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Critique my first build; AM2 gaming machine

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xif   05-28-2006 at 09:35:27 PM

I'm building an AM2 gaming pc on a reasonably tight budget. It'll be used mostly for gaming and other multimedia. I want to be able to upgrade for a while, so I went with AM2 even though this is somewhat of a budget pc.

motherboard: MSI K9N NEO-F
CPU: ATHLON 64 3500+/2.2GHZ 512KB L2 AM2 SKT
graphics card: GF 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI-E DUAL-DVI TVO
RAM: CORSAIR DDR2 KIT 2X1GB 533MHZ CL4
hard drive: CAVIAR 250GB SATA3GB/S 7200RPM 8MB
case+psu: SONATA II PIANO BLACK QUIET MID TOWER
optical drive: DVD+/-RW/16X8X16 40X24X40 IDE INT RETAIL

Everything compatible? Other suggestions around the same price range?

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dragabain   05-28-2006 at 10:19:36 PM
- 0 +

isn't AM2 rated up to dd2 800? Why just settle for 533?

Reply to dragabain
xif   05-28-2006 at 10:25:53 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

isn't AM2 rated up to dd2 800? Why just settle for 533?



800 is way more expensive, and as I said I'm on a budget. Would the better memory be worth the price?

Reply to xif
Sailer   05-28-2006 at 10:55:48 PM
- 0 +

Better and faster memory is well worth the price, but as you wrote, you're on a budget. Buy what you can afford now, then upgrade in the future as you can. After all, its much better to have a machine that's on the low end then to have no machine at all.

Reply to Sailer
Heyyou27   05-28-2006 at 11:20:37 PM
- 0 +

You'd be better off with low latency DDR on socket 939 than some crappy DDR2 533MHz.

Reply to Heyyou27
nukemaster   05-28-2006 at 11:41:48 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

You'd be better off with low latency DDR on socket 939 than some crappy DDR2 533MHz.


Agreed

Reply to nukemaster
apache_lives   05-29-2006 at 12:22:30 AM
- 0 +

I dont mean to be an intel fanboy but have you concidered waiting for conroe? my reasons i say that are - prices will be lower then, conroe will make em lower again, and you even have the choice and full picture of conroe.

Otherwise the AM2 system will be beautiful, and yeah DDR2-800+ memory, and if was building the system i would run far far away from MSI.

Quote :

I'm building an AM2 gaming pc on a reasonably tight budget. It'll be used mostly for gaming and other multimedia. I want to be able to upgrade for a while, so I went with AM2 even though this is somewhat of a budget pc.

motherboard: MSI K9N NEO-F
CPU: ATHLON 64 3500+/2.2GHZ 512KB L2 AM2 SKT
graphics card: GF 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI-E DUAL-DVI TVO
RAM: CORSAIR DDR2 KIT 2X1GB 533MHZ CL4
hard drive: CAVIAR 250GB SATA3GB/S 7200RPM 8MB
case+psu: SONATA II PIANO BLACK QUIET MID TOWER
optical drive: DVD+/-RW/16X8X16 40X24X40 IDE INT RETAIL

Everything compatible? Other suggestions around the same price range?

Reply to apache_lives
xif   05-29-2006 at 12:41:37 AM
- 0 +

Quote :

I dont mean to be an intel fanboy but have you concidered waiting for conroe? my reasons i say that are - prices will be lower then, conroe will make em lower again, and you even have the choice and full picture of conroe.

Otherwise the AM2 system will be beautiful, and yeah DDR2-800+ memory, and if was building the system i would run far far away from MSI.

I'm building an AM2 gaming pc on a reasonably tight budget. It'll be used mostly for gaming and other multimedia. I want to be able to upgrade for a while, so I went with AM2 even though this is somewhat of a budget pc.

motherboard: MSI K9N NEO-F
CPU: ATHLON 64 3500+/2.2GHZ 512KB L2 AM2 SKT
graphics card: GF 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI-E DUAL-DVI TVO
RAM: CORSAIR DDR2 KIT 2X1GB 533MHZ CL4
hard drive: CAVIAR 250GB SATA3GB/S 7200RPM 8MB
case+psu: SONATA II PIANO BLACK QUIET MID TOWER
optical drive: DVD+/-RW/16X8X16 40X24X40 IDE INT RETAIL

Everything compatible? Other suggestions around the same price range?



I'd rather not wait, I already waited a few weeks for AM2 and I want a computer for the summer.

I think I will buy a 1GB stick of DDR2-800 now and another one later, if the difference is that big. can you recommend a good one?

Are MSI mobos considered bad? I haven't heard much (good) about them. Alternatives?

Reply to xif
Heyyou27   05-29-2006 at 01:06:06 AM
- 0 +

Quote :

Otherwise the AM2 system will be beautiful, and yeah DDR2-800+ memory, and if was building the system i would run far far away from MSI.

Imagine DDR2 1066 on an AM2 system.

Reply to Heyyou27
yourmothersanastronaut   05-29-2006 at 01:12:24 AM
- 0 +

I disagree. There were some benchmarks on an AM2 system that showed that DDR2-800 with 4-4-4-5 timings had the highest memory bandwitch scores. DDR2-800 is the sweet spot between high memory speeds and timings.

Reply to yourmothersanastronaut
shadowduck   05-29-2006 at 02:23:12 AM
- 0 +

Well single channel mode will give you at 5-10% speed hit. I guess its not fatal though. However, what is so great about AM2? It is only going to be around until sometime in 2007 anyway, and if you are a tight budget now, you won't be upgrade before then anyway. Take a hard look at S939 and low-latency DDR RAM.

EDIT:

S939 with DDR400 RAM and 3500+ vs your AM2 system- the S939 system wins.

Reply to shadowduck
apache_lives   05-29-2006 at 10:38:38 AM
- 0 +

actually - would an AM2 cpu with 1x1066 channel beat a 939 amd with 2x400 channels? cause the mem is faster then 2x400 with more headroom (to counter the latencies)?

Reply to apache_lives
shadowduck   05-29-2006 at 04:40:39 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

actually - would an AM2 cpu with 1x1066 channel beat a 939 amd with 2x400 channels? cause the mem is faster then 2x400 with more headroom (to counter the latencies)?



Maybe, 2GB of DDR-400 RAM is around $170. 512MB of DDR2-1066 is $109 with a CLS of 5. If you want to match it, you are looking at $453 for 2GB. Unless that produces a speed gain of 20-30%, $300 just is not worth it for RAM.

Reply to shadowduck
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