First AMD Build-using AsRock 939 dual

[rebelranger]

I am ready to order my System to put together.
I've decided on:

ASRock 939 Dual SATA 2
AMD X2 4200 Manchester (what is better)
Patriot PDC2G3200LLK

I've never built an AMD system! So what I need is advice pointers or suggestions. Do I need cooling (whats best in Air) or will stock do?
I will OC. Whats a good case (Inspire Dreamer?)
What I am going to do is take the system below in my sig and use what I can then pass the rest to my son.
I'll keep all but one HDD or get a large capacity HD.I'll keep the Video card also.
Had enough of Abit boards. This one ran fine then started degrading over time... This is the 3rd one!!

last question any sources better than Newegg?

Love Newegg but have to pay tax now that I live in CA!!

 

[Vengance_01]

newegg is still good because they have it for 35$ refurbished. I just got one. Its a bare board, but it was brand new, and it came with Bios version 1.6. Also I would recomend finding a used Opteron 165. 1 meg cache and should do 2.5-2.7 pretty easy. Other than that looks fine. Its a solid board and for 35$ I could not complain. AGP Support works great. Using an old 9500Pro atm till I can upgrade. Only really play CS/Source and WoW atm. To add The Stock Heatsink for Opterons are very good and should allow a good O/C on it. I might have a spare comming up if you need, shoot me a PM. Also for a good buget case this is what I recomend, Thermaltake Soprano VB1000BNS. It has 2 120mm fans one in the front and one in the back. If you can spend more there are better ones, but I would recomend 120mm ones B/C 80mm case fans can be loud

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133147

 

[ochungry]

Try post #490. it's a good start

 

[rebelranger]

Good point about the 35 bucks (37.99 Open box special dont see it refurbed) !!!

I've been reading the New Asrock Post 53 pages.. Got a ways to go. Post 409 with the guide is a great resource! I know I'll be using it once I get it all here.

Whats the most used CPU (most liked-used)... ?
I really dont want to do a volt mod yet... Maybe on my next build...or after I've gotten use to the features of the Bios.

I considered the Opteron 165 but really am dumb when it comes to AMD. I've been building rigs with intels for ages now.

So I never paid much attention to AMD. Do they get hot like the intels.? My prescott is incredibly hot. I have it on water. I am also concerned about space with a heatsink like the Big Typhoon. As far as cases, I dont mind putting money into a good case with the right airflow...

 

[Vengance_01]

The best thing about the new DC Opterons, they O/C on or near there stock voltages pretty high. This board overvolts and gives me a constant 1.49-1.50. Armed with that voltage, it is plenty for the new Dual Core Opterons. Also this board gives 2.7-2.75 on the high setting for the ram, thus allowing you to use 1x2GB kits easy. Most of these new kits do not run on high voltage.

 

[Jacobman]

So the open box ones means it hasnt been used at all? Does is still come with the driver CD?

 

[Vengance_01]

So the open box ones means it hasnt been used at all? Does is still come with the driver CD?

It could be, but a used mobo will still work fine. It might come with full box, or just the board. Grab the lastest drivers from asrocks website

 

[chevro1et]

It could be, but a used mobo will still work fine. It might come with full box, or just the board. Grab the lastest drivers from asrocks website

Since nvidia aquired ULi, all the newest drivers can be d/l'ed from here:
http://www.nvidia.com/page/uli_drivers.html

 

[rebelranger]

Ok Thanks for the drivers link...
I placed my order this morning and hope to start this weekend.
Again one question.
Do AMD chips run hot like the intel prescotts? Should I be doing another water cooled system or will air work fine..?
Thank all

 

[chevro1et]

I would rty out the stock cooler (copper heatpipes man!!) and take it from there... my rig dual-primes at only 48C, idles at 30-32C... no need for h20 unless you are really pushing hard with lotsa extra voltage imo.

 

[rebelranger]

Think Ill give the stock a try first then graduate if needed.

I still dont understand the speed in comparison to intel. Is there a link somewhere that shows what for example a 3.2 intel is in relation to AMD?
I have Ocd alot on intell but want to understand stepping interms of results from tweaks to the bios, memory etc. (hope that makes sense)
Hate to sound stupid but, the best wayt o learn is by asking!

Any case suggestions???

 

[chevro1et]

Being loyal to the forums here, I would suggest checking out the stickies in the AMD cpu section to start with...

 

[ochungry]

Think Ill give the stock a try first then graduate if needed.

I still dont understand the speed in comparison to intel. Is there a link somewhere that shows what for example a 3.2 intel is in relation to AMD?
I have Ocd alot on intell but want to understand stepping interms of results from tweaks to the bios, memory etc. (hope that makes sense)
Hate to sound stupid but, the best wayt o learn is by asking!

Any case suggestions???

AMD has numbered the processors, to correspond to intel's speed.
for example an Athlon64 3000 venice is 1.8ghz stock speed that performs like a 3000 mhz intel. A64 3200 (2ghz) as P4 3.2ghz, and so on.
opteron 165 is 1.8ghz, same as A64 3000. so it should perform like PDP 3ghz.
If you overclock opteron 165 to 2.7ghz, that is 50% overclock, which should feel like a 4.5ghz Intel dual core. Plus the memory performance is a lot better than Intel because of integrated memory controller (N bridge in die). another world no FSB bottleneck like intel. When you do the benchmarks you will become more familiar how it compares to Intel's. For example: SiSandra and everest benchmarck software will compare your system to intel's
And yes, AMD's stock HSF is good enough and only those who overclock to extreme w/ insane speed vcore will use other methods of cooling. Opteron 165 has a nice heatpipe HSF. temp is around 30 to 48c idle/load depending your system, ambient temp, case ventilation. 40c. normal load is an average.
i use a64 3000 w/ stock hsf overclcoked to 2.7ghz and alway below 37c normal work, 33c idle.

 

[rebelranger]

I've been searching the stickes and posts, but so much to read and I will continue to do so.

OCH
So if I can ask you- since you are running the A64 is there an advantage to that over the Opteron? I guess the question is what is the best straight out of the box chip (speed) and the best for OC (tweaking for speed)?... What about dual core?

Your explanation of this really helps and thank you.

 

[Vengance_01]

There are no difference between 939 Opterons and and regular A64's Some say the Opterons are better silicone because they are server grade chips. But the real fact is that all Opterons are Sandy cores, and all X2 Opterons are toledo cores. Reason most choose the 165 is B/C it has 1meg cache and can easy hit 2.5-2.6GHZ and usally 2.7-2.8GHZ and is about as cheap as the X2 3800 which only has 512KB L2 cache. Also Opterons seem to need less voltage to hit the same speeds as there X2 coutern parts. Not sure why, but who know.

 

[rebelranger]

Hey thanks for the details.
Veng-Tried to Pm but says no room on your side.
I did find a new opy locally at dirt cheap price.
I'm going to start my rig this W/E. I appreciate all the insight and help everyone is giving!! Great place this board!!

 

[ochungry]

I've been searching the stickes and posts, but so much to read and I will continue to do so.

OCH
So if I can ask you- since you are running the A64 is there an advantage to that over the Opteron? I guess the question is what is the best straight out of the box chip (speed) and the best for OC (tweaking for speed)?... What about dual core?

Your explanation of this really helps and thank you.

let me ask you this first:
are you building system from scratch to are you salvaging some hardware like AGP, DDR rams?
If brand new system and hardware I suggest AM2's.
But to answr your Q, it all depends how much money willing to spend.
Opteron dual cores are better than A64 single core or A64 dual core such as 3800 x2 because overclock better and has larger cache.
Most user been happy w/ 165 or 170 opterons because of dual and better overclcoker. well most of the time. My A64 3000 overclcks better than my former Opteron 146 (I sold it) w/ this one I get 2880 prime stable but the 146 could only do 2.82ghz eventhough was 10x multi instead of 9x as my A643000For price performance I would get 165 or 170 Opteron.
Try Tankguy or Monarch w/ coupon on Opterons. Check the Cyber deal here in this website for Opteron coupon.
a 165 will overclock up to 2.7 ghz which is more than enough. The 170 is a 10x multi, and can overclock as much as 165 or more and it gives you better memory options. Example: 10x muliti can do: 10x270 1:1 ratio that gives you DDR540. you can buy good set of 2xigig DDR500 and overclcok it by 40 mhz and have a killer system. All done w/ minimum headache.
Where as if it was 165 Opteron you would had to use divider: 9x300=2700 and using 166 divider that puts mem to ~245 (DDR490) which is lower speed than stock(DDR500). another advantage of 10x multi is that you have more multiplier to play with (10x, 9x, 8x).
Now If you dont do any multytasking, a single core Opteron 144 or 146 would do just fine and they too overclcok well. most of the time better chance than dual core. A64 3200 is also a very good bargain overclcoker. Just less cache(512 L2, instead of 1gig Opteron). But is about $30-$40 cheaper.
So in conclusion:
165/170 opteron id multitasking and last you good while.
A64 3200 or Opteron 144/146, if not much multitasking.
Opteeron 144 has 9x multi, 146 is 10x, A64 3200 is 10x, Opteron 165 is dual core and 9x multi, 170 is dual and is 10x multi.
just find your price range and your need and decide among those 4.

 

[rebelranger]

To answer your q's I am building from scratch I do want to keep my Ati AGP card. (willing to sacrifice this and am considering PCIe)
I ordered the board already and thought about the AM2 but got more confused.
I can afford a good chip and better ram.

I DO multitazsk alot. So that is important to me. The items in my sig can be sold or traded. But I can also pass on to my son. What I ideally want to do go is get a blazing fast PC that multitasks and has fast graphic response.
I like the 10X multiplier and it sounds easy. So 170 seems my choice What about heat?
What ram (DDR500) would go best with the Opti 170? I had originally pegged the Patriot sticks but also considered Geil or Corsair...?

 

[Vengance_01]

To answer your q's I am building from scratch I do want to keep my Ati AGP card. (willing to sacrifice this and am considering PCIe)
I ordered the board already and thought about the AM2 but got more confused.
I can afford a good chip and better ram.

I DO multitazsk alot. So that is important to me. The items in my sig can be sold or traded. But I can also pass on to my son. What I ideally want to do go is get a blazing fast PC that multitasks and has fast graphic response.
I like the 10X multiplier and it sounds easy. So 170 seems my choice What about heat?
What ram (DDR500) would go best with the Opti 170? I had originally pegged the Patriot sticks but also considered Geil or Corsair...?

With the proper DDR 400 ram I say go for a 165. This board is good for 300HTT with decent compents. I say 270-275 which is min with it. Even with a DC at 2.5-2.6GHZ is blow away your old hot running P4. The board allows you to use your good X850XT and grab PCI-E card as need be.

 

[rebelranger]

One concern that this leads to is my PS . On the intel platform chips are greedy and consume lots of power. Is this differnt with AMD? What's a good timing for RAM to look for when Ocing