JOURNAL- A64 system, FROM noob to ELITE (with pictures)

[AlanD911]

UPDATE I love the sound of watercooling! it's like a mini toilet woosh

Ok I am performing a leak test as we speak. I had some problems using the powersupply without it being hooked up to the motherboard so I didi a quick online search and grounded off the green IDEwire and it fired up. So far things are turning out good I plan on running this over night then putting in some hydrx into the mix and installing it unto the MOBO tommorrow Now for the best of all pix! I also double clamped the CPU block since it was presealed with tubes what cha think about that? pics as follows.

 

[AlanD911]

What does the XBox have that a computer can use??

everything lol a hard drive, dvd drive, ummmm i dunno you can install linux on one of them they also have some ide cables n stuff like that

 

[AlanD911]

420 isnt enough for OCing XP's, you need a solid 500+ watts to get high clocks on an XP, especialy with that 5900 sucking down the juice...

AlanD911 looks like your having fun dude, good luck!

It actually is alot of fun. THe best part is when I think i've broken something then I figure out a way to fix it by doing a tiny bit of research . Kinda like my powersupply I thought it was busted cuz my uncle banged out some rivets from my case while the PSU was still in and I was trying to run it without a mobo connected. But i did the simple green wire to black wire connection using a paper clip and VOILA all is well in the world of water cooling leak testing. 2 morrow we will see some pics of the dfi ultra-d watercooled with a 3200+ muhahahah

 

[Swatdog]

Ok, this is it... I don't know why, but I'm building a new system. I think I have a disease, just the feeling/look of all those boxes and the fresh smell of silicon/PCB on new mobos/graphics cards is just heaven. So i've decided to build MY SLI system:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ s939 90nm
MSI K8N Neo4 SLI Platinum
1x eVGA 6800GT PCI-E (i'll buy another later)
G.skill PC-4400 memory
OCZ Powerstream 520w
WD Raptor 74GB
WD Caviar SE 120GB SATA
Thermalright XP-120 w/ Delta EFB1212LE 120x38mm fan (also considering WCing)
Razer Diamondback 1600DPI Mouse
Saitek Gamers' Keyboard
VL System LIS 2 Premium VFD
HYUNDAI L90D+ Silver 19" LCD Monitor

I'm going to build that and sell off my current CPU/Mobo/RAM in the classifieds or ebay. I should start ordering parts sometime next week!

You know, I just realized that I havent complimented you on your system yet... how selfish of me.
CONGRATS ON YOUR FIRST BUILD!!
It's going to be a performer for sure!

 

[AlanD911]

Swatdog: Thanks for the congratulations. I have afew questions tho. Why are you going to chose the MSI mobo why not go with DFI? I personally chose the ultra-d because I didn't want to invest all this money into SLI when it doesn't support all of the new games and everything like that. Here;s a list of questions

1) Why chose a 3500+ when you could go with a 3200+ and overclock to the same speed of the 3500+

ok thats it lol. I'm going to put everything together (motherboard,cpu,watercooling) when I get home from school. So in about 4 hours from now I will have a new update yeehawww

 

[Nyn]

I personally went with the MSI K8N Neo4 SLI mobo for two reasons over a single Ultra board (be it DFI, Asus, Etc).

At the time it was 25 bucks more to get the SLI board over the comparable Ultra board. For 25 bucks to me it was worth it to have the ability to upgrade into SLI without having to buy a new mobo.

As far as why I chose MSI over DFI etc ~ it all boiled down to wanting to save a few bucks on my audio setup. The fact that MSI offers the onboard SBLive chip was the final sell on the MSI board. MSI boards do overclock well and I really have not had anything but great luck with the board.

The one thing I do regret is getting a 3500+ chip. As you said for less money you can get yourself into a 3200+ and get comparable speed.

anyhow ymmv.

p.s. Your system looks slick! I'd love to get into a water cooling setup.

 

[AlanD911]

I personally went with the MSI K8N Neo4 SLI mobo for two reasons over a single Ultra board (be it DFI, Asus, Etc).

At the time it was 25 bucks more to get the SLI board over the comparable Ultra board. For 25 bucks to me it was worth it to have the ability to upgrade into SLI without having to buy a new mobo.

As far as why I chose MSI over DFI etc ~ it all boiled down to wanting to save a few bucks on my audio setup. The fact that MSI offers the onboard SBLive chip was the final sell on the MSI board. MSI boards do overclock well and I really have not had anything but great luck with the board.

The one thing I do regret is getting a 3500+ chip. As you said for less money you can get yourself into a 3200+ and get comparable speed.

anyhow ymmv.

p.s. Your system looks slick! I'd love to get into a water cooling setup.

You make some good points. I was going to get the msi motherboard also but I ended up saving around 60-80 canadian dollars in getting the DFI plus my heart was really set on a DFI for the overclocking and the ultra violet cables lol. But hey you live and you learn right


UPDATE!
The leak test ran abit lame last night, I added liquid dish soap around the seals and abunch of it got into the tubing and to make a long story short I had to disassemble the entire loop and flush everything wash everything then reassemble everything. This time i'm using hyrdx and distilled water and am paying much more attention to the seals. Here is a pic of the new leaktest running so far at 2 hours in length without problems.


I was wondering if I should cut the length of my tubes for my case. I really dont want to tho but if it improves performance why not

 

[b18_cya]

nice pics man keep us posted

 

[AlanD911]

Yup thanks I do daily updates whenever i perform something on my computer or something stupid happens. Tommorrow if the leaktest runs properly I will be installing my mobo/cpu/memory/everything

 

[Swatdog]

Swatdog: Thanks for the congratulations. I have afew questions tho. Why are you going to chose the MSI mobo why not go with DFI? I personally chose the ultra-d because I didn't want to invest all this money into SLI when it doesn't support all of the new games and everything like that. Here;s a list of questions

1) Why chose a 3500+ when you could go with a 3200+ and overclock to the same speed of the 3500+

ok thats it lol. I'm going to put everything together (motherboard,cpu,watercooling) when I get home from school. So in about 4 hours from now I will have a new update yeehawww

I chose the MSI K8N Neo4 SLI Platinum for 3 reasons:

1. It performs far better than the DFI Ultra-D. For very little much more in price.

2. The audio of the MSI takes less CPU usage to run and it is a kick *** sound chip to have ONBOARD.

3. The price. I can get the MSI for $170 shipped. I don't mind paying alittle more for all of the awesome features and the performances they have.

I also chose the 3500+ because the 200MHz difference between the 3500+ and the 3200+ greatly improves the performance. It's just like the differences between the 3400+ (my current CPU) and the 3200+ s735 130nm. The major performance increases between the two wasn't all because of the 200MHz more clock on the 3400+. Also, the 3500+ is stock clocked 200MHz higher than the 3200+ therefore you have more headroom for OC-ability.

If any of you feel different please let me know.

**A little tip for your system: I think you SHOULD cut your cables to fit exactly (measure the lengths you need) because the less the tubing the water has to travel through the faster the water can get through the radiator to cool it down and then back to your components improving heat dissipation**

 

[I.M.O.G.]

The stepping and week of the ship means much more than 3200 or 3500. A cbbhd with a good week will smoke most any 3500 cbbid I have seen.

I haven't seen anything showing that the MSI "performs" far better than the Ultra-D. I haven't gotten a chance much though either, but I have seen good results and very high frequencies with the DFI... Do you have any linkage which might help me find out more about their comparitive performance?

 

[Swatdog]

The stepping and week of the ship means much more than 3200 or 3500. A cbbhd with a good week will smoke most any 3500 cbbid I have seen.

I haven't seen anything showing that the MSI "performs" far better than the Ultra-D. I haven't gotten a chance much though either, but I have seen good results and very high frequencies with the DFI... Do you have any linkage which might help me find out more about their comparitive performance?

Sure... SLI Motherboard Review
And just for anyone who wants to know the performances of the 90nm 939s:
Link

The MSI is comparable to the DFI nF4 SLI-DR.

BTW, what would be a good week?

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Thanks for the link. It would appear to me that their performance flip flops and neither board can be named decidedly superior in performance. I think if one boards other features suit you better than anothers, that should make your decision, so it sounds like you made a good choice with the board you got.

I have been reading that most cbbhd weeks between 41-48 are good overclockers from what I have seen. 2.7Ghz on air isn't irregular for these chips, and it is irregular for most cbbid's I have seen.

Note that I haven't done a great amount of research on this, but its just what I've picked up around this AMD forum... Things could be looking different already, but I think this is probably still accurate.

 

[Swatdog]

Thanks for the link. It would appear to me that their performance flip flops and neither board can be named decidedly superior in performance. I think if one boards other features suit you better than anothers, that should make your decision, so it sounds like you made a good choice with the board you got.

I have been reading that most cbbhd weeks between 41-48 are good overclockers from what I have seen. 2.7Ghz on air isn't irregular for these chips, and it is irregular for most cbbid's I have seen.

Note that I haven't done a great amount of research on this, but its just what I've picked up around this AMD forum... Things could be looking different already, but I think this is probably still accurate.

Is the CBBHD stepping available on the 3500+?

Also, now that I think about it, I might just wait and get either the 3200 or 3500 with the Venice core (should be REALLY soon) that way, SSE3 instructions will be present.

 

[AlanD911]

I did tons of research between the Dfi ultra-d/sli and the msi sli and I decided to go with DFI Since they seemed to be praised more than the MSI in general FOR OVERCLOCKING. Also the overclocking numbers gained with the MSI in the hardop review was highest when a single card was used instead of dual video cards. In comparison I heard they overclock to similar levels I wouldn't say that the MSI SLI clocks much better than the dfi. BUT HEY i smell a challenge. Post your highest stable overclock on your msi and I will post on my DFI

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!

 

[AlanD911]

Also isn't the overclocking capabilities of an ultra-d the same as that of it's sli-dr counterpart?

 

[AlanD911]

Also if I end up cutting the cables then I will have to do another 24 hour leak test ARGGGG screw it im gonna see how the system runs just with the cables at their obscenely long length for now n maybe in the future cut the cables to a specific length

 

[Swatdog]

Also isn't the overclocking capabilities of an ultra-d the same as that of it's sli-dr counterpart?

What are the differences between the two anyway?

Oh and also, I think i'm gonna go with the 3200+, but not before it's released with the Venice core (if they do).

 

[RangerDave]

Some places will advertise the stepping or gaurentee that you get a certian stepping, but these places are usually a bit more expensive. If the stepping isn't advertised it is all about how friendly/board/good the store is. Some places will look for a stepping for you, some won't bother to take the time, and a lot of them will say "stepping? what's that? it's a 3200+"

whats a stepping... and what should i look for.. the store im buying my a64 3000+ 939 says its the winchester 90nm but thats about it.

 

[Swatdog]

whats a stepping... and what should i look for.. the store im buying my a64 3000+ 939 says its the winchester 90nm but thats about it.

Its really hard to tell before you buy, but if you somehow get a good up-close pic of the EXACT CPU that you will be buying, then you can tell the stepping and the week on the 2nd line after the manufacturer number on the face of the processor itself. Other than that I have no clue... But you could also email the retailer/person you are buying it from and ask them, and usually a retailer will supply you with the certain kind of stepping/week that you want.