Another Build...

[SnY_pEr]

Please Help me with my Build...

This build is going around the 4000+ San Diego...

Now i am from Canada and going to be getting most of these parts from NCIX for a christmas present to myself!

Now i want to OC but i am having a dilemma... either 1gb of quality RAM or 2gb of RAM?

Heres the list ive compiled...

ASPIRE X-PLORER CASE FAN WINDOW TEMP. DISP. SILVER-BLACK

AMD Athlon 64 4000+ Processor S939 San Diego 2.4GHZ 1MB L2 Cache 90NM
EVGA E-GEFORCE 7800GT PCI-E 256MB 256BIT GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDTV VIVO SLI Ready

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

Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 250GB SATA W/ NCQ 7200RPM 8MB 8MS Hard Drive

Best Cooler 80MM Clear Case Fan Ball Bearing W/ Blue Leds 3/4 Pin X2

LG Black 52X24X52 CDRW& 16X DVD Combo INT Eide Atapi OEM W/ CDRW SW Burner

CHAINTECH AV-710 PCI SOUND CARD 7.1 24-BIT OPTICAL

Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard USB Black Silver LCD Panel Programmable Back Lit Keys

Flexiglow Xraider Gaming Rubber Coated Changing Color Illuminated Status Light Mouse USB/PS2

Hiper Type R 580W ATX12V V2 24/20 Pin Blue Power Supply 120MM Blue LED PCI-E W/ Detachable Cable

Now i need to know between these two which you would get?

OCZ EL Platinum REV.2 (TCCD) PC3200 1GB 2X512MB DDR CL 2-2-2-5 184PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit

OCZ EL Platinum PC3200 2GB 2X1GB DDR400 CL2-3-2-5 184PIN Pin Dual Channel Memory Kit /W Ramsink

Now i will be running games like Battlefield 2 and FEAR and Quake 4 and i need to know what i should do?

Thanks alot in Advance!

Garrett

 

[SnY_pEr]

Bump up for today.... please any help is great...

 

[DarkPurity]

Well, first off don't get the DFI motherboard. Especially with that memory. The cheap stuff from OCZ is known to cause issues, and sometimes you have to make special adjustments in the bios (including specialized bios flashes) to get the good, TCCD stuff to work right. Unless the fun for you is building the computer, not using it, I'd recommend an Asus setup. If you're patient (i'm not), you can get the Asus A8N32 SLI and get the first true 16x/16x SLI motherboard. DFI support blows, so unless you've been working with specific RAM timings for years, go for something more likely to work out-of-the-box. If you don't ever intend to go SLI.....what am I saying. Be ready to go SLI. Get an SLI board.

I'd get the TCCD at 1GB, personally, to get a better OC. You can get good TCCD from G.Skill memory a bit cheaper.

Processor wise, drop the single core and get a dual. You might not get as high frequency for the money, but newer games like F.E.A.R. use the second core as a specialized physics processor. You'll see this more and more and eventually single-cores will be antique.

HDD how much are you spending? If more than 150, I got the same basic drive but from WD for $137.

Don't buy the Chaintech sound card. it's basically the same thing that's on most motherboards. Save your money and either upgrade to a DVD-RW Dual Layer or put it toward more cooling fans at higher RPM. If you want better sound, get a SB X-Fi ExtremeMusic.

 

[darksparkz]

I highly recommend something other then the 4000+, the X2s are looking great now, even at games.

I'd say go for 2GB of ram if you want to play BF2 and games better, some 2x1GB ram can really OC as well as some 2x512MB ram. The Crucial Ballistix can get most CPUs to 280fsb+ with only 2.9v, but then it runs at $290.

And might I recommend a Creative Sound Audigy sound card? The X-Fi series starts at $110 and is one of the best sound cards out there.

Haven't heard too much about the Hiper PSU, but I might recommend a OCZ Powerstream 520W for $120 which would probably be much more reliable and well known.

 

[SnY_pEr]

Thanks Guys...

Im now considering the 3800+ x2... but dont know if i can get a better OC with it? im sure it would pack a punch and i probably wont notice a significant change in FPS or performance in games PLUS its cheaper...

Now for the motherboard... i like the DFI cause i have OCed in the past and really like there motherboards... So i may stick with that...

Could you guys post links from NCIX to the products to told me to get?

Also the 520 powerstream i did consider but was told the hiper would last longer and be a better PSU...

Please advise more?

Still which RAM? the Rev.2 or 2gb of EL? i rather get the platinum... because its two gb and im sure itll stand out from some of the other RAM...

 

[DarkPurity]

Thanks Guys...

Im now considering the 3800+ x2... but dont know if i can get a better OC with it? im sure it would pack a punch and i probably wont notice a significant change in FPS or performance in games PLUS its cheaper...

Now for the motherboard... i like the DFI cause i have OCed in the past and really like there motherboards... So i may stick with that...

Could you guys post links from NCIX to the products to told me to get?

Also the 520 powerstream i did consider but was told the hiper would last longer and be a better PSU...

Please advise more?

Still which RAM? the Rev.2 or 2gb of EL? i rather get the platinum... because its two gb and im sure itll stand out from some of the other RAM...

Go with the plat, but if you go with that DFI board be ready for a headache. Even for many of us experienced folk their newest boards tend to be a PITA.

 

[SnY_pEr]

K i have now either have this RAM or the one posted above because of the money ill be saving with the 3800+x2...

OCZ Platinum EB PC4000 2GB 2X1GB DDR500 CL3-3-2-8 184PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit W/ Ramsink ?

Also that MOBO is on the Expensive side?

Anything around 150? thats probably the same... cause im not going to use Dual Vid Cards... but want 4 RAM slots? Anything you guys can think of?

 

[DarkPurity]

That's pretty good memory.

$150 will pretty much land you in an SLI-capable motherboard. Non-SLI AGP ones are usually around $80-90, and the market for non-SLI PCI-E boards is pretty tiny and costs almost as much as the SLI variant. I'd suggest maybe an Asus A8N SLI Deluxe or something from Abit. You can try MSI to get higher OC's similar to the DFI but MSI has a history of crapping out.

 

[SnY_pEr]

So should i still go with the same DFI? im sure i could get the OCing... but i am not willing to go overboard with this rig since its only a gaming rig and i dont think ill need to OC that much to get high FPS in games...

Also what do you think about the RAM i posted?

 

[aznkc730]

for dfi, get better ram. tryl geil one tccd. its about 190 bucks at zipzoomfly.com free 2nd day shipping.

 

[SnY_pEr]

Im in Canada...

Also i think that RAM will OC just fine... and its kinda in my price range... maybe a little above...

 

[cuda70383]

second the 2 sticks of 1024 ram.....bf2 likes it and all the newer games are gonna like it as well.

there was a review with actual benches (forgot to bookmark it or i'd link it) that showed the differences in playing the different games (doom, bf2, etc) w/2 gigs vs 1 gig and there was more difference than i thought there would be.

also, the people that have 2 gigs of ram are into the game faster than those w/less.

if you haven't bought your 7800 gt, you may want to wait as prices are bound to drop as ati comes out w/more of their new line.

if you can find a sale on the bfg 7800gt oc, get it as can overclock to 7800gtx speeds and its a lot less $$$.

 

[SnY_pEr]

Yeah i know how most of the newer games are liking the 2GB's thats why im opting for it...

The 7800gt is bound to drop in price hopefully with the now 7800GTX 512 coming out hopefully and i will forsure take advantage of that!

Also running programs like photoshop and other tedious programs...

Does anyone have that link? to the difference between 1gb and 2gb? i would love to read it and to see results

And i was told this RAM is OC crazy lol

Thanks

Garrett

 

[SnY_pEr]

After doing a quick google...

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=463

Is this the one your talking about?

It doesnt seem to make a big difference in the Demos... but i think we would need tests on the full games since they will probably be more RAM intense...

The summary after the BF2 test tells a story on how the game wont flow without the 2gb of RAM and will lag but wont cause a FPS decrease...

I feel that i wont need to upgrade for a pretty long time...

EDIT: something else i found...

As you can see, load times are dramatically reduced in Battlefield 2 with the inclusion of an extra GB of RAM. Instead of waiting up to 50 seconds for a level to load, times are now reduced to as little as 26 seconds. Framerates take a nice jump as well. Anandtech demo showed a 44% improvement and the BCCHW demo showed a nice 33% improvement. I was quite surprised by these results in Battlefield 2, but don't actually expect this performance curve to hold throughout the other games.

Seems that 2gb of RAM is the way to go... i would love those load times to be decreased... and a average of 38.5% improvment? thats quite a feat...

What do you think?

 

[cuda70383]

that's not the one i was looking at ...i just spent the last 45 minutes going through my browser history....the one i looked at showed the difference between the 939 processors and earlier processors as well.

if i find it, i'll post it.

 

[SnY_pEr]

k thanks... but im sure those two sites some it up.. 2gb will give you alot better load times and alot better performance... FPS doesnt mean anything if your running it on high... you could easily move down to medium but i think i wont have a problem getting high...

 

[johan851]

Don't buy the Chaintech sound card. it's basically the same thing that's on most motherboards.

What? The Chaintech is probably the best bang for the buck sound card out there in terms of quality. For audiophiles on a budget, the music reproduction is top-notch. It's great. It's just not a gamer card...won't do any 3D positioning, EAX, anything like that. Otherwise it's a very good chip with very good DACs.

 

[Neuromancer]

For performance on a Budget, I built upa system using an MSI Motherboard. The Overclockablitiy is exceptional, though my Board (the K8T800) only has 2.85Max Vdimm so I am having issues with my Geil Ultra platnium stick...

I see alot of people using the NForce MSI boards and seem happy with them. Also the onboard Audio on the MSI board Is rated VERY well. It literally smokes the DFI and Abit onboard audio.

However I am no audiophile so I can tell you about al lthe crazy settings it has. I have to tell it I have 6 speakers and I dont have SPDIF connected and the sound is great...

I run at 2.4GHz on a 3000 winnie and I am very happy, especially for hte money I spent

Also I thinik one of the biggest hypes anymore is Heatsinks. I spent 7 bucks and picked up a thermaltake TR-2 with 80 MM fan. A little AS5 and my load temps NEVER hit 50C
Granted if I had spent 40 dolalrs I would probably never hit 40C but ...

Good luck with your new build

 

[White Runner]

DFI bashing? Works fine for me.... we'll get to that...

I have a somewhat similar setup to what you are going to build... Here is my 2 cents.

DFI LANParty UT NF4 ULTRA-D - Good choice; believe it or not there is plenty of support out there for this motherboard. Both on this site and www.dfi-street.com . Most problems come from inexperience or weak psu.

AMD Athlon 64 4000+ - I hear a lot of talk about dual core opterons... I would look at dual core posts and see what best suits your needs.

EVGA E-GEFORCE 7800GT - Love the card, no complaints, but if you get a dual core proc, maybe splurge and get a gtx

Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard - If you get this, i would HIGHLY recommend getting a MX-518 mouse also made by logitech... some people will recommend the g7 or whatever the new laser mouse is, but it only has 1 thumb button, no changing sensitivity on the fly... i love the 518 (in a stylish marbleized silver)

Also, if you are going to overclock, I would suggest getting some aftermarket cooling... xp-90's/xp-120's are also popular, but again, i think its more preference.... Or start looking for a WC kit

Hope this helps!

 

[White Runner]

I see alot of people using the NForce MSI boards and seem happy with them. Also the onboard Audio on the MSI board Is rated VERY well. It literally smokes the DFI and Abit onboard audio.

However I am no audiophile so I can tell you about al lthe crazy settings it has. I have to tell it I have 6 speakers and I dont have SPDIF connected and the sound is great...

Was typing whilst you posted this...

As far as audio, I could tell a big difference when i got an audigy 2zs card, and if you are a gamer, you will be able to tell the difference in bf2 sounds. As well as using a sound card, should give you a minor performance gain.

I run at 2.4GHz on a 3000 winnie and I am very happy, especially for hte money I spent
Good luck with your new build

This is key, be happy with what you get, or it will end up in the classifieds in no time.