Opinions on the new system I'm considering.

[SunKing]

Thanks to http://www.partypoker.com I have $1000.00 to spend on a new system.

I've decided on the CPU and Mobo I want to purchase.

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 90nm Winchester

Link

ASUS "A8V Deluxe" VIA K8T800
Link

I want to take advantage of the dual channel mem and overclock this system, so I need you pros to recommend what memory I should put in this system. And also which psu I will need to purchase to make it all run smooth.

I've decided for now I want to use my current video card an ATI 9700pro . Until I make some more money at the tables.  


Would it be a good Idea to pick up this particular fan for this cpu also?

Link

Thanks for the help and all opinions welcome.

[eagl]

I prefer thermalright HSF units (check http://www.thermalright.com) but that thermaltake unit looks ok.

I also like crucial memory because their RMA process has been very good in my experience.  They will even cross-ship memory.  The crucial ballistix high performance memory costs a lot but it's supposedly pretty good.  If you don't need that fast of memory, their regular stuff is high quality.  I usually order directly from crucial.com but you may be able to find it a bit cheaper at a retail store.  OCZ memory is also good according to web reviews I've read.

http://www.hardocp.com recently put together 2 lists of stuff they'd get if they had $500 and $1500 to spend (I think that's the amount) and it would be worth your time browsing through the hardocp articles and reviews since they review all this stuff.

[SunKing]

will do .. thanks for the link.

[Reschke]

Purely personal preference here with the HSF for the CPU. Take a look around online for reviews on this Gigabyte HSF unit. It dropped my CPU temps about 15° C at idle. In games and CPU loads it keeps it pretty cool in the  35-40° C range. I went from the stock HSF on the retail 3200+ Athlon64 to this one.

[Kev367th]

That is the same system I have (CPU and mobo).
Corsair TwinX Pro memroy has 2-2-2-5 mem timings which is fast. Wish I'd got it instead of my LL mem which is 2-3-2-6 and $20 more expensive.
I use a Zalman fan

[SunKing]

Well I changed my mind a bit. After reading that site and countless threads over on http://www.sharkyforums.com I've choosen.

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor Socket 939  90nm Whin

Corsair TWINX1024-3200XLPRO 1GB Kit DDR400 XMS3200 Xtra-Low Latency Dual-Channel ProSeries   2-2-2-5

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum nForce3 Ultra Athlon 64(FX) Skt939 DDR ATX Motherboard

Thermalright XP-90 & Panaflo 80x25 Medium Fan

Western Digital Caviar SE WD2000JD 200GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer

Antec TruePower TrueControl 550 550W ATX12 Power Supply Retail

This should OC nicely and stable.


We'll see how the 9700pro holds up in this rig. I hope its not that much of a bottleneck in HL2. At least Aces High should look and run its best.  Thanks for the ideas.

[Balsy]

Alright this build your own thing is driving me nuts

im considering purchasing the fx53... and I cant tell from AMDs website if im required to use registered memory or not.

It seems like they "suggest" it but its not required.  What gives here??? Am I supposed to go with what the MB company says for compatibility, and screw what AMD says. or vice versa?

Thanks for your replies

[Balsy]

Q: Why are you offering the AMD Athlon™ 64 FX-53 Processor in a 939-pin package?
 
A: AMD believes in bringing to market customer-centric technology that benefits partners and end users. By offering the AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 processor in a 939-pin package, AMD is enabling performance enhancements and next-generation platform innovations with the use of a cost-effective four-layer circuit board and higher performing unbuffered DDR memory (Compared to registered DDR memory in the 940-pin part).

[Rasker]

Here is the link for the article that HardOCP wrote about spending $500 to upgrade:  http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjU5

They select (New Egg prices, then-9/22/04- and now)

 Athlon64 2800+ (with retail heatsink) CPU $146 $129

ABIT KV8Pro socket 754 mobo $101 $89

Kingston 1x512MB Value Series PC-3200 Ram $102 $95.68

PowerColor ATI RADEON 9600XT Ultra video card  $149 (now only avail $102-124 refurb'd)


Here's the link for the $1,500 build/upgrade:  http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Njcz