[crazy11]

I have finally put together a base system to replace my older rig.

Case:
ANTEC SONATA II BLACK ATX 16IN MID TOWER CASE 3X5.25 2X3.5 4X3.5IN 450W AIR DUCT 120MM FAN

CPU: AMD ATHLON 64 3000+ PROCESSOR S939 VENICE 1.8GHZ 512K L2 CACHE 90NM RETAIL BOX

Mobo: ASUS A8V DELUXE MOTHERBOARD ATHLON 64 S939 K8T800PRO DUAL DDR AGP 5PCI SATA 1394 SOUND 1000LAN

HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB SATA W/ Ncq 7200RPM 8MB 8.5MS

Memory: Corsair Value Select PC3200 1GB 2X512MB DDR400 184PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit

DVD Drive: BenQ DW1640 DVD +RW 16X8X16 -RW 16X6X16 DUAL LAYER +R 8X -R 4X BLACK IDE OEM W/ SW

Video Card: eVGA E-GEFORCE 6600GT 128M DDR3 AGP8X VGA DVI HD OUT

I was wondering if this would be a good setup to start with that has room to upgrade in the future. I'm planning to upgrade PSU and get better cooling pretty soon after I build it. I have heard people have reached pretty good overclocks with the 3000+ Venice on stock cooling. Are there any changes that I should make before I order?

[Know Nuttin]

You should go with SATA if possible. Not seagate though, for SATA, if you want quieter computing. Their SATA drives are not even half as quiet as their IDE counterparts. I did notice performance increase from IDE to SATA so you may want to go that route. Either WD, Samsung, or Maxtor for a quieter SATA solution.

To be honest, you should move to the NF4 and PCI-E platform, if you're buying all those components new.

[crazy11]

No, I already have the video card so I have to get a S939 board with AGP. After reading up on SATA I guess I will get the Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB SATA W/ Ncq 7200RPM 8MB 8.5MS.

[BrutalDrew]

I personally would get the Epox NF4 Ultra board. I would also change the RAM. Crucial Value is around the same price, yet it overclocks pretty well from what I have seen.

[darksparkz]

Well, if your going to OC on stock cooling, I'm assuming you probably don't want to get too high, because the ASUS board isn't that well known for OCing.

I highly recommend you getting the PCI-E setup. Sell that 6600GT for about $100 probably if it's still new, and you can get a Epox board for that and it'll OC great.

[TheGreySpectre]

The DFI boards also seem to do good for OCing

Asus boards are known for there stability, not there OCing ability

[crazy11]

I live in Canada and I haven't been able to find any places that sell ePox boards I might look into getting a DFI LANParty UT NF3 ULTRA-D but it is currently out of stock at the places where I buy.

[jnev_89]

the dfi would do much better for ocing than the asus would. search around for it if ocing is important for you.

[Know Nuttin]

you'll have to wait until they(DFI) release the newer version of the board, with the resistor problem fixed.

I would still go with a different hard drive. I like the Maxtor Diamondmax 10. I've had the 7200.7, 7200.8, and the Maxtor seems the fastest out of all 3. Used on the same motherboard as well, so it wasn't an issue of using a different controller.

[crazy11]

Would a MSI K8N NEO2 PLATINUM NFORCE3 ULTRA do better than the Asus in o/cing?

[darksparkz]

Know Nuttin, I thought the resistor problem was only on the nForce 3s with AGP.

Anyways, I think the MSI might be a pretty good OCer, but I heard it has a bit of problems, not as much as the DFI, but a few. I'd say the MSI ranks just under the Epox at 3rd place for OCing motherboards.

[Know Nuttin]

Originally Posted by darksparkz

Know Nuttin, I thought the resistor problem was only on the nForce 3s with AGP.

It is. They were looking at purchasing the DFI LANParty UT NF3 ULTRA-D.