soon to be AMD newb has questions

[NeoV]

Ok, I'm seeing stuff like the AMD 64 x 4400 dual proc chip, the new Nvidia card, and I'm thinking now is a good time for an upgrade.....

Tell me if I'm wrong about anything here...

DFI and Asus are my mobo choices right now - nforce (3 or 4 based?), and yes, I'll get an SLI board just in case. I've heard some concerns about the chipset fan on the Asus boards..any other problems or things I should know?

Ram, standard, not for overclocking, is PC 3200 - any other 'designation' on the ram? I'm going to go 2GB worth.

Power Supply - at least a 500W, I have read good things about Seasonic's quiet 500 and 600W PS

Am I missing anything?

thanks.

 

[Duvie]

more likely NF4 based mobos have the official support....

PC3200 is all you need as that is what AMD's memory controller is for...get some cas 2 stuff in 1gb modules otherwise you will have to run in 2t timing if there are 4 sticks..It is a hit nonetheless in performance so try to avoid it....

If you go SLI or have a power hungry vid card now I would look 500+....For person with single cards they can get by with 430 watters, IMO...if they dont OC they can even get by with quality 380watter...



Dont get SLI "just in case"...if you wont use it dont waste the money....

Are you going retail or OEM???

 

[Markfw]

Yup, I can attest to that. I have a 4400+ running at 2560 on a 380 with a 9600pro (for work, no hsf) and it does fine. But I can't get my other one to the same level, probably due to the 6800GT, so I am sure 430 would do it. I may swap some PSU's around and try a 430.

 

[joejccva]

Originally posted by: NeoV
Ok, I'm seeing stuff like the AMD 64 x 4400 dual proc chip, the new Nvidia card, and I'm thinking now is a good time for an upgrade.....

Tell me if I'm wrong about anything here...

DFI and Asus are my mobo choices right now - nforce (3 or 4 based?), and yes, I'll get an SLI board just in case. I've heard some concerns about the chipset fan on the Asus boards..any other problems or things I should know?

Ram, standard, not for overclocking, is PC 3200 - any other 'designation' on the ram? I'm going to go 2GB worth.

Power Supply - at least a 500W, I have read good things about Seasonic's quiet 500 and 600W PS

Am I missing anything?

thanks.

You can go with either Asus, MSI, or DFI boards. All 3 of those seem to be good for overclocking or just running stock is fine too. Go with an nForce4 chipset. You don't need an SLI board unless you are going to run 2 video cards in SLI mode or unless you plan to eventually. The Ultra boards (step under SLI) have the same features without the SLI.

Get Value RAM, save your money and buy a 6800GT video card. If you still want to OC your cpu you can, just run a memory divider. (basically runs memory at a slower speed than your FSB which is perfectly ok - CPU speed is king). Try to get 2.5 CAS memory if you can. Go with brands such as OCZ, Corsair, Kingston, a couple others I forgot names of). I bought the OCZ Value Ram 1gb (2x512) dual channel PC3200 2.5CAS which is fine for my overclocking.

Make sure you get a decent PSU, get atleast a 480W or higher. Go with brand names of Seasonic, Antec (480W or higher), Rosewill, OCZ, etc. Try to get a single rail PSU instead of dual rails, and get atleast 25A on the +12V rail.

Get a decent case: Either Thermaltake Soprano/Tsunami's, Antec P160 or P180, Coolermaster makes nice cases too.

Get good cooling: I personally use a Thermalright XP-90C heatpipie cooler w/ panaflo fan, try to get panaflo case fans too ..they aren't loud and work wonders. Alot of folks go with the Thermalright XP-120/90 series heatpipe coolers, some do the Zalman HSF's, some do water cooling. Up to your wallet.

Hope this helped.

 

[joejccva]

Originally posted by: Duvie
more likely NF4 based mobos have the official support....

PC3200 is all you need as that is what AMD's memory controller is for...get some cas 2 stuff in 1gb modules otherwise you will have to run in 2t timing if there are 4 sticks..It is a hit nonetheless in performance so try to avoid it....

If you go SLI or have a power hungry vid card now I would look 500+....For person with single cards they can get by with 430 watters, IMO...if they dont OC they can even get by with quality 380watter...



Dont get SLI "just in case"...if you wont use it dont waste the money....

Are you going retail or OEM???

If you are going to overclock, do not get the Antec TruePower II 430W PSU. It will not hold up and give you problems. My 430W PSU causes my system to automatically shut down after overclocking to 2.75ghz (275x10) as it's not enough power to support it. My system was overclocked and good to go as I ran prime95 for 14 hours and memtest86 for 12 hours and was rock solid.....up until the point of which I tried running 3dmark05 OR attempting to play Guildwars. As it turns out the 430W PSU i had did not have enough juice on the rail to support the overclock and it caused my system to just shutoff. No BSOD, No freezes, lockups or restarts...just turn off.

I would recommend spending a little extra money and get a 500W if you can.

 

[Duvie]

I have a 600watt OCZ so I am covered...he said he wasn't going to OC with his ram comment....

 

[joejccva]

I quoted the wrong guy...sorry. Yea. Although the more he hangs out on this forum, the more of an urge he will want to OC later on. hehe

I play it safe and get 500W+ PSU.

 

[Duvie]

I agree!!!

 

[Dadofamunky]

Originally posted by: joejccva

If you are going to overclock, do not get the Antec TruePower II 430W PSU. It will not hold up and give you problems. My 430W PSU causes my system to automatically shut down after overclocking to 2.75ghz (275x10) as it's not enough power to support it. My system was overclocked and good to go as I ran prime95 for 14 hours and memtest86 for 12 hours and was rock solid.....up until the point of which I tried running 3dmark05 OR attempting to play Guildwars. As it turns out the 430W PSU i had did not have enough juice on the rail to support the overclock and it caused my system to just shutoff. No BSOD, No freezes, lockups or restarts...just turn off.

I would recommend spending a little extra money and get a 500W if you can.

Agree there, that was the first PS I tried. I switched over to a modular PS (SE sig) and it runs like a tank. Otherwise I think you're definitely in the right ballpark.