Hey guys, I signed up for this forum out of the hope that you can help me make sure I get the best possible setup. I was planning to order tonight, but now I'm have some questions about what would be best, so here goes: 1) I was told the 90nm process is better than the .13µm, but Newegg only has the 90nm in a AMD Athlon 64 3500+ OEM version. I was hoping to get a 3800+ retail version, how much of a difference will the process size make? The four different cores are Winchester, Venice, ClawHammer/Hammer, and Newcastle. Once again with these, the 3500+ has versions with all cores, but newegg only has a Newcastle core for the 3800+ so will the higher clockspeed still outweigh any other advantages? 2) For a motherboard, I was originally recommended to a DFI Lanboy, but I have heard that they have poor quality control and I don't really want to go through the hassle if I don't get a good board from them... So what other motherboards would you recommend? I definitely want the NForce 4 chipset, so I think my decision will come down to be between the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI and the ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe... Pros and cons of each? 3) I know very little about PSU's (other than whattage) and cooling systems... I've heard the NF4 board requires a 24pin power supply connector, but I'm having a tough time locating them on the newegg site. I'll be running 2x10k raptors and a 7200k hard drive along with an Audigy 2 soundcard, eVGA 6800GT (possibly 2 in the future), a gig of corsair valueram, and a DVD burner, so I figure it will need a decent amount of power. It would be nice if it was fairly quiet, but that is NOT that important to me, just a bonus. Recommendations for this would be great as well. Lastly, I don't plan to overclock but I want my system running stable and cool, so what should I get for a CPU fan/heatsink and how should I set up extra fans on my case, a Lian Li PC-65B. Thanks for your time in advance, any help is greatly appreciated!
The process size is pretty much going to effect heat output the most, smaller is better in all cases really. Regardless of the core used in the 3500's the 3800 Newcastle will prevail, however the difference won't be big, especially for the money you spend, the 3500 is a much better deal though the 3800 has just dropped in price. If you go with the 3500 I recommend the Venice core, it's the most modern of the bunch and although you're not headed that direction, is a phenominal overclocker. I don't know but I've heard the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI is the ultimate SLI 'board, though I believe that any SLI board should serve you pretty well, I'm partial to Gigabyte but that's just 'cause I like the one I'm using now (nForce 4 but not SLI capable). If I were in your shoes I'd look for a PSU that said "SLI ready" or something like that, with your setup you'll need a whole lot of power, no matter what you pick go with one with at least 550wts, more is not gonna hurt anything but yer wallet. If you want it quiet try anything that says "silent" in the title, or one with a 120cm fan inside, but I don't think any PSU runs too loud reallly. I find that the Silencer 64 Ultra is a great fan/heat sink combo, best $20 bucks I spend on my PC. It's quiet as the name suggests and keeps the cpu very cool even on the lowest fan speed (like 25-30 C or less I believe). Hope this helps bud, sorry I don't have any of the fine details.
(tapping fingers on desk and giving the screen an evil eye) you've overdone it ex haha id recommend the Thermaltake Venus 12, thats what I'm gonna get, and apply it with some arctic silver 5 to get reli low heat but yea venice is outstanding at overclocking u can prob get it from 2.2 to 2.4-5 peacefully on stock, but don't get ur hopes up too high........... thanks alot ex make me feel crappy, but nah i might change my sys specs a lil anyway, might get sum raptors for raid 0, and eventually upgrade to a toldedo, or im plannin to sell off my 6800GTs for about 20$ less (trus me i can get some1 to buy them) and save up for the SLI ready GeForce 7s comin up in like 10 months (but of course i won't sell them now)
k ill talk about the Asus i have it Asus Pros n Cons: Integrated Speech controller AND LED post display to tell you ur problems in english UP TO RAID 10 with 8x SATA 300 and 2x IDE 133/100 Has 2x Pci Ex1 slots (the MSI has none) Comes with great software and alot of cables (MSI ditto) Chipset Fan does not have a good reputation, but the warranty does MSI pros and cons: FASTEST BOARD for 939 in testings over mobo and cpu intensive tasks Bad component layout (for example, alot of transistors and resistors near CPU HS+FAN Lacks PCI Ex1 slots AND BOTH HAVE SLI (welcome to the club buddy) and have a slot for your Audigy no offense to other ppol but id recommend not to go for the DFI ... NO ... its not that bad but i see them as one of those all looks companies. im sorry Big B (i think u have DFI but its just the way I see it.) For Fans just get the CPU HS + FAN + Thermal Compound i mentioned earlier and a 120mm fan in back and front should be enough unless you add in sum reli hot equipment, for the case, I envy you because it rules hope this helps man. For a list of SLI approved PSUs go to xoxide.com and check out Sli approved under Power Supplies on the left, I personally got the Thermaltake for 130 and its great, but also the turbo cool is good tho its not modular (makes case hotter)
lol, if you couldn't tell zRock I was hoping to get a helpful point, as I'm behind all you guys, grrrr.
