Machina Mia

[Lu-tze]

the venice is the new core replacing the winchester, the main advantage of which is that it has an improved memory controller. this means that if you decide to add several DIMMs, that you wont have to run them at a lower speed as is the penalty of the winchester. this wont affect you if you only every use 2 memory slots, but if you want to use all 4, it will. the winchester is still a good chip, and worth the price discount at the moment, if you dont want to use more than 2 DIMMs.

the samsung is also good at around £60ish i think, but although is considered to be the quietest, isnt supposed to be the fastest. that said, i doubt anyone could tell the difference. it is difficult to compare hdds though, especially as many reviews dont take into account the difference in performance between different capacity drives of the same model family.

well, the abit is based on the same chipset as the Asus A8V, but it is both cheaper and passively cooled, which is nice. the A8V is not SLI as i know it, but the A8N is available as SLI for £95.

EDIT - the A8V-E deluxe comes with a wi-fi antenna, which is probably why it costs £20 more. so if you dont need built-in wi-fi, i dont think it's worth it.

there are cheaper case too, like the jeantec phong that can be had for £35 including fans. you'd have to go for something you like the look of though. the centurion i mentioned should be the 530 model

[Meiapaul]

I get bad reports of the Tsunami. Oh and the Wave master is worse.

The tsunami is a fairly good case, but its finish lets it down, the door doesn't
match the case.

I own a wavemaster, and I couldn't disagree more! I have the black version, and the finish is really good, the brushed aluminium looks great. Its realy spacious inside, with thumbscrews for both side pannels, PCI slots and the mobo tray. The mobo tray is really great, it made my building so much easier. The case is well built too, there are no sharp edges, and I couldn't be more happy with it.

[k0nigen]

I'm interested by the Centurion 530 but I can't see anywhere that actually sells the thing!?!

Also, the Antec SLK-3000B looks nice...

[k0nigen]

This seems to fit the bill ---->

Case Akasa Eclipse £88.00
Power Tagan 380W £45.00
MoBo Abit X8 £75.00
CPU Athlon 64 3000+ £94.00
RAM Geil 1GB dual channel £65.00
GPU Sapphire X600 Pro 256MB £73.00
DVD NEC 5240 DVD writer £35.00
HDD Samsung 160GB SATA £50.00

TOTAL = £525

Any comments???

[Lu-tze]

so do you have software available? you will need OS. is that drive OEM? if so, you'll need cd/dvd burning software.

does the cpu come with a hsf? if not, you'll need to buy one (add £20+)

the case will also need fans (add £10+)

that gpu is relatively underpowered for modern games, and can be compared with the old ATI radeon 9600 series.

[k0nigen]

so do you have software available? you will need OS. is that drive OEM? if so, you'll need cd/dvd burning software.
does the cpu come with a hsf? if not, you'll need to buy one (add £20+)
the case will also need fans (add £10+)
that gpu is relatively underpowered for modern games, and can be compared with the old ATI radeon 9600 series.

-Yes, I already have all the software
-CPU has hsf included
-Fans - ok, + £10
-The graphics aren't all that important to me, so I don't mind being underpowered until I feel the need to upgrade (Thanks for the input Lu-tze )

Going back to the OCing; this article looks very interesting indeed

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=127

Just how easy is it to get these kinds of results? They're great!

[Lu-tze]

the venice cores are apparently thre same for all the new athlon 64s, thus the 3800 is the same as the 3000 but with a higher set multiplier. therefore, you should be able to overclock the 3000 to 3800 speeds. however, to do this, you have to up the fsb as the cpu mulitipier is locked.

if you want to do this, you will most likely need new RAM, as the 3200 series is only rated to 200mhz fsb (although you should be able to get this to around 220mhz). to get the higher overclock, you will need pc4000 or pc4400 (250mhz and 275mhz rated respectively). bear in mind though, that at high overclocks you might need to improve northbridge chipset cooling.

either way, the higher rated RAM will cost more than the 3200, so you'll need to factor this into your budget.

custompc magazine did a review of the AX8 recently and were able to overclock the fsb to 275mhz on stock (whilst reducing the multiplier of the cpu), so if your case cooling is adequate you shouldnt need to actively cool your northbridge.

[bertie]

Thanks for that info Lu-tze - I might considering upgrading when these Venice cores come out!
Would it be better to get a 3200+ to OC to 3800, does it have a higher pre-locked multiplier?

[johnnr892]

even so kOnigen, you will feel a bit underwhelmed with that system with that gpu, better get a 6600gt or even a x700 tbh...

[Lu-tze]

the 3000 runs at 9x200, the 3200 at 10x200 and the 3800 at 12x200. therefore, to get the 3000 to run at 3800 speeds, you have to overclock the fsb to 267Mhz. to get the 3200 to run at 3800 speeds, you have to overclock the fsb to 240Mhz.

thus, you only need pc4000 rated RAM to get a 3200 to 3800 speeds, whereas you'll need pc4400 to get a 3000 up (in theory). so does the extra cost of the pc4400 outweigh that of the AMD 64 3200?

however, these are in ideal circumstances, and sometimes people are not this lucky with the parts they get as some cpus of the same model overclock better than others.

also, a 3000 at 3800 speeds should yield greater performance than a 3200 as the higher fsb creates greater bandwith.

personally, i would go for the 3200 with pc4000 as it should cost around the same, but wont put so much stress on the northbridge chip. also, it is not always guarenteed that a mobo will overclock well, and with the smaller fsb increase, you wont need to fiddle with the RAM and CPU voltages as much, nor would you need to think about actively cooling the northbridge, which might be a consideration with a very high fsb.

[k0nigen]

Here's the latest spec

Case Antec SLK 3000B £34.00
Power Tagan 380W £45.00
MoBo Abit X8 £75.00
CPU Athlon 64 3000+ £94.00
RAM Geil 1GB dual channel £63.00
GPU 6600GT £120.00
DVD NEC 5240 DVD writer £35.00
HDD Samsung 120GB SATA £57.00

TOTAL = £523

Saved on the case to get the 6600GT, given a couple of months, it'll be £450

[johnnr892]

That looks much more rounded with the 6600gt in there, good decision, you won't regret it.

[k0nigen]

excellent stuff, cheers

[nvening]

I dont no anything about this but is there not a way to unlock the multiplyer? Even hiperthetically.