A64 Questions.

[Trash Man]

Since I have just got my christmas bonus, well will be getting it in this tuesdays pay packet . I thought I might treat my self to a A64+ system. I am a little unsure on a couple of things though. Would I need to get new RAM? At the moment I have PC3200 TwinMOS, could I use this? And also which motherboard is the best at the moment? I see Asus have one out, is this any good?

I know I want the 3200+ CPU, so is it just a case of getting the new CPU and motherboard, installing it and reinstalling Windows or is there anything else I need to know?

Thanks in advance

[Platinum]

Should be, im not sure about which ram is sutable hope my mushkin is at the price it cost , Running winbond chips on that ram? I hear winbond is good to use on A64 systems

[Trash Man]

Yea, the RAM is Winbond chips

[Platinum]

From what I hear you should be ok then

[Trash Man]

Cool, so I can use my current RAM Just gotta find out which motherboard to go with and the I will be placing an order

From reading the other thead with the bloke OCing the 3400+ the Asus board looks like a good one

[[GSV]Myocardial]

Yeah ram should be fine m8e

Mobo choices ar the Abit, Asus seem to have been well received fot the via chipset

Also the gigabyte and I believe shuttle NF3 boards are on sale in the UK if u wanted to go that route.

[Trash Man]

I would like to stay with the ATX form, thx for the info ill see if I can find some reviews on the boards.

[unrealrocks]

Asus are best for stability and MSI are best for performance ... The 3400XP is only slightly more than the 3200XP now so you might as well spend the extra £10. I can recommend the ThermalTake slient cooler as its very quiet and good at cooling! TwinMOS will be fine as its only hte socket 9xx CPUs that require Registered RAM!

[[GSV]Myocardial]

Trash man I'm not sure I understand, theres an ATX form factor AMD64 board out by shuttle m8e, they don't only make uber sexy sff stuff

[Platinum]

Scan are doing the 3200+ at around £230 odd I think about £80 less than the 3400+

[[GSV]Myocardial]

CPU City doing the AMD64 3200 for £188.00 inc VAT works out at £195.16 delivered

[drunkenmaster]

errm, asus for stability and msi for performance, language mate to that.

ASus for stability, but then again, any decent mobo is stable so don't know how you can be more stable. For performance, right now, you're looking at nf3 shuttle , gigabyte or possibly chaintech, also soyo board out. THe shuttle and giga clock well, looks like the giga is slightly faster clock for clock than the shuttle. The soyo might have better voltage adjustment, i can't tell, it has chipset, agp, ddr and cpu but not sure up to what values.

THe via chipset is fine, but not great for clocking due to lack of agp bus. Mickey is using an nvidia card, you simply can't get that high with a ati, not unless you are macci and very lucky. With a ati card even 210Mhz can become unstable SO if you want to clock everyone will tell you go with the nvidia chipset. Mickey went nvidia too but killed his board

[Korky]

"the bloke" with the 3400 on the other thread is one of the main contenders at the top of the 3d mark charts though :S

[Platinum]

He will need to get some serios cooling to beat oppainters 30k

[Oxide]

The chaintech board has had good reviews.

2 different reviews have reached 220fsb straight out the box

[drunkenmaster]

yes, hes a serious contended, but, he knows he needs nf3, he says it, everyone on the orb says it. but more importantly, i say it

Seriously, he is on a low end old nvidia card to get 260Mhz on the via, you can not do that on a ati card and you can not get high in the orb without a ati card clocked to high hell. That 26k was on his 9800pro.

think opps up to 31.5k, maybe 31.7 iirc.

damned, 3dmark in a few months will go nuts with prescotts aplenty, r420's, nvidia gpu newness, new chips, 40k will go easy