Hello all. This is my first post to Tom's forums. Advise plz

[Redspade]

Well here goes.
So far I have these componants

2 GB OCZ DDR2 Dual Channel "Gold Edition" (667MHZ) RAM

*Question on this ram: I was told this is very solid ram. The timings are 4:4:4:7, Did I miss something? Thought 2:2:2:4 was the best timing for ram??*

2x Samsung 120GB HDD SATA (Raid 0)
Soundblaster X-FI Xtream Music
2x BFG 256MB Geforce 7800 GTX-OC's(SLI)
600w (700w Peak) OCZ SLI PowerStream PSU
52x CD-RW
16x DVD-RW Dual Layer
ATI TV Tuner Pro (Remote Control Edition)
Logitech 5.1 500w RMS 1000w Peak Speakers
2x 21 inch LCD Monitors(Wide Screen) (8MS 1000:1 Contrast Ratio)

Now I just took back the Pentium D 830 Dual Core 3.0ghz and the Asus P5ND2 Intel edition Mainboard cause it sucked soooo much lol. I am now going to try an AMD setup for the first time since there Thunderbird core(which sucked btw)

So I need a mainboard and CPU.
DFI NF4 SLI-DR Expert (Lan Party UT) is what I was thinking. Is there a better mainboard for AMD chips? If so please list them.

Now I dont know very much about AMD chips. This is a gaming computer only. What is the best AMD chip for gaming atm? Am guessing Dual cores isnt the way to go yet cause my Intel Dual core sucked. But I do want to be vista/mac dual boot ready. So am I going 64bit Athlons? or 32bit Single cores? What do you all think I should go with for my AMD chip?

 

[shata]

The best timings as far as i know are 2-2-2-5.

One thing to remember is 512 will do 2-2-2-5 , 1gb sticks have slower timeings.

 

[RichPLS]

DDR2 has higher latency than DDR and will not work on a DDR board like any nForce chipsets

 

[pickxx]

DDR2 best timings are the ones you have listed.....DDR1 timings that are best are 2-2-2-5.



That is a GREAT motherboard if you are overclocking....EXCELLENT!!



You can't buy 32bit single cores unless you get something super low and old....all AMD chips are 64bit. You can either buy a 4000+ single core or a 4800+ dual core.

I would say go single core for price and top performance....get a 3700+ and OC it to 3GHz.....



Best ram for this for you is the 2GB kit (1GBx2) Crucial Balistix....they can OC to 300FSB which is AMAZING for a 2GB kit...the 2nd highest i know is 275fsb.

 

[Redspade]

The best timings as far as i know are 2-2-2-5.

One thing to remember is 512 will do 2-2-2-5 , 1gb sticks have slower timeings.

I have 4x 512 chips. Was told to get 4 512's over 2 1gigs if I was only going 2 GB ram total which I am.

I am anal about my ram . I like OCZ. I was thinking of going to the OCZ Platnium(800 MHZ ram)

 

[Redspade]

ok all here are my CPU choices

AMD X2 4200+, or the 4400+

AMD Opteron 170 Dual Core Processor S939 Denmark 2.0GHZ 2MB L2CACHE 90NM 64BIT
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=16794&vpn=OSA170CDBOX&manufacture=AMD


or if I want to spend the $2500 for one cpu
AMD Opteron 880 Dual-Core 2.4GHz 1MB (per core) 64/32 Bit (940)

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=120779&AFFIL=pricewatch&NR=1

Now since I live in Canada and we cant get the 512 7800 GTX's here yet I am going Crossfire board and 2x 512 ATI X1800XT's

LANPARTY UT RDX200 CF-DR
http://www.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r_us.jsp?PAGE_TYPE=US&PRODUCT_ID=3669&SITE=US

I have a question about it though. Why are ATI CF setups only allowing you to go into 8x mode when you link them and SLI can go full 16x?
Also what CPU should I get out of those choices? I have never O/C before and this might be my first comp to do so with.

 

[Redspade]

DDR2 has higher latency than DDR and will not work on a DDR board like any nForce chipsets

I have DDR2 Ram. and it worked fine on the Asus P5ND2(Intel edition) mianboard and that uses the Nforce 4 Chipset. But I also had bad preformance. Can this by why? Or should I stick with 2 GB DDR2 Dual Channel ram?

 

[pickxx]

First off....STOP WITH THE DDR2....AMD DOESN"T SUPPORT DDR2 YET.

If you are going to OC get the 170 opteron....cheaper and OC's higher.


You can't just get two X1800XT's YOU NEED A MASTER CARD! So you will have to wait for ATI to put out a master card for he X1800XT's....the only master card i know of is for the X850XT...lol, not exactly worth CF'ing.

So if you want two cards your ONLY option at that high end level are 7800GTX 256mb's.



the reason they are in 8x mode is because each card gets 8lanes wich is WAY more then it needs. no two card setup comes close to 16x total (8lanes per card) so having 16lanes per card is just retarded.