[DietPepsi0219]

Mobo: DFI LANPARTY UT NForce4 Ultra D Socket 939 NVIDIA
or im also considering an ABIT KN8 SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo 1 GHz 2x1mb L2 cache
Graphics: ATI Radeon X1800 PCI Express x16
RAM: OCZ Platinum 184 Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered PC 3200
HDD: Seagate Barracuda SATA150 160 GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache
Case: Xoxide X-Static Black Case
PSU: Forton Bluestorm 500W PSU
Fans: 3 Panflo 80x25 Ultra Quiet

[IWasHungry]

I'm assuming you're getting the X1800XL...or are you going to wait until the X1800XT comes out?
Looks fine otherwise.

[leeashton]

will the Nforce 4 chipset support the Crossfire, I think NOT

[Careface]

does it say he wants crossfire, I think NOT.

on topic: nice specs there, i cant see anything wrong with them, but as said above, i take it its the xl/xt, right?

Careface*

[Hc000]

Originally Posted by Careface

does it say he wants crossfire, I think NOT.

on topic: nice specs there, i cant see anything wrong with them, but as said above, i take it its the xl/xt, right?

Careface*

I do not have SLI OR CROSSFIRE but I think the point of buying such high end card is so you use sli/crossfire later on right ? as an upgrade...

How much ram are you getting ? are you going to overclock ? why not get higher rating then PC3200 ?

[leeashton]

Originally Posted by Careface

does it say he wants crossfire, I think NOT.

on topic: nice specs there, i cant see anything wrong with them, but as said above, i take it its the xl/xt, right?

Careface*

Oh I don't know maybe the fact he says an X1800 give the fact that he wants crossfire away, anyway back on topic

[-_{MoW}_-Assasi]

i found one!!

Get a X2 4400+ instead of 4800+, and overclock it!!

or if u wanna be cheaper, add 3800+ to the list too

[The Coolest]

Originally Posted by DietPepsi0219

Mobo: DFI LANPARTY UT NForce4 Ultra D Socket 939 NVIDIA
or im also considering an ABIT KN8 SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo 1 GHz 2x1mb L2 cache
Graphics: ATI Radeon X1800 PCI Express x16
RAM: OCZ Platinum 184 Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered PC 3200
HDD: Seagate Barracuda SATA150 160 GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache
Case: Xoxide X-Static Black Case
PSU: Forton Bluestorm 500W PSU
Fans: 3 Panflo 80x25 Ultra Quiet

I have a few recommendations.
For a mobo you might want to consider dropping the 4800+ and getting a 4400+, and put the saved cash towards a mobo that should be better than the nf4 DFIs + it'll give you an option to use CrossFire if you want.
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=418464
This board will also allow running four 512MB sticks at 400MHz DDR 1T enabled and even overclock like that, it also has settings that will let you avoid the coldbug if you ever get into extreme cooling.
I'd also get an HD with 16MB of cache and SATAII, there's a nice 250GB Maxtor for around $110 on newegg.

Other than that I don't see any thing else, good luck with your new purchase

[Nexus Realized]

Originally Posted by The Coolest

I have a few recommendations.
For a mobo you might want to consider dropping the 4800+ and getting a 4400+, and put the saved cash towards a mobo that should be better than the nf4 DFIs + it'll give you an option to use CrossFire if you want.
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=418464
This board will also allow running four 512MB sticks at 400MHz DDR 1T enabled and even overclock like that, it also has settings that will let you avoid the coldbug if you ever get into extreme cooling.
I'd also get an HD with 16MB of cache and SATAII, there's a nice 250GB Maxtor for around $110 on newegg.

Other than that I don't see any thing else, good luck with your new purchase

If he does choose to change his mobo for one that supports crossfire will his PSU have enough juice to power both cards? I'm not sure if the power consumption of CF is comparable to SLI Can a 500W fortron power an SLI or CF setup?

[The Coolest]

Well it is true that the x1800s are power houses, so I'm not sure if his PSU will be able to handle two of those, on the other hand, the savings of getting the 4400+ will allow him to painlessly change the AX500 to something more powerfull like OCZ PowerStream 600W+ or maybe a PC Power & Cooling 500W+ unit.

[Cheator]

Originally Posted by leeashton

Oh I don't know maybe the fact he says an X1800 give the fact that he wants crossfire away, anyway back on topic

Uhh.. that is no indication what so ever that he wants Crossfire. At all. I bought an x850 xt pt. Does that mean I want crossfire? No.

Originally Posted by Hc000

I do not have SLI OR CROSSFIRE but I think the point of buying such high end card is so you use sli/crossfire later on right ? as an upgrade...

That isn't the point. the point is its fast. And yes he does have the option for crossfire later on, but for now it doesn't matter dude. When it comes to it I am sure he cna get a CF board.

As for the system, I life it, but is SMP necessary? I just wonder. IT seems like a total powerhouse from where I am standing.

[DietPepsi0219]

A few comments and questions for yall

1. whats SMP?
2. what the hell is crossfire?
3. the reason im going with the 1800 is its fast
4. i might overclock, i really have no idea how to do it or whatnot, but id like to keep the option open...
5. why would i need more than a gig of ram? would the X2 processor need 1gig for one "half" of the processor then another gig for the other "half"?
6. I dont see the need for a 250 gig hard drive....
7. whats the coldbug?
8. what is the final consensus regarding the mobo?
9. somebody mentioned something about more power...could you suggest a good PSU?
10. a higher rating that 3200?? whats that mean? how are the ratings different?
11.

[The Coolest]

1. Simultaneous Multi Processing
2. If you've heard about nVidia's SLI, crossfire is similar but its ATi technology.
Basically you install 2 video cards together in one system for better graphics performance.
3. And it'll get even faster when drivers mature.
5. Many games right now will run on 1GB of memory, but to really make your system shine and run them smooth as silk you'll need 2GB. And for the second part of the question, the answer's No, the X2 has only one memory controller and two cores, you don't need 1GB for "half" and another GB for the other, but s939 is dual channel so to get the best performance out of it, you will need at least two sticks of RAM.
6. Don't look just at the size of the hard-drive. That Maxtor I mentioned will be much faster than the Seagate you chose.
7. Coldbug is a term referred to stability issues or no boot problem when the CPU is super cooled way too much. It only concerns people who use multiphase phase change cooling systems etc.
9. OCZ PowerStream 600W+ or maybe a PC Power & Cooling 500W+ unit, sure more expensive, but certainly have much more of a punch.
10. There is memory rated for more than PC3200 (or DDR400), there is PC4000 and even higher rated RAM. But all these rating are meaningless if you know what particular ICs (the RAM chips themselves) are used on the modules.

[darksparkz]

Here's my answers to your questions, pretty much simliar to his answers, but some to a greater extent.

1. What he means by SMP is that it's the process of using TWO physical cores, instead of a X2. So it's like two Opterons running on one motherboard, or maybe even up to 8 opterons, depending on the core/motherboard. SMP is usually used for servers and file databases and such. Some larger businesses use it for office work and things like that, but I'd recommend the X2 over a SMP system if your just using the computer at home with nothing too big. Plus, X2s should game better then SMP setups.

2. Crossfire and SLi is the idea of running TWO video cards on one motherboard, which obviously is more expensive, but yields better performance of course.

3. I'm more of a nVIDIA based side, so I'd recommend the 7800GTX if you want some power, plus the 80 series forceware is supposed to help dual cores run much better for gaming, thus benefiting the GTXs as well.

4. i might overclock, i really have no idea how to do it or whatnot, but id like to keep the option open...
5. And yeah, 2GB of ram is slowly becoming the recommended amount for all new systems people are building. More and more applications and games, such as BF2, are having noticeable benefits in using 2GB over 1GB. Plus if you get the 1GB and feel like going for 2GB, you'll have to sell off your 1GB to upgrade.

6. The faster drives run on SATAII and use 16mb caches. You can get a cheap Maxtor Diamondmax10 250GB for about $90.


8. Go with a nForce4 chipset if your planning on getting a nVIDIA card, because it'll allow for SLi in the future. Go with the Crossfire chipset if your planning on getting a ATi card because it'll allow for Crossfire in the future.

9. If you have the money to pay for a X2 4800+, I'd say paying about $20ish more for a much better PSU is definitely needed, especially for high end video cards. I recommend the OCZ Powerstream 520W over their 600W model, I heard that dual 12V rail thing isn't too great. The OCZ Powerstream520 runs for about $110-120 or so. The PCP&C 510 runs for about $200, but most systems usually don't need something that powerful and stable unless they have SLI and many other things

Also, I also recommend getting the X2 4400+ over the X2 4800+. Both cores can OC to about the same speeds on air, actually I haven't seen that many X2 4800+ OC results, but it's a pretty good assumption. So with just a little bit of OCing, you can get the X2 4400+ to X2 4800+ speeds and even past it probably. Both cores are almost exactly the same with the Toledo 2x1MB of L2 Cache.

[IWasHungry]

Originally Posted by DietPepsi0219

A few comments and questions for yall

1. whats SMP?
2. what the hell is crossfire?
3. the reason im going with the 1800 is its fast
4. i might overclock, i really have no idea how to do it or whatnot, but id like to keep the option open...
5. why would i need more than a gig of ram? would the X2 processor need 1gig for one "half" of the processor then another gig for the other "half"?
6. I dont see the need for a 250 gig hard drive....
7. whats the coldbug?
8. what is the final consensus regarding the mobo?
9. somebody mentioned something about more power...could you suggest a good PSU?
10. a higher rating that 3200?? whats that mean? how are the ratings different?
11.

1. I'm assuming Cheator means Symmetrical Multi-Processing. I think he just thinks you're going overboard with the 4800+ X2. But if you want to spend the money, it's fine with me.
2. Crossfire is ATI's verson of NVidia's SLI. Basically allows you to run 2 video cards in tandem for a big boost in a single system. It jsut came out, so don't feel too much out of the loop lol.
3. There is no such thing as a X1800. There is X1800XL (Which is already out), X1800XT (Which will be out soon), and X1800PRO (Which I don't know when it releases).
4. Good for you.
5. Many games coming out now require more than 1GB of RAM to play smoothly (BF2 comes to mind). Splitting RAM between cores would only be true for some dual Opteron systems, which this isn't. All the RAM will be used by both cores.
6. Some people's hard drives fill up pretty fast. I personally download a lot of funny cartoons (Ren+Stimpy, ATHF, Family Guy, etc.). I still have a lot of space left (I have 360GBs total).
7. Phase change is a method of cooling, in which the CPU is in the negative temperatures (Like -50*C). Some CPUs don't OC as well as they should under those circumstances, and has been named the "cold bug".
8. Lots of overclocking features. So many, in fact, that you better know what you're doing or something could get damaged. If you plan on using Crossfire, you'de better get something else.
9. Get something 500W or more from a reliable brand.
10. PC3200 refers to RAM. That specific speed is also referred to as DDR400. Sometimes higher-speed RAM will allow you to overclock with better performance than you could with lowe-speed RAM and dividers. This is a really complicated subject, and I suggest you read the stickies regarding this matter.

EDIT: Just realized I was beat not once, but twice hehe. Suppose I'll jsut leave it as is.