New rig - XP64 compatibilty

[Stan_Lite]

Hi guys.

I have decided to have a proper go at this overclocking malarkey so I am trying to spec up a system (this will be over and above the Folding machines I specced up recently).

I have a copy of XP64 I bought for a previous build but I had driver issues so scrapped that idea and went with XP home.

Basically I want to build a system that will have up to date 64-bit drivers and will overclock well.

I have already ordered a couple of bits off the MM as follows.

Opteron 165 - stepping CCBWE 0551 WPMW
1gb Corsair XMS3500 C2PT - BH5 - the guy I'm buying them from says they were hand-picked from many sticks from his work and they are top notch.

Firstly, anyone know if that's a good stepping? I couldn't find much about it when I looked earlier.
Secondly will the 1Gb kit be enough for clocking or would I be better getting a good 2Gb kit.

Next, bits I'm looking at.

Mobo - I was thinking about the DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR Expert - are there any issues with 64-bit?

PSU - I was going to go for the Enermax Liberty 620W ELT620AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU but I read in another thread that the liberty series had issues with DFI boards - please suggest a good replacement PSU (Preferably modular)?

Case - I have been looking with interest at the Thermaltake VB5001SNA Tai-Chi SuperMidi Tower - I fancy having liquid cooling but if I did it myself it would be very untidy and may restrict airflow, I thought this case might allow me to liquid cool whilst keeping things nice and neat (hence the modular PSU) - any ideas?

Graphics - I was thinking about an X1900 XT as I have an X1800 XT in one of my other rigs and am delighted with it. One thing I would like to know is, there are various versions of the same board i.e. MSI, Asus etc. is there much difference between these manufacturers or are they all basically the same? (bit of a graphics noob).

HDD - 74Gb Raptor

The other bits and bobs shouldn't affect the system as far as OCing goes so I won't bother you with those.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Stan

 

[Stan_Lite]

PSU I'd go for something like a 480W Tagan Modular Silent - I use 2 430W ones in the two rigs in my sig.

Would that be plenty to power the cooling system in the case?

It has 2x120mm fans and a 12v pump and there are 2x120mm case fans also.

Stan

 

[Stan_Lite]

Thanks for the help so far, guys.

I looked at the Hiper PSUs but read somewhere that they weren't the most reliable. I will probably go for the Seasonic and get some of that coil stuff to keep things tidy.

As for water-cooling, I thought that if the Thermaltake case was ok I would give it a go but if it's a case of making up my own then I may leave it just now and go with my original plan of Si120 + Delta 120mm fan (I don't mind the noise ). I have box of watercooling stuff I bought from the MM a while back that just needs some hose. I may have a play with that on one of the other rigs before risking the flagship (probably the 2.4 Northwood as it goes to 3.0 on air as it is so might be fun playing with water).

As for the RAM, I have other rigs I can use the BH5 on (possibly the aforementioned Northwood) so that is no great problem. That Gskill looks like the dogs doodas p4radox, I may well give that a go.

As for a case, I had a look at the Lian Li and Silverstone cases and although there were some good functional cases, none of them leapt out at me, so to speak. I think I'll head over to case central and have a nosey around in there.

Any more suggestions?

Stan

 

[Stan_Lite]

The X1900XTX & XT cards are made to a stock design at present so there is no major difference between the makers at present. Having said that at least one review site found that generally the X1900XTX cards could overclock past the X1900XT cards overclocks (the XTX appear to be cherry picked) & also that Sapphire XT & XTX cards overclocked better than the other brands tested. Perhaps Sapphire are even more fussy when picking their GPU (as Sapphire make most ATI cards afaik).

Thanks for that.

Looking like a Sapphire xtx then

Stan

 

[Stan_Lite]

How many times hve we heard that before...

Seriously, unless you've heard one and tried to put up with it, you've got no idea just how annoying they become!

lol

Last summer I had 4 PCs in the bedroom. One of them was a Prescott which was overheating (surprise surprise) so I had the sides off it and a 14" desk fan blowing directly on to the motherboard on top of all the fans in the 4 PCs. If it makes more noise than that, I'll be very surprised

Stan

 

[Stan_Lite]

Awaits "Quiet Case Fan Please" thread....

Stan

 

[Stan_Lite]

Right.
Spec looking favourite at the moment:

CA-016-SV Silverstone Temjin TJ07 - Black (No PSU) (CA-016-SV) 1
£186.95 £186.95
CA-002-SS Seasonic S12 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-002-SS) 1
£87.95 £87.95
MB-018-DF DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR EXPERT (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-018-DF) 1
£129.95 £129.95
CP-151-AM AMD Opteron UP 165 Dual Core San Diego 1.8GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-151-AM) 1
£224.95 £224.95
MY-007-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit (F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-007-GS) 1
£129.95 £129.95
HD-015-WD Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD) 1
£93.95 £93.95
CB-000-WD Western Digital Secure Connect Serial ATA Cable (CB-000-WD) 1
£4.95 £4.95
HS-023-TR ThermalRight SI-120 (Socket 754/939/478) Heatsink (HS-023-TR) 1
£26.95 £26.95
FG-003-DE Delta 120mm Focussed Flow Fan (EHE) (FG-003-DE) 1
£14.95 £14.95
CD-036-PO Pioneer DVR-110BK 16 x 16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM (CD-036-PO) 1
£25.95 £25.95
HD-002-MI Mitsumi FA 404M 7in1 USB 2.0 Floppy & Media Drive - Black (HD-002-MI) 1
£12.95 £12.95
CB-046-GE Akasa Rounded Floppy Cable (0.45m) - Blue (CB-046-GE) 1
£1.95 £1.95
AC-000-AC Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) (AC-000-AC) 1
£5.50 £5.50
MO-046-VS Viewsonic VX922 19" LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-046-VS) 1
£249.95 £249.95
Subtotal £1,196.85
VAT £209.45
Total £1,406.30

Any comments?

The Opty is already ordered from the MM (saved £15 ) but I included it to show full spec.
The monitor will depend on finances at the time of ordering and is intended as a gaming monitor (I have a 2405FPW and another 19" TFT for other stuff).

I will be researching components to confirm XP64 compatibility between now and ordering (probably a couple of weeks - gonna be out here for a while yet).

Stan

 

[Stan_Lite]

Looks good, but only a paperweight without a graphics card.

Oh poo.

I could have sworn I'd added the graphics card Thought it looked a bit cheap

Try again:

CA-016-SV Silverstone Temjin TJ07 - Black (No PSU) (CA-016-SV) 1
£186.95 £186.95
CA-002-SS Seasonic S12 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-002-SS) 1
£87.95 £87.95
MB-018-DF DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR EXPERT (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-018-DF) 1
£129.95 £129.95
CP-151-AM AMD Opteron UP 165 Dual Core San Diego 1.8GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-151-AM) 1
£224.95 £224.95
MY-007-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit (F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-007-GS) 1
£129.95 £129.95
HD-015-WD Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD) 1
£93.95 £93.95
CB-000-WD Western Digital Secure Connect Serial ATA Cable (CB-000-WD) 1
£4.95 £4.95
HS-023-TR ThermalRight SI-120 (Socket 754/939/478) Heatsink (HS-023-TR) 1
£26.95 £26.95
FG-003-DE Delta 120mm Focussed Flow Fan (EHE) (FG-003-DE) 1
£14.95 £14.95
CD-036-PO Pioneer DVR-110BK 16 x 16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM (CD-036-PO) 1
£25.95 £25.95
HD-002-MI Mitsumi FA 404M 7in1 USB 2.0 Floppy & Media Drive - Black (HD-002-MI) 1
£12.95 £12.95
CB-046-GE Akasa Rounded Floppy Cable (0.45m) - Blue (CB-046-GE) 1
£1.95 £1.95
AC-000-AC Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) (AC-000-AC) 1
£5.50 £5.50
MO-046-VS Viewsonic VX922 19" LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-046-VS) 1
£249.95 £249.95
GX-113-SP Sapphire ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-113-SP) 1
£344.95 £344.95
Subtotal £1,541.80
VAT £269.82
Total £1,811.62

L33T

Postcount auction

Stan

 

[Stan_Lite]

That looks good. The Seasonic PSU is particuarly suited to the DFI motherboard as it has an EPS connector which is recommended for that particular motherboard

Everything there should be x64 compatible. You can get 64-bit drivers for the motherboard chipset, graphics card, etc

When I went x64 I had to look around for drivers for my onboard sound (SoundMAX) and ethernet (3COM)

Thanks for that.

I will have a look for all of the 64-bit drivers I need and get them downloaded ready to install when I get the machine built.

Thank you all for your help. You're all very nice people (except ACESHIGH because he picked up on my mistake ).

Seriously though, it makes things so much easier when you have helpful, knowledgeable people to help you

Stan

 

[Stan_Lite]

There are conflict issues between Corsair and DFI boards + stay well away from the GSkill. If you look in the ram section there are a lot of people having to RMA more than once because of faulty sticks

I had a look in the memory section and found a lot more people praising the gskill than slating it so I think I'll take my chances with it.

Thanks for the advice though, it's always best to check things out properly

Stan

 

[Stan_Lite]

Well, that's it ordered.
It changed quite a bit before I got to the ordering stage.

FG-024-AK Akasa AK-183-L2B Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3 pin (FG-024-AK) 9
£5.95 £53.55
GX-116-SP Sapphire X1600 Pro 256MB DDR2 AVIVO TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Retail (GX-116-SP) 1
£81.95 £81.95
MY-002-MK Mushkin 2GB DDR XP4000 Redline Extreme Performance Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) (991493) (MY-002-MK) 1
£199.95 £199.95
CA-090-CM CoolerMaster Stacker 830 RC-830 - Silver Trim (No PSU) (CA-090-CM) 1
£142.95 £142.95
CP-148-AM AMD Opteron UP 170 Dual Core San Diego 2.0GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-148-AM) 1
£269.95 £269.95
HD-015-WD Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD) 1
£93.95 £93.95
CD-038-PO Pioneer DVR-111DBK 16 x 16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM (CD-038-PO) 1
£24.95 £24.95
HS-023-TR ThermalRight SI-120 (Socket 754/939/478) Heatsink (HS-023-TR) 1
£26.95 £26.95
HD-002-MI Mitsumi FA 404M 7in1 USB 2.0 Floppy & Media Drive - Black (HD-002-MI) 1
£12.95 £12.95
CA-002-SS Seasonic S12 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-002-SS) 1
£87.95 £87.95
FG-003-DE Delta 120mm Focussed Flow Fan (EHE) (FG-003-DE) 1
£14.95 £14.95
AC-000-AC Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) (AC-000-AC) 1
£5.50 £5.50
KB-069-LG Logitech G5 Gaming-Grade Laser Mouse (KB-069-LG) 1
£37.95 £37.95
KB-004-IZ Ideazon Zboard with Crossfire Gaming Keyset USB (KB-004-IZ) 1
£29.95 £29.95
Subtotal £1,083.45
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £14.95
VAT £192.22
Total £1,290.62

The TJ07 case ws out of stock so I have gone with the CM stacker 830 and I intend putting all 9 case fans on it (complete overkill, I know but - what the hell ).

I am getting a DFI N4 Expert board from a guy in the MM which should arrive at the same time as the OcUK stuff.

I decided on the Opty 170 as the 10X multiplier was too tempting.

I dithered a bit about the RAM and decided, in the end, to go for the Muskin Redline as I have seen reports of people getting 270MHz plus on them.

CPU cooling shall be courtesy of an Si120 with Delta on top (I'm going to have to tie this beast down with all these fans ).

I feel like having a go at this gaming lark so I ordered keyboard and mouse for it as well. A good, fast monitor will be added when finances allow.

To cut down on cost, I decided to get the X1600 Pro which will go in my multimedia rig and the X1800 XT from there will go in this monster with another added in SLI, also when finances allow.

This will go in the kitchen, on the kitchen table as no-one ever uses it anyway (probably because it's always covered in PC components - whistles innocently ). Hopefully, any noise from the fans won't be audible from the living room.

That should about do it, I think.

Stan

 

[Stan_Lite]

I really screwed that up I have found a PCI-E card to do the swap - only problem is, the webnote system is down. Will have to phone them in the morning and change my order.

The X1600 was in "This week only" and I never even noticed it was AGP

Also forgot the X1800 XT was crossfire rather than SLI - never mind, one 512Mb card will suffice (for the time being).
I may upgrade at a later date but I think I'll wait until the DX10 cards come out.

Jeez, you'd think I'd never done this before

Thanks for bringing that to my attention guys - saved me a lot of hassle

Stan

 

[Stan_Lite]

https://contact.overclockers.co.uk/

Seems live here dude.

Yeh, just sent one now, seems to be working again - someone must have fed the hamsters

Stan