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Thread: Upgrading Thoughts

  1. #1
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    • edp33's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus A8N Sli (S939)
      • CPU:
      • Athlon 3200+
      • Memory:
      • 2GB DDR 3200
      • Storage:
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      • Graphics card(s):
      • Gigaybyte Silent Heatpipe 6600GT
      • PSU:
      • Antec Truepower 430P
      • Case:
      • Lian Li PC-602
      • Monitor(s):
      • 17" LCD
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    Upgrading Thoughts

    Hi all, I would appreciate any advice you can offer on the following upgrade spec. At the moment I’ve got a spare Lian Li atx case, Antec 440W True Power PSU, Keyboard, Mouse, DVD writer and Monitor left over.

    I’m considering getting:-

    3500+ Winchester Retail
    A8N SLI Deluxe
    1 Gig Corsair Value Select (2x512)
    Gigabyte 6600GT GV-NX66T128VP
    Seagate SATA 120Gig NCQ

    I’ve decided to go for a 3500 and value ram over a 3200 and higher quality ram as I’m not an overclocking guru. I’ve chosen a 6600GT over a 6800GT due to cost and my optimal gaming resolution due to monitor restrictions is 1024x768/1280x1024.

    With the lower cost of 6600GT PCI-Es over AGP offerings and future upgrade-ability I’ve opted for the Nforce4 platform over Nforce3/Via offerings.

    Questions

    1) Would I need a 20 pin to 24-pin converter for this build, and does the A8N fit existing ATX cases?

    2) Any experience of this 6600GT card, or other brand recommendations? (video out is essential)

    3) Do you think this system will be capable of playing games like Half Life 2, Farcry, etc at 1024x768 with AA and AF on? I’ve heard that 6600GT’s performance significantly drops when these are activated.

    4) I plan on using onboard sound as I am happy with just 2 speakers/headphones, is it worth waiting for the DFI board, which I have heard has better onboard sound? Or alternatively investing in a SB Audigy card to save fps.

    5) As I will only be using one HDD and A DVD Rewriter, my understanding is that an A8N Standard will suffice over the Deluxe version, both are SLI capable it seems?

    Thanks in advance for your help

    James

  2. #2
    Senior Member skuzgib's Avatar
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    Welcome

    1) A8n will fit in atx cases - not to sure if you need a pin converter...
    2)I have a 6600gt it's great - mine's a leadtek one from lowestonweb.com dead cheap at £120
    3)Most definately - iI played through HL2 with 4xaa and AF on at 1280x1024 with no noticable fps drops.
    4)onboard sound seems fine...
    5) Yes, they are both SLi capable - the deluxe has 4 extra sata ports and an extra lan.

    If i were you, I'd get a 3200+ and some better RAM - there isn't that much between them and you can easily overclock the difference.You never know, you may get into overclocking

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    edp33, i can only give an opinion/suggestion to Question No3, which is that if u had a HPDR capable gcard, you'd probably wanna enable it and see those effects rather than AA and AF

    personally, ive yet to enable AA and AF in far cry, as enabling HPDR alone is enough to bring my system [3500+, 1gb of 3200ram, 6800gt @1280x1024] to around 30~35FPS

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    Quote Originally Posted by skuzgib
    Welcome

    1) A8n will fit in atx cases - not to sure if you need a pin converter...
    2)I have a 6600gt it's great - mine's a leadtek one from lowestonweb.com dead cheap at £120
    3)Most definately - iI played through HL2 with 4xaa and AF on at 1280x1024 with no noticable fps drops.
    4)onboard sound seems fine...
    5) Yes, they are both SLi capable - the deluxe has 4 extra sata ports and an extra lan.

    If i were you, I'd get a 3200+ and some better RAM - there isn't that much between them and you can easily overclock the difference.You never know, you may get into overclocking

    and that a 3200+@3500+ speeds will outperform a 3500+ stock because the 3200+ will have a higher FSB
    and most [if not all] winchester a64s are capable of hitting AT LEAST 2.4ghz [3800+ rating] anyways...

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    lazy student nvening's Avatar
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    hang on if a get my 3500+ and some good ram how easy would it be to get up to 3800 speeds, would i need more cooling?
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    With the right motherboard, i dont think you'd need any more CPU cooling. Having said that, a good cooler is better.

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    • edp33's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus A8N Sli (S939)
      • CPU:
      • Athlon 3200+
      • Memory:
      • 2GB DDR 3200
      • Storage:
      • 120GB,250GB
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Gigaybyte Silent Heatpipe 6600GT
      • PSU:
      • Antec Truepower 430P
      • Case:
      • Lian Li PC-602
      • Monitor(s):
      • 17" LCD
      • Internet:
      • BE Unlimited

    Thanks :)

    Many thanks for the replies

    Hmmz i've heard OCZ Plat rev2 is a nice match for the Athlon 64 , but this is way out of my price range. The Patriot Dual Channel 1GB PC3200 XBLK uses TCCD with timings of 2-2-2-5 at PC3200 and this costs just £30 more than the Corsair value....

    Might just choose a 3200 after all

  8. #8
    Senior Member skuzgib's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by edp33
    Many thanks for the replies

    Hmmz i've heard OCZ Plat rev2 is a nice match for the Athlon 64 , but this is way out of my price range. The Patriot Dual Channel 1GB PC3200 XBLK uses TCCD with timings of 2-2-2-5 at PC3200 and this costs just £30 more than the Corsair value....

    Might just choose a 3200 after all
    Yep, i've heard that the patriot stuff is quite good - go for it!

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    Quote Originally Posted by edp33
    Many thanks for the replies

    Hmmz i've heard OCZ Plat rev2 is a nice match for the Athlon 64 , but this is way out of my price range. The Patriot Dual Channel 1GB PC3200 XBLK uses TCCD with timings of 2-2-2-5 at PC3200 and this costs just £30 more than the Corsair value....

    Might just choose a 3200 after all

    my 3500+ winchester with a pair of 512mb corsair VS ram can easily clock 2.4GHz... though setting to 2.45 hangs the system immediatly...

  10. #10
    RDL
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    Well, I've heard that the exact same setup as I'm getting (3500 with XP120 cooler/delta fan) can hit 2.7ghz stabley.

    I think these guys are right. Get a 3200 and save some money, that saving will allow you the extra £30 for that other RAM, and you can easily make up the extra 200mhz with standard HSF. You'l also have some left over money to upgrade to a 200gb HDD if you wish, for which I would recommend one of Barracudas 7200.7's. They are incredibly quiet, and reliable.

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    well, 2.7GHz is a *bit* optimistic, majority of users cant pass the 2.5ghz barrier....

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    I can get 2.7ghz stable on my 3500+ Winchester, XP120, Delta120 set-up.

  13. #13
    0iD
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    • 0iD's system
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vaul
    I can get 2.7ghz stable on my 3500+ Winchester, XP120, Delta120 set-up.
    120 Delta Vaul baby, focussed flow jobbie? How noisy is that tho?

    Light aircraft?
    [
    Quote Originally Posted by Blitzen
    When I say go, both walk in the opposite direction for 10 paces, draw handbags, then bitch-slap each other!

  14. #14
    lazy student nvening's Avatar
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    that 6600GT is good, apparently though the galaxy does 525MHz instead of 500MHz and the MSI has a very good bundle, unless u want the doom3 with the gigbyte.
    Last edited by nvening; 20-01-2005 at 06:02 PM.
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  15. #15
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    • edp33's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus A8N Sli (S939)
      • CPU:
      • Athlon 3200+
      • Memory:
      • 2GB DDR 3200
      • Storage:
      • 120GB,250GB
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Gigaybyte Silent Heatpipe 6600GT
      • PSU:
      • Antec Truepower 430P
      • Case:
      • Lian Li PC-602
      • Monitor(s):
      • 17" LCD
      • Internet:
      • BE Unlimited
    Quote Originally Posted by nvening
    that 6600GT is good, apparently though the galaxy does 5"5MHz instead of 500MHz and the MSI has a very good bundle, unless u want the doom3 with the gigbyte.
    Hmmz my understanding is that the gigabyte 6600GT (Turbo Edition) memory clock is 560 (1120) at stock, as opposed to the standard 6600GT of 500 (1000).

    The Galaxy Glaciers do look nice though. The pc i'm upgrading from sounds like im next to an airport, so any thing that makes for a quieter pc is great

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    Quote Originally Posted by 0iD
    120 Delta Vaul baby, focussed flow jobbie? How noisy is that tho?

    Light aircraft?
    On its own, yes. However, on a fan controller, its perfectly fine.

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