Early_Q
01-10-2006, 09:40 PM
Well it's been three years and I'm rolling around to replacing the backbone of my PC
I've run into a few snags, motherboard selection is turning out to be the most difficult.
For convention, this is my early build model (basics), it is a gaming rig:
Mobo: Abit AN8 Ultra NF4
CPU:Athlon 64 3700+ 1MB L2
RAM: Corsair TWINX Paired 512s PC3200
GPU: Radeon x850XT 256mb
My first choice was Abit, since the AT7 Max2 served me well, but I've got a few problems, mainly on finer technical points:
1)Do Athlon 64s support Dual Channel DDR400? That is the attraction of a nForce 4 chipset for me, but I've heard the 64s have integrated memory controllers which means DualDDR isn't used regardless, but apparently the newer models do . If someone could give a definitive answer on a 64 3700+ it'd be appreciated!
2)SATAII - is it worth bothering with this new technology? I'm torn between a Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 SATA, or a Maxtor DMax10 SATAII (mainy for the 16mb cache), which is one of my trouble spots with selecting a motherboard. If anyone can clarify that the extra interface speed is in reality useless, it would set my mind at ease.
3)PSUs... I've seen alot of people posting new builds involving 450-550W PSUs. I have a 3 year old 350W Enermax Whisper, very nice and stable (and expensive) piece of kit. Obviously I'd like to resuse as much equipment as possible, but I'm wondering if PC power requirements have jumped so much as to necessitate a new and more powerful PSU. Not only that but I think I read somewhere graphics cards, and the SATA hard Drives now use new/different plugs? My old PSU might not have enough molex plugs etc.
My further problems are more specific, my preliminary choice (based on a need for SATAII and Dual Channel) would be Abit's AN8 Ultra but I'm left a tad confused, if anyone with experiance with this board could clear things up for me:
4) Does the heatpipe cooling setup work effectively? Some reviews have said its fine, others have moaned about stability issues and poor heat dissapation. Obviously good cooling for the northbridge is something I want to be sure on.
5) Is this a decent board for moderate overclocking? Again, some reviews say it has good overclocking features, whereas the hardcore overclocking community says it has poor memory table management or something (beyond me). I'm not a hardcore overclocker, but I do like to tinker , and I'm planning on buying some fancy Corsair RAM this time round (again dependant on the Dual Channel or not :rolleyes: ) and I would like to be able to fiddle with the timings effectively. Apparently Abit have declined slightly since the Socket A days?
Thanks for any help!
I've run into a few snags, motherboard selection is turning out to be the most difficult.
For convention, this is my early build model (basics), it is a gaming rig:
Mobo: Abit AN8 Ultra NF4
CPU:Athlon 64 3700+ 1MB L2
RAM: Corsair TWINX Paired 512s PC3200
GPU: Radeon x850XT 256mb
My first choice was Abit, since the AT7 Max2 served me well, but I've got a few problems, mainly on finer technical points:
1)Do Athlon 64s support Dual Channel DDR400? That is the attraction of a nForce 4 chipset for me, but I've heard the 64s have integrated memory controllers which means DualDDR isn't used regardless, but apparently the newer models do . If someone could give a definitive answer on a 64 3700+ it'd be appreciated!
2)SATAII - is it worth bothering with this new technology? I'm torn between a Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 SATA, or a Maxtor DMax10 SATAII (mainy for the 16mb cache), which is one of my trouble spots with selecting a motherboard. If anyone can clarify that the extra interface speed is in reality useless, it would set my mind at ease.
3)PSUs... I've seen alot of people posting new builds involving 450-550W PSUs. I have a 3 year old 350W Enermax Whisper, very nice and stable (and expensive) piece of kit. Obviously I'd like to resuse as much equipment as possible, but I'm wondering if PC power requirements have jumped so much as to necessitate a new and more powerful PSU. Not only that but I think I read somewhere graphics cards, and the SATA hard Drives now use new/different plugs? My old PSU might not have enough molex plugs etc.
My further problems are more specific, my preliminary choice (based on a need for SATAII and Dual Channel) would be Abit's AN8 Ultra but I'm left a tad confused, if anyone with experiance with this board could clear things up for me:
4) Does the heatpipe cooling setup work effectively? Some reviews have said its fine, others have moaned about stability issues and poor heat dissapation. Obviously good cooling for the northbridge is something I want to be sure on.
5) Is this a decent board for moderate overclocking? Again, some reviews say it has good overclocking features, whereas the hardcore overclocking community says it has poor memory table management or something (beyond me). I'm not a hardcore overclocker, but I do like to tinker , and I'm planning on buying some fancy Corsair RAM this time round (again dependant on the Dual Channel or not :rolleyes: ) and I would like to be able to fiddle with the timings effectively. Apparently Abit have declined slightly since the Socket A days?
Thanks for any help!