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Thread: New PC

  1. #1
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    New PC

    Hi,

    I am building a new PC and needed some advice. Here is my current setup that I am considering:

    Abit NF7-S Version 2 Motherboard

    Maxtor 6Y120M0 120gb Serial ATA 8mb Cache 7200rpm - OEM

    Panasonic Floppy Disk Drive Black 1.44MB 3.5 inch internal - OEM

    Corsair (VS512MBKIT400) 512MB (2 x 256MB Matched Pair), DDR400 / PC3200, non-ECC, Unbuffered, CL2.5, Lifetime Warranty

    Nec Double Layer 8x DVD Dual R/rw - Oem Black

    Radeon 9800 Pro Graphics Card

    Case: A nice and quiet Antec Sonata which comes with a silent and good quality PSU.

    How does that setup seem? I have left one thing out: Processor. I was going to go for the AMD XP2600+ retail pack, but a few people have said it is better to go for the XP-M 2500 as it can be made faster than an XP3200+. Now what would you say? Bear in mind this is my first attempt at building a PC and I have never overclocked. I also found this processor that is also meant to be overclockable and costs less than the XP-M equivalent:

    http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=47843

    Opnions?

    Thanks,

    Waz

  2. #2
    wibble
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    xp-m's are definitely the way to go for AMD as they are multiplier unlocked, the standard desktop chips are locked and afaik it is not possible to unlock them. Apart from that the cooler in the retail pack kinda sucks, so get a half decent cooler with 80mm+ fan, the rest of the stuff seems ok to me .... never had a sonata so can't comment on that

  3. #3
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    Thanks for the reply. What would you recommend in the way of a cooler bearing in the mind the reason I have the Antec Sonata case if for noise reduction? I quite like the Thermalright SLK-900A, but I am not sure which fan is good to get with it to keep a balance of low noise and good cooling for overclocking the XP-M.

    Waz

  4. #4
    Ah, Mrs. Peel! mike_w's Avatar
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    For the CPU, you might want to wait a bit to see how Socket 939 pans out. I know that the techonlogy market is always moving, so you'll end up always waiting, but Socket 939 is fairly new, and should leave for upgrades in the future, whereas Socket A is ending its product lifecycle. The reason I say wait rather than go ahead and buy a Socket 939 right away is the high price - hopefully it'll come down in the next few months and become much better value for money.

    If you still want to get a Socket A, a Mobile 2400+ or 2500+ is definately the right way to go (along with the brilliant NF7-S). The lower voltages means you have headroom to overvolt, which means that you canoverclock far more than standard Bartons. It has the advantage of not having its multiplier locked.

    For Socket A cooling, I've got a Thermaltake Volcano 12. Does the job very well, and as an adjustable fan control so that you can turn it down when doing simple things like surfing the internet, and turn it up when playing games.

    It's surpising quiet up to about one third speed, when I can't hear it over the other fans in my PC, and cools well at that speed when not under any stress. After about half way, it gets quite noisy, but since I'm normally playing games when its that high, I can't hear it anyway. Highly recommended!
    "Well, there was your Uncle Tiberius who died wrapped in cabbage leaves but we assumed that was a freak accident."

  5. #5
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    Just done a new build using XP-M 2500+ which would normally run 11x166 and was very easy to overclock to 12x200 so is running happily at speeds greater than 3200+. The CPU voltage was increased to 1.725 volts and tested stable in prime95 so I left it at that to burn in. The RAM was corsair select value pair of 512mb DDR3200 sticks which are happily running dual chanel and passed memtest at CAS3 but would not pass at CAS2.5. The RAM is rated at 3200 so at 200FSB so it's not overclocked. Cooling was a thermaltake silent tower and is the biggest heatsink on the market. It's reasonably inexpensive (£20) and quiet and CPU core temp was only 44C full load with the above overclock and 33C idle. Here is a review http://www.ocia.net/reviews/tower112/tower112.shtml and if that doesn't put you off then I would say go for it. My main concern during the installation was in tightening the nuts because there is no way of knowing if you have the tension right. The danger is you over tighten and crack the CPU core or you under tighten and your CPU overheats. I just stopped when the bar across the middle looked bent and I didn't have any problems.

    The graphics card was a 128mb 9800pro from lowestonweb (£125) which scored 17000 3d2001 and 5500 3d2003

    Antec sonata is a good choice and the PSU is very good too. I changes the 120mm fan to a noisblocker with speed control because the antec one was a little louder than I would have liked.

  6. #6
    Common Sense Advocate Rabs's Avatar
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    • Rabs's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 7
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core i7 6700K
      • Memory:
      • 2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance Red
      • Storage:
      • 256GB Samsung 950 Pro Nvme, 1TB Seagate HD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA Nvidia 970OC
      • PSU:
      • Coolermaster Ethusiast 850W
      • Case:
      • Coolermaster Stacker STC 101
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • Benq GW2760 27"
      • Internet:
      • Virgin Cable 200/12
    For a little more or compromising on other components - you could go Skt 754 A64 get a 2800 or 3000 and overclock it.

    That'll be faster than the XP-M but it all depends on what MB you get etc.

    Get a Seagate HD btw, very quiet and now have a 5 year warranty on them (announced recently).
    Last edited by Rabs; 01-08-2004 at 10:30 AM.

  7. #7
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    • BenW's system
      • Motherboard:
      • ASRock Dual SATA2
      • CPU:
      • AMD64 3500+
      • Memory:
      • 1GB Crucial DDR
      • Storage:
      • 160GB Samsung 8MB Cache
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Sapphire Radeon HD 3850
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic S12 600W
      • Case:
      • Silverstone TJ-04
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 17" Ultrasharp
      • Internet:
      • Virgin 8Mb
    The samsung spinpoints are meant to be the quietest drives available i think

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