Need insight on AMD build @ newegg.com

[swhitestine]

Hi, I've been reading myself silly after having gone crosseyed, I have a few questions that I hope I can answered. Below I've put together a list of stuff that I'm ready to buy, and here goes:

1. Both the board and the card have PCI express, but I *just* chanced upon the fact that the power supply has to have special PCIe plugins? (Hence the addition of a noname budget powersupply in the list)

2a. Memory. The rig is advertising that it's capable of DDR2 1066 but with the disclaimer

Whether 1066 MHz memory speed is supported depends on the CPU being used

but reading a lot of reviews in

2b. memory reviews, it's found that a lot of them don't run that high and generally run at 800 anyway without some tweaking in the BIOS. Maybe I'd just be better off in saving some money and buying 800 from the getgo?** I'm also assuming that the CPU I have picked out would support it regardless?

Info: Machine is a gaming machine being upgraded on a budget after picking up the game Left 4 dead and it's convinced me it's time to upgrade after 4 years. The $372.77 currently priced out (after rebates) is quite attractive considering that years ago I paid $300 alone for the X800 Pro that currently resides in this system so I'd be willing to play around with the numbers some, but shooting for ~$500 or less.

**An important note, I am not an overclocker and have no plans to either, so compability is more important to me than tweaking that last 5% out of the system; thus I'd rather drop memory in and it works rather than having to MAKE it work.


SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770

COOLMAX CU-700B 700W ATX 12V V2.2/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Power Supply - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817159089

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-8500C5 - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145215

GIGABYTE GA-MA770-DS3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX All Solid Capacitor AMD Motherboard - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128081

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.1GHz Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core Processor Model ADV60000DOBOX - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103272

 

[swhitestine]

edit. Found a good review right here on the board recommending a better powersupply for the same money
OCZ StealthXStream OCZ600SXS 600W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341010

 

[caqde]

Ok DDR2-800 is the max for your Athlon 64 X2 6000+ although if you plan to upgrade to a phenom II later on I would go with DDR2-1066 since the Phenom processors support DDR2-1066.

Most VideoCards come with adapter cables (MOST not all though) so you might not need a new PSU for that videocard and based on your specs I would likely go with a name brand 400-500W PSU (Antec, FSP, Seasonic, PCPower and Cooling, etc..). You might also want a new PSU because they are likely to use less power and also come with all of the other cables that are now standard on new motherboards and components Sata Power Cables etc. Mind you 700W (name brand) is overkill on a computer with only one GPU and based on your budget I doubt you have the Monitor to warrant having two GPU's/Videocards.

 

[stridervm]

The notice that the 1066 Mhz speed is that.

For example, I'm using a 667Mhz DDR2. But on stock settings, (Athlon64 X2 5600 @ 2.8Ghz) the RAM only runs at 636Mhz. (318Mhz)

This means if I want to run my RAM at it's intended speed, I will need to overclock my processor to 3Ghz. (215x14 = 3.0Ghz)
(318Mhz + 15 = 333Mhz)

 

[slomo4sho]

Consider this Combo Deal

 

[dirtmountain]

I would go with 2x2 GB DDR2 800 1.8v RAM with 5-4-4-12 latencies. You'll have fewer hassles, it's fine for your system and cheaper.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146731

 

[shortstuff_mt]

I would go with 2x2 GB DDR2 800 1.8v RAM with 5-4-4-12 latencies. You'll have fewer hassles, it's fine for your system and cheaper.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146731

This RAM is even cheaper and has tighter timings:

G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209 $49.99

 

[evongugg]

You can get a higher quality PSU for approximately the same money:

ATI Radeon HD 4850 System Requirements

450 Watt or greater power supply with 75 Watt 6-pin PCI Express® power connector recommended (550 Watt and two 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode)
Certified power supplies are recommended. Refer to http://ati.amd.com/certifiedPSU for a list of Certified products.

 

[swhitestine]

I want to thank everyone that took the time to respond and it was ALL great advice and especially evongugg for the ati link for powersupplies.

Slomo4shO - I really really did consider that combo but in the end I went with a dual core 6000+ as originally planned because of the extra clock speed. The reasoning being that I am a type of person that runs ABSOLUTELY nothing in the system tray and if gaming, I never have email and internets open, so for this upgrade, I saved the money on the CPU and went with a better powersupply end the end.

Thanks again everyone.

Scott