System specs for new intense gaming build ---->

Motherboard
asus A8n32 sli deluxe
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6813131568

Memory
Corsair XMS Twinx2048-3500LLPRO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145594

Hardrive
74gb Raptor
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6822144160

Case
Not sure yet, that Super-flower atx mid tower looks really nice though...but can't find it anywhere in stock.
http://www.directron.com/201tblk.html

Video Card
BFG 7800 GT OC

Cpu Cooling
Zalman CNPS 7000b CU...I didn't really do much research on HSF's but this one seemed like a good choice, what do you all think?
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6835118119

CPU
???? I don't know! I can't decide...
Was thinking either athlon x2 3800 or athlon64 4000+...But was reading alot about the opty's which i guess can be oc'd faster then the 64's. And I do plan on OC'ing. So, i'll consider these opty's :
Opteron 146/148 series or the dual core Opteron 165/170

What processor would you all choose? Keep in mind this is a gaming rig mostly and will be overclocked. Any input will be appreciated thanks!

Ryder

For the cpu I'd definatly go dual core. If you can get an opteron anymore at a decent price then do that. I have an X2 3800 and while people say dont get dual core for gaming I have to disagree. There is no lag on a dual core system everything runs and runs fast, if not then use the task manage to set affinity.

Just a note I hate FPS games, so take that into account if you like FPS.

As for you not knowing anything about CPU cooling, go for Thermalrights SI-120. You can't get it on newegg anymore, but heres a link:
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thsiforinp4a.html

Then just get a 120mm fan and your set. (As in the HS dosn't come with a fan).

And if you can still find a Opteron 165 at a decent price:
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Mer [...] ode=120338
*wink wink* its worth the extra $30.

The memory looks fine, Corsair XMS always a good choice, good mobo, good graphics, STOP WAIT a raptor? It's not worth it to get a raptor anymore. Go for WD 400GB SATA, or even better, get the RAID edition and then set up a nice RAID0 ($460?) with NCQ. It'll run just as fast as the raptor but have 800gb's of storage.

EDIT: and OC like hell

Since Amd wont sell OEM processors anymore the retail fans are good enough for mild OC's. If your going for super OC then ya look at aftermarket coolers but if your that nuts then get water cooling or something.

Sounds like a good 'rig !

As Catman pointed out, Dual Cores really shine in multitasking, won't double your FPS but two CPUs will let you Alt-Tab seamlessly and even run a distributed computing client such Folding @ Home while you are gaming.

If you want a nice overclock, go for a kit of two 512MB sticks instead of 1GB sticks as 2x512MB tend to have more headroom.

I went for Twinx 1024-3200XL and don't regret it, I'm still tweaking around for the highest bandwidth and overclock but those 3200XL give me a lot more flexibility than I think a 2x1024 kit would.

To Sid: A dual core wont let you game and fold at the same time. Atleast not for me anyway. The second core shines for gaming by running the Firewall, Antivirus and other stuff like that.

Too late for that, they just arrived on the doorstep today

As for the opty's 165 170...they are sold out everywhere.
So i'm leaning towards the x2 3800, unless I decide not to go for the dual core.

As for the hard drive, dang i thought raptors were still cool. Oh well, i'm looking into the larger drives now.

Dragonx, thanks for the info on the thermalright HS i'm looking into those also.

I'd really go dual core. Its a matter of lose a few frame per second today but you wont need to upgrade when single core people do.

And Opterons being sold out is no big suprise, people have been buying them for the OC since they came out. Which means higher prices when they get more.

Submit=Go&DEPA=0&type=&descrip [...] x=0&Go.y=0






http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] x=0&Go.y=0

NewEgg has a couple of Opterons...

Well, don't go telling that to my 'rig 'cause it does'nt seem to know and is working fine, F@H console, OS and Teamspeak on core 0 while core 1 is exclusively dedicated to Planetside.

M$ Task Manager and Sysinternals Process Explorer both show that CPU time is assigned to both tasks, meaning that each second, one second is added to the CPU time of both process, therefore each core is taking care of the task that was assigned to it.

Beleive me, that's one number-crushing monster with both cores at 2.7GHz...

Well, i just found a opty 170 from Monarch and dropped 4 bills on it. It's OEM so now i'll just need to get HSF and then the case, which I can't find anywhere. And then i'll be good to go woot! Can't wait! Thanks everyone for their input, TG rocks!

Sorry to hijack your thread Ryder (ps nice chip you bought). But my X2 folded and played at the same time for the first week but now it doesn't, I could reload and enjoy it again but I'm interested in how Sid does it (without reloading OS everyweek).

The two cores on my X2 worked perfectly on my first WinXP install, did you, by any chance, changed the HAL from "ACPI Multiprocessor PC"to "Standard PC" ?

If you did, you'll have to reinstall the OS all over again as there is no way to get back to "ACPI Multiprocessor PC" from "Standard PC".

You'll find that info in the Device Manager under "Computer".

If that does'nt help, get to the Task Manager "Performance" tab, under the "View" pull down menu, go to "CPU History" and check "One Graph Per CPU".

If that still does'nt help, just reinstall.