New AMD gaming system

[Exodus7]

Well now that I've got my X mas money, I've decided to build my first ever gamign rig. I've never used AMD processors before but my friend has told me that they outperform intel processors when overclocked. Anyways here is my rig so far.

All prices in CDN currency:

Case: 65$

ANTEC SLK3000B ATX MID TOWER CASE Black 6X5.25 5X3.5 NO PS (cheap case)

Processor:210$

AMD Opteron 144 Processor S939 Venus 1.8GHZ 1MB L2 Cache 90NM 64BIT Retail Box

Motherboard:

MSI K8N NEO4 PLATINUM MOTHERBOARD ATX S939 DDR PCI-E16 PCI-E4 PCI-E 4PCI SATA RAID SOUND LAN 1394 158$

OR

ASUS A8N-E MOTHERBOARD ATX S939 NFORCE4 ULTRA DDR PCI-E16 PCI-E4 2PCI-E1 3PCI SATA RAID GBLAN SOUND 136$

OR

DFI LANParty UT NF4 ULTRA-D Motherboard ATX S939 NFORCE4 Ultra DDR 2PCI-E16 SATA RAID Sound LAN 1394 153$

RAM:

OCZ EL PC3200 1GB 2X512MB DDR400 CL2-3-2-6 184PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit W/ Ramsink (will overclock better then value ram) 162$

Hardrive: 153$

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 8.9MS Hard Drive 3 Year MFR Warranty

Floppy: SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5IN FLOPPY DRIVE 10$

Video Card:

EVGA E-GEFORCE 6800GS SLI 256MB 256BIT GDDR3 PCI-E VGA DVI-I Video Card Retail Lifetime Warranty 259$

PS:

OCZ OCZ45012U-450W Modstream Power Supply PCI-E Ready W/ Ezmod Cable System & Blue LED Fan 100$

DVD:

LG GSA-4167B 16X DVD+-RW 16X Dual Layer Writer IDE 2MB Black OEM W/ SW Burner 58$

Total price approximation: 1170$

Budget: 1200 $ (before taxes)

This system will be air cooled with 2 120 mm fans. It may be overclocked slightly, and so I got a decent powersupply just in case. Also, can anyone give me advice on what motherboard and hardrive to chose between those. I cant really afford anything much better that I have on the list here, because im almost over my budget as it is...

 

[Mooyo]

What exactly is your budget, it'll help us out in giving advice on what to buy or not to buy.

Also, do you plan on overclocking a lot? You said you may a little but I see you picked an opteron, which overclock like mad. My 144 is at 2.7ghz and that was with minimal effort.

With your budget others and myself could really help you out on whats good and in your price range.

For right now there's a few things that stuck out to me. You can get the WD 250gig 16mb cache version for almost the same price as the standard 8mb cache 250 gig so there's no reason not to get that. If you do decide to overclock there are definately better motherboards to go with. Also you'll probably need better cooling if you are going to overclock much. Although my opty is still on it's stock cooler... It'll depend on what you decide to buy.

 

[Exodus7]

K thanks for the advice. I'll list prices soon. Anyways, about the motherboard, are DFI Lanparties a lot better then the MSI Neo K Platinum or the Asus A8N-E?? People have told me that it is a very unstable motherboard.

And my overclock, might be 200 to 400 mghtz to begin with. I can always add better cooling later on if im going to go higher...

EDIT: Prices in 1rst post updated.

 

[martinjon666]

the only problem i have noticed with the dfi's (my bro just got an expert) is that they are VERY picky. Everything has to be just right or it is a no go. The Msi is a hit or miss, as usual with msi. don't know about the Asus i have heard good things about them but nothing from this one specifically. As for the HD if you can get a sata II with a 16m cache, with the onboard raid drivers you can always get a second one and raid it later but you'll want a higher cache and definitely sata II.

 

[Mooyo]

Asus boards tend to be pretty good and stable but don't OC as well as DFI boards. Mine was a little bit of a pain to set up but literally with stock volts I had it up to 2.5ghz with no problems whatsoever. I had 2.7 running for awhile on stock volts but for some reason it's not anymore but it's not like 1.392 volts is bad by any means.

While OC kinda seems like a hard thing at first with the right set up it's really not that bad. You're completely right with being able to buy better cooling solutions later too, so maybe you find out you really like to OC and have to buy better equipment.

If you have an opteron though you really are going to want to overclock more than 400mhz because it's literally going to be so easy to do. So I'd recommend getting a mobo that at least has good potential to overclock nicely. If you are iffy on DFI boards an Epox might be the way to go. It seems like a nice middle ground between OCing ability and stability. Another recommendation would be the ASrock motherboard that has decent OCing ability but is only $69(US). Good board if you want to free some money up for other parts.

My family is about to start our christmas stuff so I can't try to price out some things for you just yet but I will later tonight or in the morning.

 

[Exodus7]

Thanks for the reply, I probably will go will go with the MSI or DFI. Your probably right that I will go higher oc with my opteron, but at first I'm going to take it slow and just enjoy my new comp playing battlefield 2 before im really gonna push it. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Mooyo]

No I totally understand where you are coming from. I was in the same boat you are and well...that went out the window fast lol

Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays, whichever you prefer)!

Oh and a sidenote BF2 is a major RAM hog so you might wanna think about 2 gigs in the future.

 

[Rattle]

DFI Ultra-d mobo

3700 san diego or 146 opteron

either 1gig of OCZ plats rev2 or 2gigs of gskill ddr500's for $199

eVGA 7800gt for $285

2x hitachi 80gb SATAII, fastest drive on the market aside from the raptors, you can raid them or use one for OS and one for storage $117 shipped
or pick up one 1 hitachi for OS and grab a maxtor 250gig with 16mb cache sata will cost you under $150 for both.

Forton blue storm 500watt $80 shipped, best non SLI PSU for under $100

just grab an NEC or SONY dvd burner rom OEM they are under $40 and are covered for a year from the egg...

 

[tranceaddict]

Definitively go with the DFI LANParty UT NF4 ULTRA-D, its a tried and tested overclocker. The Expert might be picky, buy the Ultra has been around long enough that stable settings are well know. I would also recommend a Big Typhoon Heatsink and fan combo as it will greatly enhance your overclock. I'm not sure what stepping you have but the Opteron 146 CABYE 0540 that I have, readily does 3 GHz stable on a decent air cooler (50% OC). Opterons in general are amazing overclockers. Moreover, you might want to throw in an extra $120 CAN and get the eVGA 7800GT. It will be a good futureproof investment.

 

[Exodus7]

The store where I'm buying from says that they'll have no 146 Opty's for a long time... All they have left are a bunch of 144 opterons, but I'll take what I can get. I cant afford the 7800 GTX, my christmas money and the money that I saved up is only about 1400 CDN, and there are going to be a lot of taxes 15%, since I live in quebec...

 

[tranceaddict]

The store where I'm buying from says that they'll have no 146 Opty's for a long time... All they have left are a bunch of 144 opterons, but I'll take what I can get. I cant afford the 7800 GTX, my christmas money and the money that I saved up is only about 1400 CDN, and there are going to be a lot of taxes 15%, since I live in quebec...

The 7800GT (not GTX) can be bought for $380 CAN, and trust me I know all about taxes, I'm from Toronto.

 

[Exodus7]

[rant]I hate the GST and PST. Consumption tax is so retarded, especially the GST because it ends up in the federal governments hands and instead of giving back to provinces, they spend it on stupid things!!!![/rant]

Anyways, I still can't afford the extra 130$ for the 7800GT, im going to have to stick with what I have, and then in a fcouple years, upgrade my graphics card.

 

[tranceaddict]

[rant]I hate the GST and PST. Consumption tax is so retarded, especially the GST because it ends up in the federal governments hands and instead of giving back to provinces, they spend it on stupid things!!!![/rant]

Anyways, I still can't afford the extra 130$ for the 7800GT, im going to have to stick with what I have, and then in a fcouple years, upgrade my graphics card.

Try to get an aftermarket HSF for your CPU in order to take advantage to the opteron's amazing overclockabilty. The Big Typhoon is one of the best and its about $60CAN, where as if you get a good heatsink and fan separately, you can pay as much as $90-100 CAN.

BTW, these are good online Canadian retailers:

http://www.anitec.ca/
http://www.ncix.com/
http://www.pccanada.com/

 

[mooreswhat]

Hello Mr.Exodus, Merry Christmas.

My build is greatly going to resemble yours as soon as I rack in all the cash from the relatives

I wish NewEgg shipped to canada so we could buy those nice eVGA 7800GTs for low price

Id say it looks good, but the hd u put there is mad expensive (the se16) i think u just put the wrong one.

I think that most n4 ultra boards are good, just depends what you prefer. I like MSI they have never let me down, but some people say their boards are hit and miss. Not too sure. I think its the DFI Ultra-D or something like that is also a very good alternative.

ttyl.