.skill calls for 2.0-2.1, is that going to be a problem, or is it adjustable within the bios, I'm having a hard time finding that out?

Like I said, the extra money for the 4600 over the 3800 doesn't really bother me. Even if the 3800+ is that overclockable I would just prefer to have a fast chip out of the box and not risk having a chip that doesn't overclock well or wont perform like a 4600+. Plus I have heard of people overclocking the 4600+ to at least 2.7 ghz and others going up to 3, which is pretty nice.

I think I'm going to go with the MSI board as it support ddr2 800 and the DFI infinity board only supports ddr2 667, and the other one that does support 800 is like $200
 
Originally posted by: pushVTEC
What does everyone think of G.Skill ram? I found some with 4-4-4-12 timings and it got very positive reviews. (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820231065) However I read that the msi k9a platinum supports 1.8v ram, and the g.skill calls for 2.0-2.1, is that going to be a problem? Like I said, the extra money for the 4600 over the 3800 doesn't really bother me. Even if the 3800+ is that overclockable I would just prefer to have a fast chip out of the box and not risk having a chip that doesn't overclock well or wont perform like a 4600+. Plus I have heard of people overclocking the 4600+ to at least 2.7 ghz and others going up to 3, which is pretty nice. I think I'm going to go with the MSI board as it support ddr2 800 and the DFI infinity board only supports ddr2 667, and the other one that does support 800 is like $200
Click to expand...

why no c2d? and 3 on a 4600 - what type of cooling? liquid i am assuming.
 
I've been a loyal amd fanboy for years, and while the c2d does outperform the athlon x2 in a lot of things, I have a feeling amd will come out with something to compete with it better. When it does I'll have am2 and can just upgrade to the chip, but at these speeds and current software/games there isn't anything I can think of that an a 4600+ can't do that a c2d can, so I'll continue supporting AMD. I don't know the specs on the o/c of the 4600+, but I'm sure at 3ghz levels he is running some liquid.
 
I think you're making a mistake, not because AMD will never put out a CPU that will beat intel. They will eventually, but that you'll probably have to upgrade the motherboard when you get your next AMD chip anyway to make full use of it or to use it at all (remember socket A and FSB issues, or intel and voltage levels needed for the C2D lineup? Or maybe the crap performance of the C2D compatible NF4 based motherboards. Futureproofing in this case is somewhere between fantasy and stupidity and can best be summarised as follows: Marketing bull.)

There are things that a C2D can do that an AM2 can't. Hit 3Ghz+ consistently and do real time encoding of h.264 are the first things that spring to mind 😉 It doesn't outperform the AM2 lineup in a lot of things, it out performs it in nearly every way possible.

But if you're only gaming then just get a cheap AM2 chip and motherboard, overclock the living daylights out of it and replace it in two years with a new one.
 
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