Pondering upgrade

[floppybootstomp]

After reading about all the recent upgrades at this Forum and elsewhere, and suggesting a system for another forum poster today, I got to thinking about upgrading my own system.

I’ve had the system in my sig since August 2004 and at the time promised myself it would last me at least a year. Well, August’s almost here, so I’m checking things out right now.

I’ve listed my selections below, I would appreciate your comments and suggestions.

The only thing I won’t budge on is the motherboard, I want one of those And I don’t favour Intel, sorry.

I’ve never used Geil memory before, but the specs look good for the price and if Chris Postill says Geil is good stuff, then I gotta believe him, right?

I figure I don’t need a better specced grafix card than the 6600GT, it will certainly handle all games I have at the moment, but I am wondering whether or not it will handle the upcoming Call Of Duty 2 and the Half Life 2 add-on.

And it is an XFX version, comes a little overclocked straight out the box. I was a little put off XFX after two cards made by them had fan failures, both Mucks and I bought an XFX card at the same time and a couple of months later, both fans failed, although XFX say on their site they’ve sorted out the problem now.

I figure I should be able to overclock this system, maybe up to 2.7Ghz, maybe even a little higher.

All components were selected from overclockers.co.uk as an example for pricing. It comes to around £682.00 plus postage, total, inc. VAT. So all I gotta do now is find some more work and earn the money

Again, all views/suggestions/comments will be listened to and considered.

DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard - £140.94

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) – Retail - £246.69

Zalman CNPS7700-CU Ultra-Quiet CPU Cooler – Retail - £33.15

XFX GeForce PCX6600 GT Extreme Gamers Edition 128MB DDR3,

TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) – Retail - £137.42

GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC4400 Ultra Platinum CAS3 - £123.32

 

[itsme]

Have a look at this Flops ebuyer quick code 086395

 

[floppybootstomp]

Have a look at this Flops ebuyer quick code 086395

well thankee, itsme, so I'd save six quid by using e-buyer?

lol, if I'm spending what I consider to be serious money, I won't be using e-buyer,I want this system up and running quick, don't want to wait three months for an rma

And besides, by the time you add postage, the savings are reduced. And e-buyer ship in three days, overclockers next day.

And finally, buying all parts from one supplier saves on postage.

But I do apreciate the link, thank you

 

[crazylegs]

You seem as if you've pretty much made your mind up flopp's on the Components you listed...


The 3700 athlon 64 is a fantastic chip but I would wait a little bit longer for the price to come down...£246.69 is a hell of a lot of dough for something which will halve in value in 3 months time.. I know because my chip was expensive and I almost cried when the prices dropped a few months later...

But other than that everything else looks fandabidozy...

 

[muckshifter]

This may be of interest to you Fopps ...

Then there is the configuration. As it turns out, I was quickly told by AMD enthusiasts that any 4 x 512MB sticks on my DFI NF4 SLI-DR motherboard will only do 2T Command Rate as opposed to 1T which is optimal. The importance of Command Rate is discussed here for example, and in practical terms it's only a few % difference, but why lose a few % performance for around the same price? Therefore I chose 2x1GB sticks which not only give me the fastest memory timings (aka RAM Latency) at this configuration (i.e. 2-3-2-5), as well as 1T Command Rate, they also leave me with 2 free RAM slots in case I want to upgrade to 4GB in a year or so. The RAM also comes with heat spreaders which are a nice touch in keeping them more stable and allowing more headroom if I want to overclock them down the track. Finally, there have been many testimonials by various DFI NF4 SLI-DR users that certain RAM modules have problems on these motherboards. I once again turned to the experts on this motherboard who told me to purchase the OCZ RAM as it is fast and stable on this motherboard - something I wouldn't have known if I hadn't researched and consulted with the pros. I saved myself a lot of heartache simply by doing my homework before buying.

See it here

Bet you gonna use them Raptors' in there?

 

[crazylegs]

They certainly look like a tasty couple of sticks...

 

[muckshifter]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_OCZ_144.html

 

[floppybootstomp]

crazylegs:

Yes, I must admit, the chip's a little pricey. I did want the San Diego chip version though, to take advantage of the 1Mb cache. However, the Venice 3200 costs a mere £129.00, a saving of around £117.00. Well worth considering, or maybe waiting, cos to be honest I'm still quite happy with my current system, it really seems quite fast to me.

I have two almost identical systems here, and the DFI board just tramps all over the Gigabyte board version, I didn't realise just how much difference a motherboard can make.

So thank you, yes, well worth considering.

Mucks:

Thanks for that, I had heard of some memory problems with that board, I must confess. Looks like I'll have to check out the prices for OCZ memory then.

And yes, all the other stuff in the system in my sig will go over to this, including the Raptors.

 

[muckshifter]

No disrespect to Chris on this, but you know how I go on about MB's & getting the right RAM ... should be around the same price.

Looks like I'll have to get my own Raptors then.

 

[floppybootstomp]

No disrespect to Chris on this, but you know how I go on about MB's & getting the right RAM ... should be around the same price.

Looks like I'll have to get my own Raptors then.

Actually, Sir Mucks, nearest spec OCZ memory cost another sixty seven quid

It's actually better specced, the only OCZ memory available for same price as the Geil is PC3200.

But I suppose it's worth it, particularly as I want to overclock this thing.

And, really, honestly, the Raptor drives do make a difference, especially in RAID 0, I can truthfully say that

 

[G~MAN]

you could always go for a 3500 and save money for a 6800 gt i feel a 6800 would be so much more futureproof and in time u can get another one and go sli but other than that excellent system and i bet you cant wait to build it

 

[muckshifter]

Flopps, you looking in the right place ...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Enhanced_Bandwidth_Series.html

second one down ... that'll do, wont it?

 

[muckshifter]

Ah, I see where I goofed, you want 4400 ... no need, go for the 3200 el ... well, unless you really think 4400 will be better.

 

[Me__2001]

flopps there is a 1GB dual channel OCZ kit here (bottom of the page)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Enhanced_Latency_Series.html

edit: reading through the description it says its designed for i865 and i875 chipsets, that may be a problem

 

[crazylegs]

Thats Cas 3, were talking Cas 2 super low latency stuff here m_e...

 

[Me__2001]

Thats Cas 3, were talking Cas 2 super low latency stuff here m_e...

i thought that the higher the CAS the better for overclocking and anyway the Geil that flopps originally had listed is CAS 3

 

[floppybootstomp]

Mucks, normally I wouldn't bother with anything higher than PC3200, doesn't seem much point really, but in this instance I do want to overclock, and higher setting memory will help a great deal.

Me_2001: Thanks, actually, I did come across that, forgot to mention it. It's still 53 quid more than the Geil though, but better price than the OCZ memory I'd earmarked. Yes, I think that would do the job, I reckon

 

[crazylegs]

No the lower the Cas the better...the OCZ that muck's is on about is low latency...

 

[muckshifter]

"... OCZ memory I'd earmarked. Yes, I think that would do the job, I reckon"

Thats the memory Sorted then ... what we gonna pick on next.

I know ... what PSU you gonna use?

 

[floppybootstomp]

"... OCZ memory I'd earmarked. Yes, I think that would do the job, I reckon"

Thats the memory Sorted then ... what we gonna pick on next.

I know ... what PSU you gonna use?

You're on a roll tonight, aintcha? lol

PSU is the one in my sig, Tagan 480W, the one I reviewed