First AMD Build-using AsRock 939 dual

rebelranger said:

One concern that this leads to is my PS . On the intel platform chips are greedy and consume lots of power. Is this differnt with AMD? What's a good timing for RAM to look for when Ocing

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ochungry said:

below are some good DDR500 2x1gig. I tried to find lowest voltage in 2gig kits but couldnt find anything lower than 2.8 volts. the OCZ and patriots used to have rebates and on sale a week ago, so you might want to wait till have sale on them. Usually during weekends there are specials on them. vdimm mod will give you better memory options if willing to do.
About power supply, I say a 450-500 watts would do it. just make sure the 12v rail is more than 25amp. i use Enermax 465watts w/ 33 amp 12v rail.
Antec SP2 is another good price/performer.

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rebelranger said:

I like the PS!!
Even the Antec looks tempting.

I just found the posts on the vdim mod. Looks fairly simple. Any issues with this mod?
I'll have my board tomorrow and the CPU as well. I'll order the ram and case tomorrow and PSU.
I'm looking at the segate HDDs. i saw a couple of posts about isses with Western Digital Large SATA HDD. Is that true...? or was it a passing issue resolved in Bios updates?
I appreciate all the advice.

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rebelranger said:

If I go with the PDP or any DDR500, will I have to vimm right away? I'd like to run the board a bit to get familiar with the bios settings and responses to tweaks. Are you guys running Xp-pro or Xp 64?

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rebelranger said:

If I go with the PDP or any DDR500, will I have to vimm right away? I'd like to run the board a bit to get familiar with the bios settings and responses to tweaks. Are you guys running Xp-pro or Xp 64?

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ochungry said:

those rams I listed are low voltage, and lately I have seen people posting that their new mobo has 2.72-2.75v vdimm. So you might not need any vdimm mod at all. And by the time you use dividers to match your cpu speed, the memory may fall below DDR500 (DDR 490 maybe) and could mean less voltage, than stock. By all means, try your new system without doing any voltmod, because, as said, you might not need any at all.
I am using home edition. You can download, or request the trial 64 version from Microsoft and use it for 6 months. I ordered the trial cd and tried it, didnt see any improvement, so I am back using winxp home edition.
just make sure which you use, and install the drivers accordingly.

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rebelranger said:

Thanks RT..
Hey how heavy is that cebturion 5 case? Its on my list to investigate...

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RollingThunder said:

Reb,

It's a good solid case, all steel except the front face bezel. There are others that are excellent too. What I did was go to CompUSA to see what they had physically. This was one of many they had on display, I liked it and bought from NewEgg. It was a LOT cheaper.

I wasn't about to buy a case strictly from photos. I wanted to SEE and feel the advantages and disadvantages. I'd buy another one....

One item to watch: If you have a big, long video card, like over 8-8.5 inches long, it may get really tight. It's only a mid-tower so if you are going to load it up with many big cards you may want something deeper.

I always use this rule: You can put big items in a big case but you can't put big items in a small case. I'm "Mister Tidy" so I like it neat and clean.

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rebelranger said:

Yep Ill check it the Vdimm when the board arrives. Which software is best at dertiming this?
I had a link to the 6 month 64 version but it's dead now...

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RollingThunder said:

Reb,

I think you'll need a multimeter for this. I'm not a very good "sparky" but OC guided me through this. I was at ~2.74 at idle but ~2.66 under load. This is why OC recommends checking this because you are just about tapped out on some brands of RAMs and definitely will go over the limit on an over clock.

I made the mistake of flying through some decent over clocks with Crucial Ballistix (2.8v) my first attempts. They obviously needed more than 2.8v on an oc. Ran fine for six weeks until I guess the RAMs couldn't take undervoltage anymore and I corrupted my OS.

I got rid of the Crucials and bought these Patriot XBLKs on OC's recommendation because of their stock voltage (2.6) and great specs. I haven't had a chance to pull the board to do the volt mods. These Patriots jump to 2.8v on a modest DDR433 oc so I'm not doing that until I do a volt mod. I learned my lesson..........

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rebelranger said:

Any thoughts on the Maxtor SATA HDD??
http://www.outpost.com/product/4116853

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RollingThunder said:

Reb,

I'm on my old Dell P3 Intel now with 2 OEM Maxtors, both 5 years old. Never a problem. I think they are all good.

The AMD has a Maxtor 80gb 2 years old as a D: drive, no problems. I wanted to try the WD Raptor 10,000 rpm on the AMD. Expensive but I was curious. I don't see much difference. Some of the guys here are using Hitachi and like them very much. Personally I think it's a take your pick. Find a good buy and get it.

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rebelranger said:

One more question:
opty 170 vs 175 vs 180
Which is the better for OCing? Price is not important.

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rebelranger said:

One more question:
opty 170 vs 175 vs 180
Which is the better for OCing? Price is not important.

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