My thing is dual socket systems, so I am not so fresh on socket 939 as 940, but I am experienced with overclocking a couple socket A systems. I am faced with the prospect of building a friend a new system for mainly gaming for around $700 USD sans monitor. I think socket 939 is the best approach as he could eventually upgrade to dual core and possibly SLI down the road. I'm wondering if people can make reccomendations on what provides the best performance at the lowest possible cost. Tips on the finer points of overclocking are appreciated as well.
I'm thinking:
Opteron 144 OEM from Monarch for ~$130-$140
??? no clue on Mobo. I see cheap DFI's as part of a combo at monarch but need all the good oc features and performance. Maybe nforce4 chipset to help figure things out with clockgen. SLI possibly if not too costly. The big thing here is I need a set-it-and-forget-it mobo where I do all the OCing in the BIOS and then leave it, since my friend is not an uber geek like me. I'm not going for any records, just a stable solid 2.4 or 2.5ghz on a 144 if I can get it.
X800XL 512mb (256 if unavail) video, if not planning for sli. Otherwise 6600GT for it. Wanna stay under 200 for vid card. X800XL seems best price/perf since all 16 pipes are open.
2gb (2x1gb) ram. Something that can handle more than 200mhz prefferable for the OC, but needs to be cheap. 1gb dimms to leave room for upgrade later. I'd maybe drop to 1gb but it seems games need 2 nowadays.
Cheap dvd burner, cheap or maybe just small (200gb) seagate HD, cheap case, cheap but fine PSU.
Lastly I can donate a stock AMD cooler that came with my 265's or an Aerocool GT 1000 I have lying around.
I appreciate any replies I just haven't been keeping up on S939 OCing since I'm a dual duffus. I'm trying to catch up but the purchase may be soon and I need all the guidance I can get.
I'm thinking:
Opteron 144 OEM from Monarch for ~$130-$140
??? no clue on Mobo. I see cheap DFI's as part of a combo at monarch but need all the good oc features and performance. Maybe nforce4 chipset to help figure things out with clockgen. SLI possibly if not too costly. The big thing here is I need a set-it-and-forget-it mobo where I do all the OCing in the BIOS and then leave it, since my friend is not an uber geek like me. I'm not going for any records, just a stable solid 2.4 or 2.5ghz on a 144 if I can get it.
X800XL 512mb (256 if unavail) video, if not planning for sli. Otherwise 6600GT for it. Wanna stay under 200 for vid card. X800XL seems best price/perf since all 16 pipes are open.
2gb (2x1gb) ram. Something that can handle more than 200mhz prefferable for the OC, but needs to be cheap. 1gb dimms to leave room for upgrade later. I'd maybe drop to 1gb but it seems games need 2 nowadays.
Cheap dvd burner, cheap or maybe just small (200gb) seagate HD, cheap case, cheap but fine PSU.
Lastly I can donate a stock AMD cooler that came with my 265's or an Aerocool GT 1000 I have lying around.
I appreciate any replies I just haven't been keeping up on S939 OCing since I'm a dual duffus. I'm trying to catch up but the purchase may be soon and I need all the guidance I can get.
