Revised Build, A64, UTT memory, NF4, 6600GT etc...

[Twsmit]

Link to my original thread ----> http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=27&threadid=1566570&enterthread=y


I originally went with more premium parts, that I have since decided against getting. Here is what I will buy in a couple weeks once I am back home from school.

This will be a mild OC rig. Id like to hit ~2.5ghz and hold around there running 24/7.
Cooler: XP-90 with panaflow fan

CPU: $199 A64 3200+ Venice Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535

Mobo: $132 DFI "LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152

RAM: $104 1GB OCZ PC3200 Value (This is the "good UTT" right?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227213

Video Card: $169 XFX 6600GT (will upgrade to a next gen in the fall)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150078

PSU: $111 Antec TruePower 2.0 TP2-550 EPS12V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103932

HDD: $280 2x Seagate 7200.8 250GB (might do Raid, otherwise i need lots of space)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148065

DVD/RW: $60 Lite-On 16X DVD Dual Drive, Model SOHW-1693S Black
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106988

Soundcard: Onboard
FDD: Already Have
Speakers: Already Have old 4.1 speakers and have very nice headphones
Monitor: Using an old 19" CRT until I can make up my mind.
Case: I have an older Antec Tower (4 years old), Im just going to use it.




My only questions at this point are about the PSU and Ram. Will this PSU work?, anything wrong with it. I dont want something flashy, thats why im not going to the OCZ with its green LED's. Also the ram. From what I have read this is supposed to be the same as the high quality VX, just untested. Is that correct? I know the DFI can provide alot of voltage, so when I do some OC'ing it shoould work fine?


Everything look good?

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

From what I've heard on these forums, XFX seems to be a crappy manufacturer, and their cards break easily. Do you really need a $111 PSU? If you want to save some more money, the XClio 450W with dual 12V rails is only about $50... This system should definately run pretty well, though. The Venice, XP-90, and the DFI mobo should give you an ample overclock. RAM really doesn't matter much, as you can always run a divider.

 

[KoolDrew]

Don't get XFX. RAID is also a waste. Why not jsut get the 400GB drive?

 

[Twsmit]

k, i wont get XFX, i just wanted something cheap to last the summer. What brand would you guys recommend?


As for two drives, two 250GB is cheaper than 1x 400GB and gives me a total of 500GB. I know raid is a waste, and I may not even run raid, but a total of 500GB is nice for a cheaper cost than a 400GB drive.

 

[live2game]

Get some TCCD memory because UTT means UTesTed

 

[Twsmit]

Originally posted by: live2game
Get some TCCD memory because UTT means UTesTed

ok... but it seems that many people like the fact that they can run 3.2-3.4 volts and reach 240 - 260FSB @ 2,2,2,8.

Now I know the results are not guaranteed, but to me that seems like a steal, getting near DDR500 speeds at low latency for the cost of value ram.

Anyone else want to chime in. This is one area where I am not sure about, but am only going off what I have read.

 

[w00t]

i heard that ram oc's nicely but has to have some major voltage to do so.

edit: 500GB of hd space ya like ur ever gonna use it i used to want a 300gig till i relized i wasnt gonna do anything with it i have trouble filling up a 40gig i am so clean i use 11.5GB right now and i cant think of anything else to install.

 

[Maluno]

Originally posted by: w00t
i heard that ram oc's nicely but has to have some major voltage to do so.

Which is why he has decided on the DFI mobo, that thing can provide some serious volts. The ram is a great choice. :thumbsup: Only thing that is different from the system I'm building soon is the video card could be upgraded if you are going to be doing some intense gaming. I would choose x800xl for ~ $275, but if your budget is a concern, go with the 6600gt and upgrade next fall.

BTW, who told you that raid is a waste?

Good luck!

 

[Twsmit]

Originally posted by: w00t
i heard that ram oc's nicely but has to have some major voltage to do so.

edit: 500GB of hd space ya like ur ever gonna use it i used to want a 300gig till i relized i wasnt gonna do anything with it i have trouble filling up a 40gig i am so clean i use 11.5GB right now and i cant think of anything else to install.

Yeah I know, right now i actually have an external 250GB hard drive almost full and my internal 60GB has 5GB left... lol

I actually do need the space.

 

[knothead34]

dfi requires 480watts and native 24 pin power cord. i wouldnt recommend the value ram dfi is picky about ram as it is. however if you cant budget more for ram then have to go with the value stuff. any questions about dfi ultra d head on over to dfi-stree.com. there you can see what ram others are using. power supply i would recommend and others are using for that board is fortron blue storm 500watts has braided cables and 24 pin power cord and its cheaper then the truepower you picked out.

 

[Maluno]

Originally posted by: w00t
Yeah I know, right now i actually have an external 250GB hard drive almost full and my internal 60GB has 5GB left... lol

I actually do need the space.

Hopefully its all _legal_ stuff!

 

[KoolDrew]

BTW, who told you that raid is a waste?

If you haven't gotten the hint by now, we'll spell it out for you: there is no place, and no need for a RAID-0 array on a desktop computer. The real world performance increases are negligible at best and the reduction in reliability, thanks to a halving of the mean time between failure, makes RAID-0 far from worth it on the desktop.
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2101&p=11

 

[Twsmit]

Originally posted by: knothead34
dfi requires 480watts and native 24 pin power cord. i wouldnt recommend the value ram dfi is picky about ram as it is. however if you cant budget more for ram then have to go with the value stuff. any questions about dfi ultra d head on over to dfi-stree.com. there you can see what ram others are using. power supply i would recommend and others are using for that board is fortron blue storm 500watts has braided cables and 24 pin power cord and its cheaper then the truepower you picked out.

Yeah i have heard nothing but good things about that PSU, but two things I do not like about it. It has only 1 PCIe Video connector and it does not have many SATA connectors. I like a clean looking case and having to run adaptors mucks things up.

Im also not a fan of the blue coloring. But I have considered it, I just think the overall package of the Truepower is more attractive. The prices $90 vs $111 is not great enough to sway me.

As for the ram Iv read this ad DFI-Street as well as various other forums. The only thing about this ram is that it needs lot of voltage to get a high OC. But since Im only looking for a moderate OC and can use dividers if need be, this "value ram" makes sense to me. It costs just slightly more than other value rams, but provides the performance of OCZ ram that costs 2x as much.

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthr...e4913d4e8f994674&t=12243&highlight=ocz

 

[Maluno]

Ok, so Raid may not offer much of a performance benefit, but that is not the point. The point is the functionality of having an array acting as one disk.

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: Maluno
Ok, so Raid may not offer much of a performance benefit, but that is not the point. The point is the functionality of having an array acting as one disk.

Which reduces reliability which just makes it even more of a waste of money.

Also get this memory
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/3602905?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

It is the best value OCing memory there is!

 

[Twsmit]

Is it better than the OCZ Value VX? It costs $15 more, it its based on UTT memory isnt it all the same pretty much?

Oh and Im not sure if i will go raid or not, but IMO the "instability" from Raid-0 is irrelevent, as is the "security of Raid-1. The MTBF is so small doubling it doesnt do much, and if you get a virus that nukes your HDD, Raid-1 wont save you.

The only reason I will use Raid-0 is like Maluno said, to make one super 500GB drive. I may just go ahead and make one partition of 2GB for swapfile, 100GB for Windows and programs and the rest for files... something like that.

 

[KoolDrew]

Is it better than the OCZ Value VX? It costs $15 more, it its based on UTT memory isnt it all the same pretty much?

Yes it is better. The Mushkin is overall better quality and the rma service is awesome. It can easily reach 260+ however the value VX is only guaranteed to run at stock. Mushkin will replace your sticks if you are unhappy with the results.

I may just go ahead and make one partition of 2GB for swapfile, 100GB for Windows and programs and the rest for files... something like that.

All putting the pagefile on a seperate partition, but on the same physical drive would do is decrease performance by increasing seek times. Leave it system managed on the root partition.

 

[Twsmit]

im confused, how is the mushkin guaranteed anything over 200mhz?

Also about the swpa file, whoa thanks, i was told that making a seperate partition for the swap was better because there was no fragmentation... oooppss.

 

[ShadowBlade]

Originally posted by: Twsmit
k, i wont get XFX, i just wanted something cheap to last the summer. What brand would you guys recommend?

if its just a temporary card, get some crappy FX5700 or something