For the last few days I've been toiling over making hardware choices for my new rig. It's going pretty well except when it comes to chosing a motherboard, so I was hoping you guys might give me some feedback and help a poor girl out?
Here's what I'm looking at so far:
Motherboard:
Abit AN8 Fatal1ty SLI -OR- DFI Lanparty nF4 SLI-DR
CPU:
AMD Athlon 3700+ (San Diego core)
RAM:
OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 Dual Channel Gold -OR- Mushkin Blue Line Dual Channel 1024MB PC3200 (Both are supposedly made with the new BH5 chips)
GPU:
eVGA GeForce 6800GT 256Mb PCI-E ($299 Amazon and can be OCed to Ultra speeds)
Also had my eye on a Radeon X850XT PE 256Mb PCI-E ($349 is a good price, but I can't use the SLI function of my boards in the future with this one)
PSU:
Antec TruePower 2.0 550W
HSF:
Zalman CNPS7000B-Cu LED/CNPS7700-Cu, or Thermaltake XP-90/Big Typhoon (or maybe just waiting for the Zalman CPNS9500 LED and using stock cooling for the meantime?)
OK, so I'm sure you'll say they are all fine choices, but what do I want to do with them right? Well, I'm relatively new to OCing, so I'm definitely going to take it slow and like everything I do in life I'll do a TON of research about it before doing something stupid. I don't plan on pushing any of this as far as it can go, but rather would like a modest OC (then again modest to me, may be more than average to some) while running a 100% rock-solid stable system. In a motherboard I want a great bios with great support and updates (doesn't everyone?). I really like the idea of Abit's uGuru, although it may not work well in the real world, where you can preset configurations and change them at will inside of Windows (don't really need to be OC'ing my system when I'm just surfing around)- does the DFI board have anything like this? Or is the uGuru chip/software a POS and just something that sounds neat on paper?
As for CPU, I've heard good things about the San Diego cores, but most people seem to be using the 3000+/3200+ Venice cores- is there any reason for this other than price? I can get a 3700+ SD for less than $300 or a 3000+/3200+ Venice for around $200. For me the price difference is mariginal really, but which performs better (with a halfway decent OC) is the real quesion.
The only other things about my new system I am not 100% sure about is my choice of RAM, GPU and my HSF. I know the new BH5 chips should OC relatively well while keeping their tight timings, so I think they should be a decent choice (while I go want to run them at some faster speeds I still would like to be able to keep 2-2-2-6). Keep in mind I am going to be spending MY money on the RAM (as opposed to my rther large Amazon gift certificate), so I have to be somewhat conservative. The OCZ will end up being about $125 AR +shipping and the Mushkin $108 +shipping (I'm thinking OCZ might be the better choice because of their excellent reputation for support). For an HSF I want something that cools well (DUH!) and looks good at the same time (remember I am a female, lol). The Zalman CNPS7000B-Cu LED really seems to fit that bill, but hey I'm a Texan and if bigger is better, than the CNPS7700-Cu should be my choice (but no cool looking LED fan)? But I have also heard excellent things about the Thermalright XP-90 and Big Typhoon...all things equal (or if they all seem to cool about the same), I'm liking the way the Zalman's look.
As for my video card, the reason I'm looking at the 6800GT is because I can get it for $299 and I've seen alot of people OCing them to Ultra speeds and beyond (with sufficient cooling of course). However that Radeon X850XT PE at $349 ain't bad either. But to be honest, both of those sure are alot of money and I could drop down to a 6600GT for about $175, could buy an identical one later for maybe even less (but then again with SLI you don't get 2x the persormance so maybe just dropping $300 now would be better?).
Well, I'm starting to ramble, so if some of you have some feedback for me I certainly would appreciate it- thanks!
Here's what I'm looking at so far:
Motherboard:
Abit AN8 Fatal1ty SLI -OR- DFI Lanparty nF4 SLI-DR
CPU:
AMD Athlon 3700+ (San Diego core)
RAM:
OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 Dual Channel Gold -OR- Mushkin Blue Line Dual Channel 1024MB PC3200 (Both are supposedly made with the new BH5 chips)
GPU:
eVGA GeForce 6800GT 256Mb PCI-E ($299 Amazon and can be OCed to Ultra speeds)
Also had my eye on a Radeon X850XT PE 256Mb PCI-E ($349 is a good price, but I can't use the SLI function of my boards in the future with this one)
PSU:
Antec TruePower 2.0 550W
HSF:
Zalman CNPS7000B-Cu LED/CNPS7700-Cu, or Thermaltake XP-90/Big Typhoon (or maybe just waiting for the Zalman CPNS9500 LED and using stock cooling for the meantime?)
OK, so I'm sure you'll say they are all fine choices, but what do I want to do with them right? Well, I'm relatively new to OCing, so I'm definitely going to take it slow and like everything I do in life I'll do a TON of research about it before doing something stupid. I don't plan on pushing any of this as far as it can go, but rather would like a modest OC (then again modest to me, may be more than average to some) while running a 100% rock-solid stable system. In a motherboard I want a great bios with great support and updates (doesn't everyone?). I really like the idea of Abit's uGuru, although it may not work well in the real world, where you can preset configurations and change them at will inside of Windows (don't really need to be OC'ing my system when I'm just surfing around)- does the DFI board have anything like this? Or is the uGuru chip/software a POS and just something that sounds neat on paper?
As for CPU, I've heard good things about the San Diego cores, but most people seem to be using the 3000+/3200+ Venice cores- is there any reason for this other than price? I can get a 3700+ SD for less than $300 or a 3000+/3200+ Venice for around $200. For me the price difference is mariginal really, but which performs better (with a halfway decent OC) is the real quesion.
The only other things about my new system I am not 100% sure about is my choice of RAM, GPU and my HSF. I know the new BH5 chips should OC relatively well while keeping their tight timings, so I think they should be a decent choice (while I go want to run them at some faster speeds I still would like to be able to keep 2-2-2-6). Keep in mind I am going to be spending MY money on the RAM (as opposed to my rther large Amazon gift certificate), so I have to be somewhat conservative. The OCZ will end up being about $125 AR +shipping and the Mushkin $108 +shipping (I'm thinking OCZ might be the better choice because of their excellent reputation for support). For an HSF I want something that cools well (DUH!) and looks good at the same time (remember I am a female, lol). The Zalman CNPS7000B-Cu LED really seems to fit that bill, but hey I'm a Texan and if bigger is better, than the CNPS7700-Cu should be my choice (but no cool looking LED fan)? But I have also heard excellent things about the Thermalright XP-90 and Big Typhoon...all things equal (or if they all seem to cool about the same), I'm liking the way the Zalman's look.
As for my video card, the reason I'm looking at the 6800GT is because I can get it for $299 and I've seen alot of people OCing them to Ultra speeds and beyond (with sufficient cooling of course). However that Radeon X850XT PE at $349 ain't bad either. But to be honest, both of those sure are alot of money and I could drop down to a 6600GT for about $175, could buy an identical one later for maybe even less (but then again with SLI you don't get 2x the persormance so maybe just dropping $300 now would be better?).
Well, I'm starting to ramble, so if some of you have some feedback for me I certainly would appreciate it- thanks!
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