New computer - maybe

[Jeff]

This is what I have for my new computer: Case. Motherboard, gfx card, power supply, CPU, RAM, HDD. Am I missing anything?

I haven't ordered anything yet

[zooYork]

specs are always good, that way you can get opinions and suggestions about the new system. :) :D

[Jeff]

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/WishList/WishShareShow.asp?ID=1515742&WishListTitle=AMD-New

Lists all my stuff

[Beerknurd]

Sweet... Me like!!!

[zooYork]

nice midrange system, but it would be a lot better to go with a socket 939. amd suggests they will be supported much long than 754, and if later you decide to upgrade, you could get a dual core system. but still, the system you have there should serve you pretty good. :P :)

[Jeff]

hmm, I thought it was closer to a higher end system. :(

[Keith75]

Only thing I might suggest is that you go with an nForce 3-250 MB instead of the Via.

Keith

[Ototero]

Don't forget the CDRW and/or DVDRW.

Cables (might seem a bit obvious).

Does the CPU come with a cooler?

I also agree with zooYork, go for a 939 system.

[Empty_5oul]

personally i would go 939 rather than 754.
I have never heard of a 939 3400+ though so you would have to drop down to a 3200 or increase to a 3500.

I like the hardrive being sata, very fast.

Have you thought about PCI express at all? You would be getting a good graphics card but it is slowed by the connections -- I notice the prices for these are fairly cheap

[AMDave]

Don't forget a UPS.

Check the recalls through the Fire Service, though.

I was checking our local Fire Service pages for some printer power pack models (which I found) when I noticed that there were a couple of UPS models on the list as well. Apparently the batteries in these models tended to overheat and had caused some fires, hence the product recalls for those models.

[vaughan]

As your world famous Queenslander the Crocodile Man says Dave, "crikey". Now you have me worried as my office has 6 UPSs in it.

At least it has got two smoke alarms too. One mains powered with UPS backup, the other is a standard K-Mart battery powered model.


Jeff - go 939 if you can and get dual channel memory, ie 2 sticks of the same brand and speed DDR400 256MB RAM will do. Doomeva's A64 3500 has a stock AMD heatsink fan and it runs fast and cool and not very loud (compared to the P4 3.2 Prescott and its stock HSF right next to it. Its my dedicated SOB cruncher, overclocked 5% to 3360MHz.) The 9600XT graphics card you selected is fine. I have one also and it copes with most games, but then I usually play Age of Empires Rise of Rome so I don't push the graphics envelope! The ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe is an amazingly full-featured and stable motherboard if you can fork out the cash for one.

[AMDave]

vaughan,
check this link, second last listing on that page (at time of writing)
http://www.fire.qld.gov.au/about/bb.asp
"Two specific models Back-UPS CS 350 and Back-UPS CS 500"
they would be 2 to 3 years old
the page lists serial numbers

[vaughan]

Phew, I have Opti-Ups and PowerWare, not APC.

[AMDave]

LOL I wondered where you just went.
I expect the "Phew" was from lifting up all those UPSs and turning them upside down to check the labels :P :lol:
My house has 2 UPS smoke alarms + 3 battery alarms. I'm not muckin' around. If it catches fire the entire neighbourhood will be awake to watch the spectacle. (knocks on wood).

Seriously though, thats good news.
It was worth checking.

BACK ON TOPIC (sorry spjeff69)
my thoughts - if it was me I'd get a socket that is ok for a current CPU but is also upgradeable to the new dual-core and a BIOS that will take the Flash upgrade to handle it and enough RAM slots to make use of it. Upgrade paths are hard to come by these days.

[Jeff]

Hmm, I think I will be doing so modifying.

Do you think 512mb of RAM is fine? I thought I have 2 sticks of OCZ 512mb DDR. That would be dual channel wouldn't it?

Jeff

[Empty_5oul]

no
that would be 2x512meg. so 1 gig of memory.

dual channel is separate but if you want that make sure your motherboard supports it

[Jeff]

New List:

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/WishList/WishShareShow.asp?ID=1515742&WishListTitle=AMD-New

[Ototero]

Nice, buy 2 and bring 1 one over. ;)

[Empty_5oul]

yep, thats very good.

I can't see anything i would want to change.

[vaughan]

Jeff change the graphics card :!:
The ASUS board is a PCI-Express. The GPU you selected is AGP 8x. Consider buying 1x Leadtek WinFast PX6600 GT TDH 128MB SLI card now. Then in 6 months when you can afford it, buy a second matching one and enable SLI on the ASUS motherboard. Easy upgrade to better than 6800 Ultra graphics power.

[Jeff]

What is SLI? I've seen it advertised, but haven't paid much attention.

After I went to bed, I realized that the new board was PCI-Express

[zooYork]

sli is 2 video cards to share the load of just one, its suppose to give you better performance in sli supported games (doom 3, far cry, riddick) but in some of the benchmarks ive seen, 1 card can do better. its your choice, but id wait till later this summer to see what ati has in store for its next gen cards. (similar to the one that they put in xbox 2) still overall thats a great system, your making me jealous now. :lol: :cool:

[Jeff]

Do you know anything about the Venice and San Diego Cores?

I can't decide which one to go for. I think the San Diego core has 1mb L2 cache.

[Empty_5oul]

wheres the link for those two, i can only find the san diego one on their site.

From what i have seen i think that one is better and the range of it extends further as i think the highest venice is 3800 where SD goes up to 4000.

edit--I have just had a better search and cannot find a venice at 3700+.

[zooYork]

venice core was made after the initial "clawhammer" core for reduced power, and it also introduced the sse3 technology into the amd 64 lineup.

the san diego core is an improved version of the venice core with a better integrated memory controller, the san diego is usually on the higher chips like the 3500, 3700, 4000, and the soon to be 4200. i think, i might be wrong.

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (socket 939) 90nm - SOI - L1 cache 128k - L2 cache 1MB @ 2.00GHz (San Diego) w/ DSL Technology & SSE3
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ (socket 939) 90nm - SOI - L1 cache 128k - L2 cache 1MB @ 2.20GHz (San Diego) w/ DSL Technology & SSE3
AMD Athlon 64 4200+ (socket 939) 90nm - SOI - L1 cache 128k - L2 cache 1MB @ 2.60GHz (San Diego) w/ DSL Technology & SSE3

either way if you can afford it go for the san diego core, its an overclocking champ. :)

[zooYork]

better yet, i found a table and you can see the lowered vcore and the cores themselves.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/cpu/athlon64-venice/models.gif

[Empty_5oul]

is there a venice 3700+??
i cannot find one anywhere online

also how do you find out what you have, as i am running a 64 3200+ but i dont know what it is (i don't think it is winchester) - but hopefully it is.
Do i have to take my heatsink off to check and then translate the letters/code on the CPU or will it say on the box?

[zooYork]

i really dont think a 3700+ venice exists, 3700+ only exist in the 754 socket range and its a san diego or clawhammer core.

check to see if your chip supports sse3, most of the winchesters do not. also, if you have a motherboard monitor check to see if the vcore is below 1.41, im not sure but maybe the venice cores run below 1.41 like it shows in the table.

i made sure i got a winchester, as theyre more reliable and are better overclockers. :cool:

[Jeff]

Are SanDiego Cores good OCers?

3700+ San Diego :
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103539

EDIT:

This is a socket 939

[zooYork]

didnt know there was one for 939, every time i googled it was always 754. oh well. :lol: doh

every review ive read people are oc'ing these things 200-400 mhz stable on air. of course though they have good memory to do it with.

[Empty_5oul]

from the reviews i have found they seem good.
i would stick with that one jeff.

[Jeff]

Zoo,

Isn't OCZ good memory?

Empty,

Thanks, I think I am going to stick with this one

[Lagu]

Spjeff 69

Go 939 because you can upgrade to AMD64x2 in the future. 754 allows not upgrading to future processors. Of sourse you can shoose 754 but when you will upgrade you must change motherboard.

Lagu :)

[Empty_5oul]

i was looking for a memory round up but found this on some of the top 939 motherboards
http://www17.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20050103/index.html
thought it may be of use to you.

with memory you get what you pay for, if something is significantly cheaper it probably isn't a great deal but has someting slower about it e.g. CAS timings.

[zooYork]

yea ocz is good memory, the reason i say this is because the only way to oc any of the amd 64 chips is is to change the fsb. all the chips are multiplyer locked (except for the fx cpu's), you have to have fast memory to compensate for the fsb increase.

say for instance, my 3000+ winchester is multiplyer locked at 9, and the default fsb is 200. 9 x 200 = 1800 mhz (the fsb is really much higher on this chip, but its integrated so i dont know what it really is)

i can increase my fsb only in occordance to the speed of memory i have, so the faster memory i have the more i can oc the fsb.

hope this helps. :)

[Jeff]

Is Lower CAS better or Higher?

[zooYork]

lower the better.

i forgot i had sisoft sandra 2004, my total fsb is 2x1000(2000mhz datarate). i totally forgot about sisoft.

[Jeff]

Is the RAM I chose good enough for Ocing?

[Empty_5oul]

reading comment 3 the OC potential doesn't seem that great. It is luck though, as with CPU's some sticks are good and others not so good.

The dual channel memory i got was Geil -- i think this one would be the US equivilent http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/FeedBack/CustRatingReview.asp?Item=N82E16820144310
actual UK one i got: http://www.microdirect.co.uk/productinfo.aspx?productID=5608

This is very quick and has a low speed and access times. Many reviews and people have posted saying they can oush it to 433 easy.

[Empty_5oul]

mainly for ototero.
i just did a currency convert for this spec machine.

792.99 USD = 433.90 GBP
United States Dollars = United Kingdom Pounds

:O these prices are crazy. you would get nothing like that spec wise for the same money.

[Ototero]

:mad: The price differential is a lot less now than a few years ago.