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ABIT AW9D-MAX For My New Build???

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Richie13

Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2002
Location
Long Island, NY
Hi folks,

This is my first post in a while and it's good to see you all. I really need some assistance from you because I'm not sure about the components I want to use for my new build.

For now, I only want one video card, but simply the option to upgrade to SLI later on or for Windows Vista. I also won't be going with RAID, so having a primary and slave hard drive would be great. For now, the OS will be WinXP Pro SP2. We use the computer for typical internet surfing, a lot of photo editing with Photoshop 7.0 and will be doing a lot of video editing and some gaming. Below is what I've come up with so far. I only want to over clock moderately because I don't want cooling issues or a noisy computer. Do you see any compatibility issues that may arise using the following components or problems I need to watch out for?



Abit AW9D-MAX
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz
Kingston ValueRAM 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 10,000RPM SATA for primary drive (Windowless for quieter operation and slave drive added later)
Antec True Power Trio TP3-650
Antec P160W Anodized Aluminum Super Mid Tower

I'm also not sure which video card would be best, especially only using one for now. Any opinions for above components would be appreciated. Thanks.

Richie
 
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Mate that setup should fly :)

Only thing I'll point out is the AW9D Max isnt a sli board, but it will do crossfire (ATI cards).

But looking at what you want to use it for imo you dont need two cards.

Edit: The best card to get at this time is the 8800GTX, its one hell of a card at one hell of a price.
 
Hi Dean,

Thanks for the reply. I can tell you if I do upgrade to Vista, it won't be for quite a while. Is there a less expense graphics card I can go with given how I intend to use this new system I want to build? What I'm also not totally sure about, does the Abit AW9D-MAX prefer a particular brand graphics card over another if only using one? My first thought, since I won't be going with Crossfire was to try ATI's Radeon X1950 XT. Are NVidia Geforce graphics cards better suited? Thanks.

Richie
 
The board works fine with both NVidia and ATI cards
IMO go with the X1950XT as above or if you want to go NVidia the 7950GT 512mb

Myself, I'd go with the 7950GT but the ATI card is faster, Its just that Ive had sooo many nvidia cards I find them so easy to use.

But if I were you I'd go X1950XT, its the better card.

Hope that helps
 
You have to use hacked SLI drivers, there is no official SLI support yet. Crossfire seems to work good though.
 
Thank you guys. The more information I get up front, the easier this build will be for me. I'm also trying to get a full version copy of Windows XP Pro SP2. I only have the original version on CD. I'm sure if I get the most updated version, it may eliminate issues while trying to get this new system up and running.

Richie
 
^^^ From what Ive read R600 will be in store mid March but mainstream versions (for us non die hard gamers) as late as June.

You can get hacked SLI drivers for 7950GT and down, but why buy two of these when you are better off with one 8800GTX.
By the way there are no hacked SLI drivers for the 8800GTX or GTS.
 
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Richie13 said:
Thank you guys. The more information I get up front, the easier this build will be for me. I'm also trying to get a full version copy of Windows XP Pro SP2. I only have the original version on CD. I'm sure if I get the most updated version, it may eliminate issues while trying to get this new system up and running.

Richie

Save yourself over $100 and don't spend money on a new copy of Windows just because you don't have SP2. Use the original version and use automatic online upgrades to add the service pack and any security updates as well as IE7. As long as you keep to the one copy of Windows per machine requirement it's the exact same thing as you would get on a CD.
 
Hi Fabulouscoops.

I've been reading many owner reviews building new computers with todays technology. Seems there are many cases where certain components such as SATA HD's over 137GB, SATA DVD drives, and even EIDE drives are not recognized by the original version of WinXP Pro without SP2.

I'm sure an outdated BIOS may also have something to due with it, which may at least address the 48-bit addressing issue. On top of that, these performance mother boards seem very finicky with regard to certain brand power supplies and certainly the brand of RAM installed. By starting with a full version of WinXP Pro SP2, I was hoping to ease some of the possible hurdles that may arise.

Basically I just want to purchase high end components that will afford me a good amount of future upgrading, even to Vista later on should I wish to. I'm not even sure I'm going to get into overclocking, simply having a highly stable computer is my number one concern, which I'm sure is everyone's too. Thanks.

Richie
 
I use mt PC mostly for video editing and I find the ATI ALL IN WONDER to be an excellent choise for all my needs. It can be a TV tuner as well as video out to tv, I use these features alot when testing my videos. Also acts as a TIVO and has options on save format when recording. I love this card. This is my third generation of it, and sadly the last as they have stopped production. :(
 
fabulouscoops said:
>

Google "SP2 slipstream" for other guides as well.


That was a great idea, unfortunately for some reason the WinXP Pro CD I have, which is version 2002, doesn't seem to allow me to integrate SP2 with it. In fact, I did go on the internet and found several other proceedures for slipstreaming, and none of them worked. Looks like I'm out of luck.

Richie
 
Richie13 said:
Seems there are many cases where certain components such as SATA HD's over 137GB, SATA DVD drives, and even EIDE drives are not recognized by the original version of WinXP Pro without SP2.

Don't know about SATA optical drives, but I installed a 160 gig SATA drive into my HTPC that uses Win2000. I also installed a 160 SATA drive in my Win XP Pro when it only had SP-1. I don't think you'll have have any problem.
 
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