Good choice for upgrading?

i_am_mowerman

i_am_mowerman

i_am_mowerman

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25 Aug 2006
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81
Hi, I was think of ordering as follows.

mobo: DFI Infinity nF UltraII-M2/G (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-021-DF)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Socket_AM2_485.html

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-164-AM)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Socket_AM2_Athlon64.html

graphics card: BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-025-BG)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/7600_Series.html

ram: Corsair 1GB DDR2 Value Select PC5300 Dual Channel Kit (2x512MB) (VS1GBKIT667D2) (MY-083-CS)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Corsair_Value_DDR2_Memory.html

PSU: Akasa Ultra Quiet 550W PowerPlus Active PFC ATX2.0 PSU - Black Nickel (CA-014-AK)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Akasa_Power_Supplies.html

Well, that's it. Does it look ok? And is it all compatible? could you recommend something better?
I'm pretty much on my budget limit :D I just hope it works better than my current PC, a Time athlon2600- Radeon 9800pro - 1gig ram -crumby everything else :( I'm after some kind of eye candy in Far Cry and HL2 etc :)

Thanks :cool:
 
Do you have an uber SLI upgrade or something in mind for the future? Cos that PSU is kinda overkill ;)

Also that board appears to have a chipset fan!! :eek: I'd try to look for one without unless the picture isn't accurate or you don't mind replacing it.

With a cheaper board and PSU you might even be able to squeeze 2GB of RAM in the build (or a dual core) :)
 
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Tetras said:
Do you have an uber SLI upgrade or something in mind for the future? Cos that PSU is kinda overkill ;)

Also that board appears to have a chipset fan!! :eek: I'd try to look for one without unless the picture isn't accurate or you don't mind replacing it.

With a cheaper board and PSU you might even be able to squeeze 2GB of RAM in the build (or a dual core) :)
Click to expand...

Just that I heard the more wattage the better.

Whats wrong with a chipset fan? I'm a bit of a noob you see.

what board/PSU would you go for?
 
I don't like chipset fans cos those little ones tend to fail quickly and make a lot of noise. If you have passive cooling then there is no fan to fail and no need to worry :D

My suggestion would be:
MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550
£55.17

or
Asus M2V
£52.82

Not sure the M2V has SATA 2, I don't think that southbridge listed does, which doesn't bother me but might bother you. The MSI K9N is most likely the better featured of the two and more likely to overclock well than the M2V. Not many people like VIA chipsets either but I do as they run very cool, come in cheap boards and I'm not bothered about the missing features :)

For PSU this:
Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0
£46.94

Is sufficient for pretty much any single card system and would still be overkill for that spec. The wattage isn't that important providing it has strong, stable +12v rails, which the Seasonic S12 series do. If your planning to go SLI then a 500 Watt SLI compliant PSU like the one you originally specced or a Seasonic/Tagan/Enermax/FSP would be a good idea, but if not you'll be absolutely fine with the Seasonic, even with a high end DX 10 card and dual core in the future.
 
Tetras said:
I don't like chipset fans cos those little ones tend to fail quickly and make a lot of noise. If you have passive cooling then there is no fan to fail and no need to worry :D

My suggestion would be:
MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550
£55.17

or
Asus M2V
£52.82

Not sure the M2V has SATA 2, I don't think that southbridge listed does, which doesn't bother me but might bother you. The MSI K9N is most likely the better featured of the two and more likely to overclock well than the M2V. Not many people like VIA chipsets either but I do as they run very cool, come in cheap boards and I'm not bothered about the missing features :)

For PSU this:
Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0
£46.94

Is sufficient for pretty much any single card system and would still be overkill for that spec. The wattage isn't that important providing it has strong, stable +12v rails, which the Seasonic S12 series do. If your planning to go SLI then a 500 Watt SLI compliant PSU like the one you originally specced or a Seasonic/Tagan/Enermax/FSP would be a good idea, but if not you'll be absolutely fine with the Seasonic, even with a high end DX 10 card and dual core in the future.
Click to expand...

Thanks :) just a couple of questions. What exactly is SATA 2? And I noticed something about 'FSB Speed: 1000 MHz' or 'FSB Speed: 2000 MHz'.
Are they important in a mobo? should I be looking for 2000MHz?
Thanks :D
 
Tetras said:
First question:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17504457&page=1

Second question:
All boards are the same, the way they specify it is what differs. It is like PC3200 memory, some would call it 200 Mhz and others 400 Mhz. Both are correct but it is actually 200 Mhz with an effective clock speed of 400 Mhz, since it is DDR.
Click to expand...

ok thanks again, one more question (I think). What RAM would you recommend? I was thinking of 1GB linked ^, but I noticed this: 'GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL)'
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Geil_DDR2_Memory.html
Which is just £124.95 this week only. Now, is it worth it? or would 1GB suffice? If I would get conciderably more frame rates in call of duty 2 and HL2, then I would be interested. Would the games honestly benefit from it by a lot, or should I just stick with original ram I linked?

:p
 
Makes games smoother, less swapping and even if you don't specifically need it now, you will shortly. I wouldn't build a gaming system with anything less, unless it was a really low end budget spec. As for the RAM, that particular deal is always getting recommended and I would assume it is a decent buy but I can't personally comment as I haven't actually got a single stick of DDR2 :p
 
Tetras said:
Makes games smoother, less swapping and even if you don't specifically need it now, you will shortly. I wouldn't build a gaming system with anything less, unless it was a really low end budget spec. As for the RAM, that particular deal is always getting recommended and I would assume it is a decent buy but I can't personally comment as I haven't actually got a single stick of DDR2 :p
Click to expand...
Thanks, really helped me out on a few things :) appreciated
 
Tetras said:
No problem, what are you go gonna for? :D
Click to expand...

ok, this is my what I'm gonna get unless anyone see's better(inc. ya self of course :) )

MOBO: MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-071-MS)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Socket_AM2_MSI.html

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-164-AM)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Socket_AM2_Athlon64.html

RAM: Corsair 1GB DDR2 Value Select PC5300 Dual Channel Kit (2x512MB) (VS1GBKIT667D2) (MY-083-CS)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Corsair_Value_DDR2_Memory.html

Graphics card: BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-025-BG)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/7600_Series.html

PSU: Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-000-SS)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Seasonic_Power_Supplies.html

Total+VAT £312.11 (ex delivery)
Does it all look compatible to you? Or have I missed something :eek:
I look forward to placing order Tuesday!

Now maybe I can dust of HL2 and order Far Cry!
 
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