My future rig.

Hi, it's me again. This is what I've decided on:

AMD64 3200+ s939 Winchester
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
OCZ PC3200 Dual channel Revision 2
Antec True Power 550
Thermalright XP-90
Panaflo FBA09A12H 92mm

There is a problem. No computer stores in my area can get the 3200+ s939 or the XP-90. I know www.ncix.com has them, but I cannot order anything online, as I don't have a credit card. The only s939 processors the local computer stores have are the 3500+ and the 3800+. My question is, will I be able to get atleast the same performance out of a 3500+ as I can the 3200+ 0.90nm? I don't think I can get the 3200+, but I can get the 3500+. I will be overclocking it, and my goal is 2.5ghz. Is this possible on the 3500+? Also, I might need a new heatsink, as the XP-90 is not available in Canada yet.

People have told me that 3200+ will overclock better than the 3500+, I was hoping to get 2.5 - 2.6ghz out of my processor. Thanks a lot for your help.

Swap the Antec for an OCZ Powerstream 470W or 520W.

Other than that, I'd say you're good to go. 3500+ Newcastle is a solid bet for sure. If you look hard though, I'm guessing you'd be able to find yourself a 90nm Winchester 3500+, which would probably top everything else.

If you can't find an XP-90, the extremely solid SLK948U is either just as good or even better.

Good luck, with your component selection, I don't think there's any way you can lose.

Looks good, I agree with gautum on the winchester, though from the results I'm seeing, they are topping out just about identical.

Looks great. You may want to consider the fortron 530W power supply as well.

Also, make sure you don't get a 3000+. You really gotta crank on the FSB to get the speed out of the chip. The 10x multiplier on the 3200+ helps a lot.

Good luck!

John

Thanks so much for the help guys, I appreciate it immensely. I've lost so much sleep trying to figure out what's best. I have asked this question before, but: Will the 3500+ Newcastle overclock to a higher speed than the 3200+ Winchester? If yes, I may just get the 3500+, as I can get that particular processor very cheap. I will look into the power supply, thought I thought the Antec True Power 550W was a very good PSU. I love the ram I'm getting, don't convince me to get something else. The SLK948U, is that a good heatsink? I heard so many good reviews on the XP-90. I'll need to stay up again and read as many reviews on the SLK948U as I can. Thanks a lot.

I'm convincing you to get nothing other than the memory you picked.

The SLK948-U is just as solid as the XP-90. They all use the same fundamental design. The heatpipes really don't accomplish much, and whatever they accomplish is blunted by the size of the XP90 and the fact that it uses aluminum.

I'm with Red in that the Fortron will handle anything you throw at it. It's just that no one wants to believe me.

Antecs are *okay,* but they may give you problems down the road. There are better choices.

my fx53 will pwn thta rig

Yeah, and the extra $600CND in my pocket will pwn you.

Anyways, as I asked before, can the 3500+ Newcastle reach speeds higher than the 3200+ winchester when overclocking? Thanks a lot.

Nice rig choice man, should whoop some total arse.

ok, everytime i hear someone putting down a 3000+ which one are they talking about, cause all these people only talk about 9x multi's and 1800mhz stock...mine is 10 multi and 2Ghz stock...and another thing i dont get is why all these other people oc the 3000+'s to only 2300 and they say thats as far as it goes and i got mine to 2.4Ghz with no problems running valueram pc2700 and all that crap....

thenerd said:

my fx53 will pwn thta rig

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congradulations.....no-one gives a rats ***.

I'm getting 3500+ winchester soon (available at zipzoomfly.com if anyone's interested, don't make it out of stock though), why would anyone recommend NEWCASTLE over WINCHESTER???

I am very excited about this new rig. I've been stuck with:

AMD AthlonXP 1800+
ASUS A7V266-e 4xagp
768MB PC2100 Kingston ram
ASUS Radeon 9800XT

But I must know. The 3500+ Newcastle... is it capable of achieving higher clock speeds when overclocked compared to the Winchester 3200+? I might not be able to get the 3200+. It has a stock speed 200mhz faster than the 3200+, so an overclock of 300mhz is necessary to reach 2.5ghz ... is it more possible to hit 2.5ghz than the 3200+? Thanks again.

thenerd said:

my fx53 will pwn thta rig

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[rant]

Wow, what a blatant example of thread crapping. I don't think anyone cares how much your FX-53 will "pwn" over his system. Moreover, you somehow forgot the mention just how LARGE of a price premium that FX-53 has compared to a Winchester system. Lastly, I'm almost 99% positive that a nerd such as yourself is running a s940 system, so you should be even further in the hole thanks to your registered ram. Add all of that up and you have an uncessarily expensive system. Even if you don't use s940, I think I should probably add that A64 systems will rival your own in performance for much less in the following months. So I really think you wasted your money. Pretty stupid for a "nerd" such as yourself.

What's the lesson here kiddies?

Maybe you should keep your comments to yourself. The starter of the thread simply wanted advice concerning his soon-to-be setup. There was no need for you to make such a comment. If you don't have anything intelligent to contribute to the discussion, then don't contribute. Period. On the contrary, you have done quite the opposite; that is, you have shown just how ignorant forum members can be. The moral of the story: take your thread crapping s*** elsewhere.

P.S. It's spelled t-h-a-t

[/rant]

To whom it may concern: I apologize for my "firm" approach to one sentence. I happen to have a low tolerence for ignorance and I don't think that this member contributed anything to the topic at hand.

deception``

Thanks you deception' ' . But my question still hasn't been answered in this thread.

Now people are saying to stay away from Newcastle and go with Winchester, but I'm not so sure I can get it in Canada. Read my post before this for my question. Thanks again.

jEevion said:

Thanks you deception' ' . But my question still hasn't been answered in this thread.

Now people are saying to stay away from Newcastle and go with Winchester, but I'm not so sure I can get it in Canada. Read my post before this for my question. Thanks again.

Click to expand...

OK, Here Goes:

CPU: If you are upgrading, s939 90nm is the only way to go. This does not mean that you cannot enjoy good performance from a s754 or 130nm s939 cpu, but that 90nm represents the future of A64 processors. With this in mind, I strongly suggest either a Winchester 3000+ or 3200+.

Mobo: Personally, I would sit tight on this one. At the current moment, I do not think that there are any mature s939 motherboards worth purchasing. I might add that I have a bias towards products with a bios-modder following, but the point is that you want to choose a s939 board that "stands out," such as the upcoming DFI s939 offering. This does not mean that other manufacturers cannot do the job, but this is just my suggestion. Let's not forget that Abit will be releasing their AN8 (s939 NF3 motherboard) in late November, as well.

PSU: I swapped out my Old Antec TP 550W for my Powerstream 520W and never looked back. If overclocking is your thing, you need to pick up either the 470W or 520W. Once again, this does not mean that you cannot enjoy success with alternatives such as an Antec or Fortron, but the OCZ is definitely the top choice.

HSF: The XP-90 is a good choice. However, there have been some complaints concerning the base of the hsf. You really cannot go wrong with a Thermalright, though. I'd suggest either the XP-90 or the SLK-948-U.

RAM: The OCZ is certainly a great choice. However, there is talk of a newer revision of Samsung TCCD chips with even greater overclocking potential. As a matter of fact, PC Stats was able to overclock two sticks of Mushkin Black Level II v2 to 255 2-2-2-6 using 3.3 volts. Quite an impressive feat, indeed. The point that I am trying to make is that your OCZ choice is adequate, but there are better alternatives to consider (especially if you do get a board such as a DFI with high vdimm options). The v2 Mushkin possesses a newer PCB which somehow allows for some crazy clocks. However, do not leave OCZ out of the mix, as it has been confirmed that they have a newer TCCD offering on the way.

IN GENERAL, YOUR SMARTEST BET IS TO WAIT A BIT BEFORE YOU UPGRADE. In my opinion, I definitely think a s939 system is in your best interests. However, I also think that s939 platforms are too immature to consider such an expensive upgrade. I am sure that many others will probably disagree with my opinion, but you should at least wait for some better motherboards to make it on the scene. On another note, let me end by saying that you should really consider holding out for an Nforce 4 (PCIe) solution. Obviously this will further delay your desire to upgrade, but it is in fact the absolute best route for you to go as AGP is becoming an obsolete interface. Perhaps you should read up on the benefits of the newer chipset and make an informed decision for yourself. Additionally, if you have any questions regarding the things you have discussed here, simply inquire and I will provide a number of links to support my claims.

deception``

Wow ... thanks for your indepth response. Here is my situation however: I purchased a Radeon 9800XT a while back, I put it into my computer and ... it sucked. I am making these upgrades to eliminate the bottleneck from it. This is not an expensive upgrade to me. If I wait for nForce 4, I'll have to buy a new video card, which I don't want to do, it was a pretty big investment for the 9800XT. My ultimate goal is to achieve 2.5ghz to 2.6ghz running stable at a relatively low temperature. I JUST got word that a local reseller will order the processor and heatsink for me from www.ncix.com and only charge for the product and shipping. This is great news to me. I am not interested in moving to PCIe until my card becomes severely dated, at which I will make another large upgrade. Consider this a little bump up the ladder. I don't think I'm going all out here, I consider this a moderate upgrade. Now, I will swap the PSU for the OCZ Powerstream 520W. As for the processor, I can get the s939 3200+. Memory is okay. XP-90 will do, with the Panaflo fan. The motherboard ... I originally wanted to go with the ASUS A8V, since they are so stable, but it's not good for overclocking. This my, again revised, upgrade solution:

AMD64 3200+ s939 Winchester
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
OCZ PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2
OCZ Powerstream 520W
Thermalright XP-90
Panaflo FBA09A12H 92mm fan for CPU
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound

That's it. I can make the order tomorrow and hopefully have it in before Nov. 16 (HL2 ). Would you really consider this an expensive upgrade?

JEevion said:

Would you really consider this an expensive upgrade?

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Not really. A couple of things.

1. Your video card is fine. You should know there are benefits in moving to NF4 aside from PCIe, but I understand your desire to hold on to the 9800 XT. A good NF3 will suit you fine. Also, the Abit and Asus K8T800 Pro offerings are not bad choices, either.

2. I STRONGLY recommend that you wait on a number of components, including your ram and motherboard. The last thing that I would want you to do is buy parts only to have better solutions come out in a matter of weeks. Nevertheless, such is the nature of computing as a whole, so I will simply re-iterate that you should enjoy success with the OCZ and MSI combo.

3. A 3000+ Winchester should overclock as well as a 3200+ cpu, and should also save you a couple of bucks. It is true that you will be limited by a 9x multiplier when overclocking, but with premium memory this will not be a problem.

deception``

Right, but won't the 3200+ give you a 200mhz edge when overclocking, as it's stock speed is 200mhz faster?

I'm not too worried abou getting top-of-the-line components at this time, I just need something better than what I have now. Imagine that upgrade eh, my current specs to what I'm about to order in. I hope I see a difference.

advantage of getting faster chips is the higher multiplier as it will give you more freedom to adjust your speeds. overclockability should be around the same.

jEevion said:

Right, but won't the 3200+ give you a 200mhz edge when overclocking, as it's stock speed is 200mhz faster?

Click to expand...

No. The only possible difference is that a 3200+ might require less volts than the 3000+ for a similar overclock. Otherwise there is no advantage to be had other than stock speeds and a 10x multiplier.

deception``

I'd like to thank all that have participated in this thread, with exception to the dip**** that boasted about his fx-53. I will be ordering the parts tomorrow. For a fail-safe, I will get the 3200+ incase my first experience with overclocking doesn't go well and I want to run at stock speeds. Now it's time I actually learned how to overclock. I have been following Sen's thread. I really would like to start my own thread called Project: Overclock and have those willing to aid me in overclocking participate in it. I have read all of the guides and have a good backround, but I may still need help to ensure safety. I may just try to bump it right up to 2.5ghz and if it runs after extensive testing, I'll keep it there. My thanks to all that helped. I will continue to learn about overclocking and hopefully contribute as best I can in the future to this website. I hope you don't mind if I make a thread later on this month to help me overclock. I'll get back to you very soon, thanks so much.

jEevion