Run! Run! The Wolfdale is coming!

[Sirlaughalot87]

Got your attention didn´t i?

Okay, to the point, my nearly ancient Amd Athlon 64 3500+ with 2x512 PC3200 DDR1 memory and a Radeon 1950 Pro (PCI-e) is nearly ready to be handed down a generation so i´m looking at a rather upgrade and since the Wolfdale has a very good price, i think i might go with that...

Here is my "proposed" build

CPu: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz 6MB FSB1333

GPu:Gigabyte GeForce 8800GT 512MB DDR3

PSu:Corsair VX Series PSU 550W( ohh how i love a strong 12+v one rail!)
Amps are as follows: +3.3v=30a +5v=20 A +12v=41 A -12v=0.8 A +5VSB= 3 A

Memory: Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX 2x2048MB (tot. 4096MB) DDR2 PC2-6400 800MHz (standard 800mhz timings)

Motherboard: MSi P7N Zilent( bascily a Nforce 750i board bundeld with a Zalman NP9500 CPU cooler) ( i know this is a SLi board and i won´t really use two cards in it so if anyone of you can find a motherboard that works with DDR2 1066,PCI-e 2.0 and has one PCI-e slot instead of two i would be grateful)

Harddrive: Western Digital Caviar XL WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200rpm 16MB SATA2

Maybe i should mention at that i will be using Windows Vista 64-bit in this build, so if you have any suggestions on any other OS or if you think that i should use just plain 32-bit, please let me know.


My Pc will be used for gaming and maybe some study(writing mostly)
My budget is 7500 Swedish krona max..that would be 1234.12 US dollars
I will buy my parts in Sweden(mr Obvious!)
My only brand "preference" is that apart from the motherboard, nothing in my rig will have Nvidia in it.
I will not use any if my old parts since my parents are in need of a "new" computer.
I have not searched or read any similar threads
My build "might" be used for overclocking but only with minimum risk if at all.

Thanks for any and all replies!

Arghh! The Wolf is back!!

Edit: first revision in!

 

[DSF]

PCI-e 2.0 isn't really necessary. Your graphics card will work just fine in a regular PCI-e x16 slot, which opens up your motherboard choices to include the ones most frequently recommended around here. (P35-based boards from Abit, Gigabyte, Asus, MSI and DFI are all good.)

If you're planning to overclock, then go ahead and get the DDR2-1066. Just be aware that you'll almost certainly have to manually adjust your RAM voltage to reach that speed. If you're not planning to overclock then you may as well just get DDR2-800.

 

[Sirlaughalot87]

really?

I thought that the newer cards NEEDS PCI-e 2.0 to function...so they are backwards compatiable?

About the memory..i just thought that speed is good, even if i would have to change the voltage from 1.8v to 2.1v for those memory sticks, so its as i have learnt? the performance gain from 800 to 1066 is not worth it?

 

[chinaman1472]

yes they are backwards compatible.
the performance gain from 800 to 1066 is only there only if you overclock past 3.6GHz if you use a 1:1 DRAM:FSB ratio. If you're not going to do hardcore overclocking, then stick to DDR2-800.

 

[Sirlaughalot87]

okay then, i have changed the 1066 to 800 mhz memory but i´m just curious; why is 3.6 GHZ the sweet spot?
and another thing...is it hard to reach that overclock?

So what do you guys think about Vista 64-bit then? worth the extra hassle?

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Originally posted by: Sirlaughalot87
okay then, i have changed the 1066 to 800 mhz memory but i´m just curious; why is 3.6 GHZ the sweet spot?
and another thing...is it hard to reach that overclock?

So what do you guys think about Vista 64-bit then? worth the extra hassle?

i'd say theres a good 40-50% chance you'll run into problems

luckily you're not getting an nvidia card, if u were, that % would be up to 60-75%

 

[coreyb]

Why is there that high of a chance exactly? What problems do you think he will run into?

I am running Vista 64 with a Nvidia card. No problems here.

 

[Sirlaughalot87]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS

Originally posted by: Sirlaughalot87
okay then, i have changed the 1066 to 800 mhz memory but i´m just curious; why is 3.6 GHZ the sweet spot?
and another thing...is it hard to reach that overclock?

So what do you guys think about Vista 64-bit then? worth the extra hassle?

i'd say theres a good 40-50% chance you'll run into problems

luckily you're not getting an nvidia card, if u were, that % would be up to 60-75%

I really wonder what go go wrong, every peice of hardware i have has 64-bit drivers, are you saying that those drivers are not working?

The only "real" trouble i might run into is that some of my games might not work in 64-bit but i assume that ever game that is made after the realease of Vista is 64-bit compatible..is this assumption wrong?

 

[chinaman1472]

Originally posted by: Sirlaughalot87
okay then, i have changed the 1066 to 800 mhz memory but i´m just curious; why is 3.6 GHZ the sweet spot?
and another thing...is it hard to reach that overclock?

The RAM speed is multiplied by 2 (hence DDR2). So DDR2-800 really runs at 400MHz (or less). FSB speeds on the Intel E**** CPUs are multiplied by 4. Since the E8400 has a 1333MHz FSB, it's really a 333MHz FSB. The multiplier on the E8400 is 9x. 9x333 gives you 3.0GHz. Now, when you bump the FSB up to 400MHz, 9x400 gives you 3.6GHz.

Depending on the memory sticks you get, you *might* be able to squeeze a little more out of it if your CPU chip is capable of it. Some are inherently good chips and overclock well, others aren't. How hard is it to reach 3.6GHz? That's something an E8400 user will have to comment on.

You can find out more in the CPU and Overclocking forum.

 

[Sirlaughalot87]

Okay..now i think i have another "problem"...apperently the Radeon 3870 is not all that great anymore with the release of the 9600s and those 9800GTX cards sure look like a fine performance take, my only trouble with the 9800GTX is that it would practicly double my GPU budget and i wonder if its worth it?

Ever since my 6800 Ultra died on me one year ago, i have a reluctance to put ANYTHING with Nvidia into my build, the good thing with the 6800 was that it lasted for two years; nearly a century in PC-terms.

My question is this..which one of the GPUs out now would last the longest? Apart from the 9800x2 beast?

 

[LW07]

Originally posted by: Sirlaughalot87
Okay..now i think i have another "problem"...apperently the Radeon 3870 is not all that great anymore with the release of the 9600s and those 9800GTX cards sure look like a fine performance take, my only trouble with the 9800GTX is that it would practicly double my GPU budget and i wonder if its worth it?

Ever since my 6800 Ultra died on me one year ago, i have a reluctance to put ANYTHING with Nvidia into my build, the good thing with the 6800 was that it lasted for two years; nearly a century in PC-terms.

My question is this..which one of the GPUs out now would last the longest? Apart from the 9800x2 beast?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130318
This 8800GT would be the best card for you, as it will perform about as well as the 9800GTX will, and is $100ish cheaper.

 

[Sirlaughalot87]

quick bump for new question!

Could anyone of you recommend a good motherboard for this build? aside from the MSI Zilent board i found?

 

[GullyFoyle]

Since you state you don't want/need SLI, practically any new motherboard will fit your requirements (works with DDR2 1066,PCI-e 2.0 and has one PCI-e slot).
Is there some other unstated requirement that needs met?

Since you hate Nvidia so much, why not buy a board based on Intel P35? Such as the GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L almost everyone else in this forum uses?

Edit: Sorry, I see P35 does not support PCIe 2.0. Nevermind.

 

[zerogear]

Well, PCI-E 3.0 should be out by mid next year.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ar...3-0-specification.html

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS

Originally posted by: Sirlaughalot87
So what do you guys think about Vista 64-bit then? worth the extra hassle?

i'd say theres a good 40-50% chance you'll run into problems

I've been using Vista Ultimate x64 for a year and not had any problems.