New case, mobo and processor - need advice, opinions...

[Murgatroyd]

Originally posted by LordX
Ars Technica came out with their new systems guide today. I've always found their specs to be right on for the HotRod system. They're going for an Ath64 3000 on an MSI K8T NEO-FIS2R or Albatron's K8X800 Pro II.

http://www.arstechnica.com/guide/system/hotrod.html

Good link! Thanks. I'm not going to go for the 64-bit stuff yet, because 64-bit hardware is pretty much meaningless for 32-bit software. Besides, I'm not made of money..

[Bullhead]

No sweat murg, your gonna have to post some pics though once you get it up and running

Ps. 2 more helpful links:

http://forum.abit-usa.com
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum

great wealth of information on both.

[Bluenoser NC]

Do you people with NF7-S mobos use hardware acceleration in the sound settings for BF? Whenever I turn it on, the sounds seem muffled.

[LordShard]

http://www.newegg.com is the bomb. I've orderd all my new computer parts from them and my new video card. They all work like a dream and come well packaged.

[Bullhead]

Blue, yes I use hardware accel, and have noticed no issues, maybe tomorrow I'll experiment with different settings to see if it makes a diff.

Also, if you're having either NF7-S specific or Nforce2 specific issues check out the above 2 forums, great sources of info....

[Murgatroyd]

Ok, pretty much got everything squared away, anything (cables, etc) that I might be forgetting about?

[flapjack]

The forums on this site are very helpful

http://www.pcmech.com/

[Murgatroyd]

Ok, I'm about to start plunking down cash on this monster, so I want to know if there are any last-minute changes I should make.

First, every component I'm getting that has anything to do with the FSB is 400mhz - I figure if it's uniformed, it'll run better.

Here are the parts:

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ "Barton", 400MHz FSB, 512K Cache Processor
ABIT nForce2 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "NF7-S"
Clear Acrylic Case ATX (unassembled) - UV Clear Blue
Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 184 Pin 512MB DDR with LED activity indicators PC-3200PRO
Antec 480W Power Supply,Model "TRUE480"
2x AeroCool UV LED Case fan 80MM, Model "AeroFans-UV-BG-SV"
2x ASPIRE 80mm Green UV Reactive 4pin Case Fan, Model "CF4S-UGN"
2x Filter for 80MM fan
2x UNINCOM ROUND, 18-Inch, True ATA133/100/66/33, ( UV SILVER/BLUE ) IDE Cable, 3-Head, 18 Inches
ATI Radeon 9800pro with 128mb (Already bought it)

Let me know if there's anything wrong, anything better I can get or anything I'm missing. (I already have HD, CD Rom, Network Card).

[Murgatroyd]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I'm actually running somewhat significantly under-budget, so if there are any upgrades I could make, let me know too.

[Jim0322 Profile]

Originally posted by C. Murgatroyd
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I'm actually running somewhat significantly under-budget, so if there are any upgrades I could make, let me know too.

It looks really good. You are getting two sticks of that RAM I assume. If not, that should be a high priority. Do you need a new joystick and/or cordless/optical mouse? What heatsink do you plan to use on that CPU?

Jim

[Murgatroyd]

Originally posted by Jim0322
It looks really good. You are getting two sticks of that RAM I assume. If not, that should be a high priority. Do you need a new joystick and/or cordless/optical mouse? What heatsink do you plan to use on that CPU?

Jim

My joystick is fine, and I'm not gonna go messing with cordless pointing devices - I'm all set with having it die in the heat of a battle..

Yeah, there's two sticks of 512 there. The mobo can only handle two sticks of DDR400, and I read somewhere that 1gb sticks have way more latency than 512's, so that's why I picked the 512's (and that they have those funky indicator lights). I also have to pick up a copy of windows

Edit: I'm gonna use whatever heatsink it comes with - I'm not into overclocking (yet), but I will look into it after I get this PC and buy stuff from there.

[Xenius]

Originally posted by C. Murgatroyd
Ok, I'm about to start plunking down cash on this monster, so I want to know if there are any last-minute changes I should make.

First, every component I'm getting that has anything to do with the FSB is 400mhz - I figure if it's uniformed, it'll run better.

Here are the parts:

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ "Barton", 400MHz FSB, 512K Cache Processor
ABIT nForce2 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "NF7-S"
Clear Acrylic Case ATX (unassembled) - UV Clear Blue
Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 184 Pin 512MB DDR with LED activity indicators PC-3200PRO
Antec 480W Power Supply,Model "TRUE480"
2x AeroCool UV LED Case fan 80MM, Model "AeroFans-UV-BG-SV"
2x ASPIRE 80mm Green UV Reactive 4pin Case Fan, Model "CF4S-UGN"
2x Filter for 80MM fan
2x UNINCOM ROUND, 18-Inch, True ATA133/100/66/33, ( UV SILVER/BLUE ) IDE Cable, 3-Head, 18 Inches
ATI Radeon 9800pro with 128mb (Already bought it)

Let me know if there's anything wrong, anything better I can get or anything I'm missing. (I already have HD, CD Rom, Network Card).

Unless you're an AMD zealot, have you thought about intel? THe intel p4 3.0Ghz with 800 fsb ran better than the 3200+ in almost all tests if I remember right.

[Evan Profile Website]

Originally posted by Xenius
Unless you're an AMD zealot, have you thought about intel? THe intel p4 3.0Ghz with 800 fsb ran better than the 3200+ in almost all tests if I remember right.

Kinda obvious. The FSB is twice that of the AMD system.

[Murgatroyd]

Originally posted by Evan
Kinda obvious. The FSB is twice that of the AMD system.

Wow, surprisingly for approximately the same price. So that makes me want to ask "why should I pay the same for a slower AMD processor"? Am I wrong? Also, what mobo would you recommend with a Intel Pentium 4/ 3.0C GHz 800MHz FSB, 512KB L2 Cache, Hyper Threading Technology?

I'm not too picky about brand names, frankly I think whichever is the better product, I'd rather buy.

Edit: Comparing them side-by-side, I noticed that the L1 cache is much bigger on the AMD Athlon, can anybody fill me in as to what the L1 cache is? Also, if there's an intel chip that you'd recommend.

Edit edit: Got off my ass and looked up what the L1 cache is - the difference between these two chips is major - but does the speed of the FSB compensate for the loss of the L1 cache?

[Xenius]

Think of L1 cache as the memory that the processor uses before Using your RAM. It stores commands in the cache and then fetches them to be used. While the AMD chip has more, it still is outperformed by the intel chip.

If you do get the intel chip, I'd say get the ASUS P4P-800 Deluxe. Awesome board with all the bells and whistles you'd need. It's what I've got in my box.