Looking for opinions on intended first build(AM2)

raven3x7

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I've been lurking around these boards for a while now but i just registered and this is my first post, so hello to everyone.
I'm about to make my first built and am looking for opinions.

Case: Thermaltake Soprano Black w/Window VB1000BWS
Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 550W ATX 2.0
Mobo: MSI K9N Platinum 570 MCP
RAM: 2x1GB kit OCZ Platinum 6400 DDR2 The memory is the reason why i stay clear from Asus M/Bs
CPU: Athlon X2 4600+ EE
VGA: Asus 7600GT 256MB
HD: Seagate Barracuda 320GB 16MBbuffer
I'll probably also buy these two:
Zalman VF900-CU VGA Cooler Less noise and better Cooling
Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 CPU Cooler Less noise and cheap but maybe EE models come with a quiter cooler so i havent decided about this one yet.
I intend to use this pc for a variety of tasks, from compiling to video playback to some gaming. It will probably remain running almost 24/7. Where i live it gets pretty hot in summer so i figured heat could be an issue. Also its gonna be in my bedroom so the less noise the better. i dont intent to overclock.
So thats it. Opinions?
 

ikjadoon

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Feb 25, 2006
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Thanks for the links, they help alot.

So, I guess I should be the first guy to say it. I feel pains saying this, I'll tell you. Any reason not going to Conroe?

Anyways, you'll still probably have memory issues. Check out the top sticky's at this forum:

Bleedin Edge

There is a thread specifically to the MSI K9N series. Also, your link to MSI isn't working, I'm assuming it is the MSI K9N Platinum? You'd be better off and left more with more cash if you go with 570 Ultra. Two 7600GT's are pretty fast, but one regular card might be better. I love that the 7600GT doesn't require any extra power, pretty amazing. I'm glad there are some sensible people left at nVidia.

Now, any particular reasons for the 4600+? Almost every 3800+ you get will *easily* get there, a good portion of people have done it on stock cooling. Also, any reason for the EE edition? Looking at the case, it doesn't seem to be a heat issue. Just for the lower temps? And that is a perfectly good reason. If you really have a grudge against changing a few numbers in the BIOS and some testing, I think the 4600+ should be fine, EE if wanted.

AFAIK, the EE series come with the same cooler, some AVC thing. Amazing cooler, the best cooler minus one or two aftermarket. Loud as a mother, sometimes over 60db! I'd say the Artic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro might be a better choice, near dead quiet with some of the most amazing temps. The Freezer 64 Pro will also be able to cool the passive GPU pretty well if you just turn the cooler towards the GPU.

If heat is really a concern for you, make sure you pick up some Zalman paste, ZM-STG1. Best after-market TIM out there, can knock 8C off load temps. Yeah 8C over some Arctic Silver Cermanique.

For noise reduction, you will want to try hard drive suspension. Also use some rubber mounts on the screws.

On the PSU, it looks good, but it doesn't even have 30A on the 12V. I would say a beefier one might be better. 30A is a good sweet spot for a single GPU solution. How about this:

Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W

Modular, fully sleeved cabling. 36A on the 12V+ combined from two rails. The only thing it is missing is PFC, which would've made it perfect.

Good call on the 7600GT, the high core clock helps loads with video editing, especially encoding/decoding high def. Really good mainstream gaming card as well. Good luck!

~Ibrahim~
 

dt

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yeah i would also like to know why you are not going core 2. i see your cpu and thats about as much as a e6300.

im sure that the stock cpu fan is alright unles your doing some ocing maybe.
 

zenmaster

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>>yeah i would also like to know why you are not going core 2. i see
>> your cpu and thats about as much as a e6300.

Well his reasons could be that.....

1) The e6300 and e6400 dont match up the the e6600.
2) The EE chips OC very well since they require lower voltage to start. Basically they appear to be hand-picked CPUs that can run on less voltage meaning they should clock very high when set to normal voltage.

Myself, I would spend the money and get a e6600 in about a month or so when supply stabalizes and prices normalize. But in the mean time this would seem to work so long as he is planning on doing an OC.
 

ikjadoon

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2) The EE chips OC very well since they require lower voltage to start. Basically they appear to be hand-picked CPUs that can run on less voltage meaning they should clock very high when set to normal voltage.

Huge misconception. Actually, they OC just the same. X-Bit did an entire article about it.

Overclocking the AMD EE Line

No hand-selection or anything special....Just lower temperatures and lower power draw.

This way, Energy Efficient Athlon 64 X2 4600+ processor with the maximum heat dissipation of 65W could overclock only to 2.84GHz, i.e. its frequency potential didn’t surprise us. The regular CPUs of the same type with the 85W TDP could most probably hit the same mark during overclocking. In other words, our very first experiment indicated clearly that there will hardly be anything special about the overclocking potential of the Energy Efficient processors. However, it is definitely too early to make any conclusions.

The nominal Vcore of this CPU model is 1.075V, so we didn’t really expect much without increasing this parameter. And our expectations were absolutely true: by simply raising the clock generator frequency we could only hit the 215MHz mark, which results into 8% overclocking to 2.15GHz.

And this is the result we managed to obtain with 40% core voltage! Despite all our efforts, the clock frequency got only 27.5% higher.

This is where AMD processors are very much different from Intel ones. Intel CPUs comply with the rule that the processor with lower nominal Vcore overclocks better than the processor with higher nominal Vcore. And it is actually very easy to understand why so. By launching the same CPU model with different core voltages Intel pushes the core frequency parameters to the desired frequency by increasing the Vcore. So it is absolutely clear in this case, that if the CPU hits the desired frequency at a lower Vcore, then it will definitely overclock better. AMD uses the opposite approach: the Vcore gets lower together with the clock frequency just to reduce the heat dissipation. In this case, there is no way the frequency potential gets improved.

...

~Ibrahim~
 

noexcuse4you

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I would actually stay clear of that memory rather than the asus motherboards! I tried that setup, the OCZ Platinum 6400 with the MSI K9N Platinum, and I couldn't get them to work. The K9N's default memory voltage setting is 1.8 and the OCZ memory's voltage is 2.1. You'd have to get some cheapo ram to throw in there so you can get into the BIOS to change the voltage settings. I did that and it worked. However, the chipset on the motherboard ran EXTREMELY hot! I eventually RMA'd the whole thing and bought the ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe with Corsair XMS2-6400 and it has MUCH better cooling and has 8-phase power.

Just my 2 cents.
 

ikjadoon

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Yeah, I've been getting mixed reviews of the K9N Platinum. All reviews done by a site mark it rather highly, but almost every user who has had it that I have met has had trouble, most memory related.

The memory issue should be fixed now, though, now upgraded to 1.31.

Legion Hardware also reprimands MSI for a weak chipset cooling solution. Passive,yes, but not working out.

I personally am waiting for DFI to come out with a good, cheap overclocking motherboard. As of now, they are the only big manufacturer without a 500 Series motherboard. I hope this is all for some good R & D for better motherboards.

~Ibrahim~
 

raven3x7

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I didnt go with conroe mostly because AM2 EE fits the way i use the pc better and because i get to save about 100 Euros.
I run my pc almost 24/7 but alot of that time my pc is idle because i do a lot of downloading and sharing(linux distros and such).AMD EE cpus use much less power than Core 2 when idle. Also they run cooler as well. Intel Mobos also are very expensive.
I dont plan to OC but that X-bit article is a joke. And finally personally i'd like to stay clear of Intel if i can because i dislike their marketing and buiseness practices, despite Core 2 beeing obviously the better chip atm. Upgradability is also an issue. AMD has already said that am3 cpus will work on the am2 platform, and i hope they'll stay true to their word. No HT3 of course or DDR3 but a Dual Core cpu dont really need those and i dont intend to go Quad in the foreseable future. So a K8L dual core will be a nice upgrade in a year or so alongside a DX10 VGA.

BTW the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 pro is indeed a great cooler but im a bit concerned about the mounting mechanism, plus im more interested in less sound than better performance, because this cpu is already quite cool
 

raven3x7

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I would actually stay clear of that memory rather than the asus motherboards! I tried that setup, the OCZ Platinum 6400 with the MSI K9N Platinum, and I couldn't get them to work. The K9N's default memory voltage setting is 1.8 and the OCZ memory's voltage is 2.1. You'd have to get some cheapo ram to throw in there so you can get into the BIOS to change the voltage settings. I did that and it worked. However, the chipset on the motherboard ran EXTREMELY hot! I eventually RMA'd the whole thing and bought the ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe with Corsair XMS2-6400 and it has MUCH better cooling and has 8-phase power.

Just my 2 cents.
You might be correct here, but i found a sweet offer on that modules and want a 570 mobo(dont need sli) and the Asus M2N-E bios hasnt been updated to support non Micron 800mhz(unlike the M2N32 and K9N). Although if it runs hot thats a serious drawbak so ill look into this. I also will wait a couple of weeks before i buid this so Asus still has time to fix the bios.
 

ikjadoon

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I'm slightly confused, how is X-bit's article a "joke"?

I am with you, I have a personal preference (fanboyism? I don't know) to AMD. For the lowest amount of noise, you'll have to pay. The Zalman 9500 is near $60, but very quiet.

But I would still go with the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro for around $25, less than half the cost of the 9500.

The Scythe Ninja is very quiet as well.

Check out Silent PC Review.

~Ibrahim~