planning my new system :) but got some questions

[wowbagger]

Hi,

First post in this forum, could not think of a better place to turn.
Im designing my new computer, this will be the 4th I will build
on my own, here is the parts and the questions:

BOX:
Antec 900
great box, no questions

POWER:
ACE RAW DEAL 520W
cheap and lots of power, any comments helpful

VGA:
8800GTS 640mb
seems to be matching the GTX card pritty good

CPU:
AMD ATHLON 64 X2 5200+
good money value, does it have 2 cores?

Memory:
not decided, Im going for 4gigs of ram but not sure what kind?
is it better to only go for 2gigs of really good ram or 4gigs of
cheap? and is heat sinks on ram really nessersary?
Im thinking in the lines of ddr2 PC6400 anyway, comments?

Motherboard:
tricky part number two. All new AM2 motherboards have only
one IDE channel, and i would like to have two so i can re use
my harddrives (until i can affored a new good sata drive).
and the seccond question on this is, what chipset is the best?

Optical:
I will re use my optical drives from my old computer.

Other:
This will be 50/50 gaming and workstation, like 3d rendering and
shit, I will run it on vista buissness, since i got a free copy of that.

Its basicly the same system a friend of mine bought last week,
but this is about 2/3 of the price and doubble on ram ^^

thx for any help I can get!
//Wowbagger

 

[alcattle]

Great start, love the box.
Not sure on the PSU the 8800's draw extra power.
Vid Card- The best, watch for problems with drivers not out yet, and games run ok but most do not use the DX-10 this card has.
The CPU is good for the money, you will want to upgrade at some point, so make sure you get the AM2 socket.
Memory, I would go with the name brand mid-grade RAM, unless you planned to O/C. Value brand is also good.
Ok, you can always add a PATA card in one slot, that should give you 4-6 ports.
DVD- if they work, sounds good

 

[1Tanker]

PSU needs changing. I can't read(Google) because it's in another language?, but it's showing the 12V rails at 14A+15A.....too low. You want at least 18A on each 12V rail. GL

 

[wowbagger]

thx, good feedback guys!

my seccond option for the power suply is the:
HIPER TYPE-R NÄTDEL 580W SLI DUAL FAN BLACK

its more then twice as expencive, but i like the fact that you can remove
the cords you dont need. I'll have to do some thinking about that one.
any other reccomendations on the matter?

an AM2 motherbord is for sure, but I dont know what chipset to go with.
or is the difference between them even noticeable? I guess a pata card
might be the only way to go on the matter about the IDE question.

as for the ram i have found some mid price 6400 with heat sinks i think
look interesting:
OCZ Gold XTC DDR2 PC6400 2048MB KIT, w/two 1024MB PC6400 XTC, CL5-5-5-15

one last thing about the CPU, is it worth going for a core2 E6400 instead?
its about the same price when i looked today.

is that like 1200mhz faster or can you even compare things that way now days?

one last thing, i wont OC since i cant afford anything breaking down and I
dont feel the need for it.

 

[akhilles]

http://www.hipergroup.com/English/products/hpu-4b580.html

If that's the one, it's 580W 30A. Plenty for 8800gts which needs 400W 26A. It's better than the one in your 1st post. Other good ones are:

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=1491365#1491365

For non-oveclockers, ASUS M2N-E is a good budget board. Only one PATA connector. Get a PATA PCI card.

There's no point in getting fast ram since you're not overclocking. The fastest you'd get is 667mhz any brand & size.

Tech-speak, all C2D chips come from the same wafers. It doesn't cost Intel more to make 6600. They just test the chips to be stable at certain speeds. For overclockers, we get the slowest & max them out. For you, you should get 6400 since it's the same price.

model = multiplier x fsb = speed
6300 = 7 x 266 = 1.8ghz
6400 = 8 x 266 = 2.1ghz

The only diff. is the multiplier.

 

[wowbagger]

the power suply i was thinking of was this one:
http://www.hipergroup.com/English/products/hpu-4k580.html
about the same features but with the cool cords.

if im going for a core 2 e6400 then i need to know of a good motherbord
for that one, I have used AMD all my life so it seems a bit wrong
is ASUS still the way to go? something in the same price range would be nice.
would it be safe OC the 6400 to 6600?

the price difference is small for 667 and 800mhz memory, is there no
gain if you dont OC? it still can be good to have that option in the future.

 

[Jeroen01]

Don't bother going for more than 2GB ram, unless you intend to run 64-bit operating systems. The 32-bit OS like Windows XP or Vista, although theoretically being able to address 4GB, in practice only realise a small increase above 2GB.

Your PCI and PCI-x cards need addressable "virtual" space, which is typically put at the top of the 32-bit addressable space, which takes away useable RAM. For example, I have 2x8800GTX 768MB, and a Xi-Fi card with 256MB ram, so with 4GB installed, Windows can only useably access 2.25GB. The rest is "eaten" away by the addressable space my graphics cards and sound card need. So having bought 2GB (luckily not for my workstation - I bought it for my server), I would get 256MB increase from 2GB. Not worth it.

If you intend to go 64-bit (not a small undertaking - immature drivers and lack of support across the board, and not all games work reliably under Vista 64-bit), then 4GB isn't an issue (it can address 2^64 bits, so RAM can be mapped above the 4GB barrier).

Shame Microsoft f***ed the "Physical Address Extension" capability of XP/Vista, but seemed to keep it in in their Server products (e.g. Windows Server 2003).

 

[lmimmfn]

ok i just bought these components recently( i have a great case and 500W PSU already and an XFX 7800GTX )
E6400 Core 2
Asus P5N32-E SLI nForce 680 SLI PCI-E
Scythe Mine Rev B Quiet Heatpipe CPU Cooler
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATAII NCQ 3Gb/s 400GB 16MB Cache OEM
2 Gig Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Performance TwinX Matched 6400C4
and a few other bits and bobs
Now basically the above should allow me to overclock the 6400 beyond 3Ghz and possibly to 3.5Ghz( if im lucky ) which will give it the same performance as the 6800EE which is a very good thing
I chose the above mobo, while expensive there are cheaper alternatives, but for me it seemed the best for not having to upgrade it in the next year. If youre going for a cheaper mobo try and get an intel 975 they overclock with the 6400 beyond 3Ghz( not all 965 boards are successful at doing that )

 

[wowbagger]

alright, i dont know much about the diffrerence about 32 and 64 bit system, but all the parts i have support 64 right? I was planning on using the vista 64bit version so that would make the extra ram come in handy, but you can use 32 bit operating system on the same hardware?
the support for 64bit system will increase with vista, thats for sure.

about lmimmfn post, i dont think i will clock the processor higher then a 6600 in any case. but its good to have options

 

[geminireaper]

Id suggest switching out the AMD proc for the E6400 Conroe. Better overclockability same or better benchmarks, slightly cheaper (few dollars) and alot less power consumption.

 

[wowbagger]

Id suggest switching out the AMD proc for the E6400 Conroe. Better overclockability same or better benchmarks, slightly cheaper (few dollars) and alot less power consumption.

If you just dont read the first post you will see that i have changed my mind on that point already.

 

[Jeroen01]

Yeah, "64-bit"ness is a function of your CPU, not your hardware. So it will work as long as you have a 64-bit CPU.

A few things to consider with 64 bit CPUs though:

+ = Good thing
- = Bad thing

+ Can support > 2.25-3.75GB RAM
+ Is much more secure (randomises program entry points because it has 2^64 addressable virtual RAM, so Trojans and the like find it much harder to "lock" onto processes).
- Can only use WHQL certified drivers (unlike 32-bit, which will just warn you)
- Driver support is limited (e.g. Creative Labs don't have a 64-bit driver for Vista yet)
- The 64-bit OS doesn't support, in any way, 16-bit programs, which a handful of 32-bit programs still have imbedded in them, adding to incompatibility
- Some (a lot?) of games don't currently work with Vista 64-bit (or XP 64-bit) so you may have to wait for patches

In short - get your 2 x 1GB, stick with a 32-bit operating system until say SP1 for Vista - at which point (fingers crossed), there will be considerably more support for Vista 64-bit.

Or be one of the "forerunners" who spends their life reporting bugs helping games/applications become compliant

-- Jeroen

 

[akhilles]

http://www.hipergroup.com/English/products/hpu-4k580.html

Ok, that PSU has the same specs as the other one: Both are 580W & 30A. Both are good.

You decide. I put it this way: at stock speeds, e6300 is about the same as 5000+. Which is cheaper? Both sockets use DDR2, etc. Now you're looking at 6400 which is faster than 5000+. BTW, quad-core has been out for MONTHS. Where's the x4 AMD chip? 4x4 doesn't count.

 

[wowbagger]

alright, to sum up and close this topic, this is what i will be getting:

Case:
Antec 900

Power suply:
Hiper 580W Type R modular

CPU:
E6400 (overclocked to 6600)

VGA:
8800gts 640mb

RAM:
4gb (4x1gb) pc2-6400
I know I wont be able to use more then 3.4gb but Im going for it
it will be nice to have when changing to 64bit

Motherbord:
Asus P5N-E SLI, nForce-650i SLI, ATX, Socket-775, GbLAN, DDR2, 2xPCI-Ex16

not much left to debate, i will stick to 32-bit for now. any final comments
on the motherbord? some more info about it can be found here:
http://www.komplett.se/k/ki.asp?sku=329410&view=detailed

 

[akhilles]

Good choices. If you intend to run SLI, take a look:

http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html#certified_powersupplies

 

[lmimmfn]

Good choices. If you intend to run SLI, take a look:

http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html#certified_powersupplies

Good call, when i was building my system last year i made sure i got a PSU from that list, if nothing you at least know it was tested well