Build for friend, what do you think?

[Foges]

hey, im building a gaming rig for a friend, he already has a radeon 9800 XT (AGP), a 120 GB HD, Couple of optical drives, a case, Screen, OS and keyboard/mouse.

Ps: I want to be able to OC this computer.

Here is what i thought so far:

MSI MS-7025 K8N Neo2 Platinum, nVidia nForce3 Ultra

http://www.toppreise.ch/desc_46491.html

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ "Venice" (90nm), 2200MHz, HT1000, Socket 939, Tray

http://www.toppreise.ch/prod_60569.html

ZALMAN CNPS7700-Cu, Socket 478/754/775/939/940

http://www.toppreise.ch/desc_52159.html

CORSAIR TWINX1024-3200C2, 1024MB, PC400, CL2

http://www.toppreise.ch/prod_31212.html

LITEON SOHW-1673S, DVD±RW, Black, Retail

http://www.toppreise.ch/prod_55412.html

ANTEC TrueBlue 480, 480 Watts

http://www.toppreise.ch/prod_11168.html

[randomprecision]

Everything looks to be compatible and in order

[Foges]

ok, what are its ocing capabilities? do i really need the ram or mobo i have chosen?

What are the gains of having two ide hd's in a raid config?

[Foges]

what is the difference between ddr 500 and ddr 400? it seems like you can only get ddr 500 at cl 3

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by Foges ok, what are its ocing capabilities? do i really need the ram or mobo i have chosen? What are the gains of having two ide hd's in a raid config?

Venice is said to be a good overclocker - coupled with the Corsair TwinX RAM you have, you should have good FSB speeds. I do note than the RAM speed is DDR400 - matching the speed of the HTT FSB of the processor. For best results, leave a little room - go for DDR433 or DDR466 if at all possible.

kram

[Foges]

ok, thanx. If i have the chance to go for a 3700+ san diego would that be a big upgrade? or is the upgrade not worth the money?

will raid ide help for gaming speeds?

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by Foges ok, thanx. If i have the chance to go for a 3700+ san diego would that be a big upgrade? or is the upgrade not worth the money? will raid ide help for gaming speeds?

The Athlon 64 San Diego is basically a Venice core with a 1MB Level Two Cache - a slight improvement in performance although clockspeed isn't that different.

RAID may help for gaming speeds, but it's not worth it. The margin of improvement you will get is not worth the risk of running HDDs on RAID.

kram

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Foges If i have the chance to go for a 3700+ san diego would that be a big upgrade?

Nope, not a big upgrade since they both run at 2200MHz (2.2GHz)...but a noticeable one because of the additional 512k cache.

Originally Posted by Foges or is the upgrade not worth the money?

It's only a $50 difference. If it still keeps the build under budget, get the San Diego.

Cricket

[glc]

Is it true that the San Diego also has an unlocked multiplier?

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by glc Is it true that the San Diego also has an unlocked multiplier?

Everywhere I googled, I looks like even the San Diego has locked multipliers. That's what makes the FX so appealing.

Originally Posted by The Inquirer This CPU is actually clocked at 2600MHz just the same as the FX55 but in the case of Athlon 64 4200+ the multiplier is locked higher. The 4200+ has 1MB of cache built on 90 nanometre marchitecture and works with 1.4 volts

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=21646

kram

[Foges]

what exactly does locked and unlocked multiplyer mean?

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by Foges what exactly does locked and unlocked multiplyer mean?

Your processor clockspeed is basically your bus speed times the multiplier. So for example, the P4 2.8Ghz at 800FSB (200Mhz real speed, quadpumped to work like 800Mhz) would mean that the multiplier is 14, since 200 x 14 = 2800, or 2.8Ghz. When overclocking, you raise your overall clockspeed - so you take either your FSB Speed or the Multiplier and raise it - in most cases, the multipliers are locked by the manufacturers. The exception is Athlon FX series, AMD Athlon XP-M series, and certain mobile Pentium processors - in those cases, you can raise either the front side bus or the multiplier to yield greater clockspeed.

kram

[Foges]

but on my athlon 64 3500 newcastle i can change both the multiplyers and the fsb speed. I thougth you could always change both the fsb and multiplyers??? people keep on talking about having the multiplyer on either 10 or 11 and on anandtech when overclocking an athlon they tell you to decrease the multiplyers before you change the fsb to make sure that the multiplyer isnt the problem. or am i just misunderstanding what the multiplyer is

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by Foges but on my athlon 64 3500 newcastle i can change both the multiplyers and the fsb speed. I thougth you could always change both the fsb and multiplyers??? people keep on talking about having the multiplyer on either 10 or 11 and on anandtech when overclocking an athlon they tell you to decrease the multiplyers before you change the fsb to make sure that the multiplyer isnt the problem. or am i just misunderstanding what the multiplyer is

AMD locked its multipliers above a certain setting (probably your default speed), but dropping the multiplier is doable. To my understanding, greater front side bus speed relates to greater overall system operating speed - so raising the front side bus would increase system speed more than just upping the multiplier. By decreasing the multipliers, you can push the front side bus speed more that as it was with regular multipliers. At a certain point, though, you will reach a limit and it's better to have a higher FSB than a higher multiplier number at that point.

My suggestion is don't bother with the multipliers - just raise the FSB. Be cautious of your system temperatures when doing so - having the CPU fry would be a shame.

kram

[Foges]

oh right, thanx no i understand that the fx's etc... can go over 11x. thanx for the help

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by Foges oh right, thanx no i understand that the fx's etc... can go over 11x. thanx for the help

As always, be sure to consider the risks of overclocking prior to doing it - you shouldn't do it "just for the numbers", but for the extra added performance that you may need. I run everything I have at stock - everything I need from my system requires far less speed than I have it now. Somebody at PC Mech, I think it was Cricket, taught me that overclocking for just the numbers doesn't make much sense. It is your system though - if you wish to OC, hope you get high speeds

kram