New motherboard and cpu needed

[Siaf__csf]

not gaming people hold on to theres' quite a bit longer then 3 years.

Not gaming people do well with a quarter of the computing power of a modern computer. You don't need 1Ghz for Word or Excel. Hence they don't overclock.

Neeext..

[Skuzzy]

Siaf, you do make a few generalizations which do not hold true for most people.  I keep my computers 5 years.

You water cool, which puts you in a small percentage of computer owners.  I am not saying its bad, just noting your perspective is probably not what most people's is.

I have seen many new people burn up thier computer trying to overclock it.  It is not something to be approached with wild abandon and takes quite a bit of planning to make sure you do not damage something, or negate the life of the product.

It is all about attention to detail.

[eagl]

I get 10641 in 3dmark2001SE using hajo's settings and all the vid driver settings turned to highest quality.  I get only 12769 at defaults, so that pretty much defines "cpu limited" I think.

6800GT
Athlon XP 2000+

I'll re-run it hopefully this weekend after I rebuild my system with my just-arrived athlon 64 parts.  FWIW, I plan on overclocking by approx 10% (200 FSB to approx 220 FSB) and from all accounts, this should be trivial using the parts I got.  No over-volting necessary at all.  Like Skuzzy said, successful overclocking is all about the details.  Planning ahead and getting the right parts is how it all starts, and hopefully 4 months of research was enough  I did skip on the currently very popular TCCD chip memory in favor of crucial ballistix, but since I'm not going for extreme overclocking I should get the results I'm aiming at.  If I'm careful, I think 250 fsb should be easily attainable with the parts I've purchased but I don't know if I'll push it that hard.  

The best bet for me is to find out how fast the memory will go by reducing the cpu multiplier and slowly increasing the FSB, then backing everything off and creep the cpu multiplier back up to find out how fast the cpu wants to go at stock voltages, then back everything off from the max settings to try to keep system reliability up.  Anywhere above 2.2 ghz and 220 fsb on the memory is "gravy" as far as I'm concerned because that would be a 10% overclock across the board and the price difference to buy that speed instead of what I bought is around $200.

My 6800GT also runs quite happily at 6800 Ultra speeds but at around $150 lower price, but I'm not running it that fast in hopes of having it last longer.

Anyhow, get the right parts and don't be greedy, and an overclocked system can be just as reliable as a system running at stock speeds.  It might even be more reliable if you started with high quality "overclocking quality" parts instead of super cheap bits.

[Siaf__csf]

Without wanting to be disrespecting, Skuzzy, do you really use the same hardware for 5 years for (and I stress) gaming use?

I'd never o/c my office computer. Not even though I use a calculus intensive program for work that uses 100% CPU time all the time.

But for gaming I find hardware has a really  short lifespan, too short for my taste. Overclocking can stretch that a bit, either by expanding the usefulness of your expensive hardware or making a cheap purchase playable for some period of time.

Even I don't watercool any longer, didn't bother to purchase a new block for the A64+mess with the tubes. So far the A64 has satisfyed my needs fully with standard aircooling (hey, just bumped the fsb a notch )

However in one thing I fully agree with Skuzzy. You should never EVER attempt to overclock if:

a) You don't know 100% sure what you're doing
b) You're ready to risk having damage to your hardware by mistake.

Only if you meet those two conditions should you play with overclocks. But hey, it's fun when it's done right!

[Skuzzy]

Not disrespectful at all.  Yes, I only replace my system once every 5 years.  When I do, I usually get the top end gear available and then push it for all its worth.
I might upgrade a video card during that time, but I will not be able to this time around as the chances of getting a faster AGP card than the X800XT is pretty slim, with AGP going away.

[Glasses]

Next thing you know we'll be sticking old radiators inside our PCs and Turbo supercharging the damned things.

[wombatt]

Originally posted by Pollock
Wombatt,

You say stock voltage? is that 1.5V core.

On my current rig I have the retail fan and heatsink, and I never had a need to check the temp (northwoods run cool).

i wonder if I can get to the 3GHZ with a retail fan and heat sink.

I am still researching before making the purchase.  I did some evaluations last nite on my current rig.

What do you benchmark your rig at in 3dmark 2001

My current settings in AH2 are:

1024 X 768
refresh @ 85 I think.
preferance slides 75% towards performance.

Frame rates maxed at 85.
In furious action down to 18 and choppy.
Averaged FR of 60.

These are ok with the exeption of the heavy action which really hurts the game play imo.

I ran a 3D mark 2001 this morning with default settings and scored 13363.

Settings I would like to play AH2:

1280 X 1024
4 X FSAA would be nice (but not critial)
preferance sliders set 75% towards quality
These were the settings I played AH1 in from 2002 to 2003 and I never dropped below 30 fps.


I estimate that if I can benchmark above 20000 in 3dmark 2001, would put me at the desired settings.

Hajo,

I am really curious to know youre 3dmark 2001 is.  That system sounds like it would put you into the high 20s easily.

I have yet to locate a 3dmark 2001 for the amd combo I am looking at.

Yeppers stock V-core but I do kick up the ram voltage just a tick.
I have not run any Bench marks in awhile just know that it works LOL.

[Siaf__csf]

Believe it or not, I modified an old radiator for passive watercooling use.

Been there, done that.

[wombatt]

The above is on air cooling.

[eagl]

Update:

New computer is almost all the way set up.  I had to do some manual registry editing because I got most of my old software installation back by recovering from a backup...  Anyhow, with everything at stock speeds:

Athlon 64 3200+
1 gig crucial ballistix pc3200
6800GT at 400/1100

3dmark2001SE - 21574
32mark2001SE with Hajo's settings - 16754

[Pollock]

a quick update.

No decision has been made yet.  I am still researching to stretch the dollar as far as I can go.

According to a friend of mine, this is the best bang for the buck chip out there right now.  

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-499&depa=0

He says it has the same qualities of the P4 1.6 northwood that I have now.

[Hajo]

Pollock"

Did some shopping at BZBOYZ.com.

Something to think about

Abit KV8 mobo
Athlon64 3000
Via chipset K8T800  (which I am using)
heat sync, fan and 256 ram PC3200 (DDR400)

270.86$  now onsale at BzBoyz .com

Check out their combos, can select by brand of mobo.

I like the ASUS and Abits.....both can be had with the NF chipset.

By the way...I'd upgrade to the next fan...AMD approved.

[Pollock]

I will check it out Hajo thanks.

I saw new egg also has some deals on re-furbed motherboards.

I was hesitant at buying re-furbs but my current motherboard asus p4b266 is a re-furb, and it is great.  The nice thing is you save average 60 dollars, this could be used for heat sink and fan.

[Kev367th]

Also check out the 90mn AMD64 3200, I've seen posts from guys who have clocked ot to 3500 speeds.

[ebgb]

Abit KV8 -  Nooooo.  
 
The 939pin A64 is by far the better choice.  Your original cpu choice will permit some upgrade path, however small as AMD transitions to dual core in the near future.  The 754pin is single channel memory, not dual like the 939.

The KV8 is a 754pin and therefore ill advised.

Marry this CPU to a PCIXpress mainboard, and you're good to go.