Upgrading CPU/RAM/MOBO

[Fatboy]

I'm shortly going to upgrade my rig (current specs as in sig), I'm looking at getting:

Asus A8V Rev.2 Deluxe VIA K8T800 Pro (Socket 939)
Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939)
ThermalRight XP120 + fan
Corsair 1GB DDR XMS4400C25PT TwinX (2x 512MB)CAS 2.5

Firstly is this going to be worthwhile in the long run (I'll replace the MOBO when I get a new graphics card).

Secondly, am is the RAM going to be a good investment (I'd look at getting another GB when I'm a bit more wealthy) or should I plump for 2GB of PC3200? What I am looking at the 2Gb option would only cost another £10 - I'm just thinking of the future.

[Jonny]

£10 more for 2Gb?! What is it? Farmer Phil's home brand?

[Fatboy]

Something like that, looking around it'd actually be close to £60 (£210) for the Corsair XMSPC3200.

[Dougal]

I'd spend the extra on 2GB. Even though some people disagree on this forum, 2GB will be needed for games, and if you OC you'll get better results rather then getting more in the future

[Fatboy]

I'm coming round to this way of thinking tbh. I'm definately going to overclock the 3200 - hence the monstrous heatsink (watercooling would be nice, but so would being able to pay the mortgage this month), so I think I'll spend the extra £60 and go for the 2 GB option.

Other than that are the proposed changes looking alright?

[sawyen]

2Gb of farmer phil's home brand memory will only get u really fat cows and smelly poultry...

The cpu speed is about right.. unless you're happy enuf to shell out another £100 for a 3700+ SD..

The Asus A8N and Xp-120 is abit of a mismatch in my opinion... you're getting an enthusiast level overclocking HSF into a board which could barely reach 220Mhz HTT..
Asus is by no means a slouch when it comes to features.. but as an overclocking board; it is not.

If you're so inclined to use xp-120 on an AGP board, you'd be better off with an MSI-Neo2 Plat or an Abit AV8 3rd Eye... both can easily breeze thru 280Mhz HTT. Note though the AV8 breaks its AGP lock when you breach ~300Mhz HTT.. So MSI is a better candidate if you're going to go past 300MHz HTT..

If you still want an A8V, the standard HSF is fine.. save that £30 quid for somewhere else.. maybe a nice TV card..

[sawyen]

I'm coming round to this way of thinking tbh. I'm definately going to overclock the 3200 - hence the monstrous heatsink (watercooling would be nice, but so would being able to pay the mortgage this month), so I think I'll spend the extra £60 and go for the 2 GB option.

Other than that are the proposed changes looking alright?

Then the A8V will be a nightmare.... think.. 10x 220.. a lousy 2200Mhz.. you're better off being loved by MSI and ABIT... which easily gets you 2600, 2700... (only then its worth getting the xp-120)

[Fatboy]

If you're so inclined to use xp-120 on an AGP board, you'd be better off with an MSI-Neo2 Plat or an Abit AV8 3rd Eye... both can easily breeze thru 280Mhz HTT. Note though the AV8 breaks its AGP lock when you breach ~300Mhz HTT.. So MSI is a better candidate if you're going to go past 300MHz HTT.

It's funny you say that, the AV8 3rd Eye was my first choice, but you can't use DIMM #1 - hence my decision to get the Asus. The MSI Neo2 Plat is even worse - can't fit the XP-120 at all

Because I'm looking at a MOBO with AGP rather than PCI-Express, my options are limited - and I can't afford to get a different card - plus a X800 XTPE is still quite usefull!

I didn't think the overclocking was going to be an issue with the Asus either tbh, I'm sure it mentions a 30% overclock being possible.

Any more feedback on this would be great though, like I said, it's definately going to be clocked.

[Dougal]

Never seen an Asus that can overclock by more then 10% easily.

The "30%" prob comes from memory timings too.

[Fatboy]

It's not looking good....

...Assuming I go with my the MSI or Abit offerings, I won't be able to install the XP-120, in which case, what is the best air-cooler available for it?

[sawyen]

xp-90c... gigabyte rocket cooler ultra... coolermaster hyper 6+.. akasa evo33.. the list goes on..

[sawyen]

30% is probably the memory overclock.. A8V rev 2 has a better cooked up bios.. but still.. I doubt you'll get further than 250Mhz at 100% stability.. I remembered either Anandtech or Tom's review A8V and reported that it posted at 289Mhz.. TBH, I'll stick with MSI or Abit.. also XP-90C fits an AV8 fine.. with DIMMS 1 to 4 filled up..

[Fatboy]

That's what I'm looking at now.

Abit AV8 3rd Eye
3200
XP-90C
2Gb Corsair XMSPC3200 DDR

That should keep me going for a while.

Thanks again for all your input guys.

[sawyen]

seems pretty sweet.. should run everything fine on ur X800XTPE... overclock this babe when it comes and post back.. im dying for a comparison with my 3500+ on an AV8

[Fatboy]

Will do, looking to order it all this week, so it should be up and running for sometime next week.

Will def do a "before" and "after" comparison on 3dmark 04/05 etc and whatever else I can be arsed to set up.

[8bit]

Then the A8V will be a nightmare.... think.. 10x 220.. a lousy 2200Mhz.. you're better off being loved by MSI and ABIT... which easily gets you 2600, 2700... (only then its worth getting the xp-120)

nightmare? I got my PC4000 RAM to 998MHz with the CPU at a shade under 2.5GHz (from 2.2). This is with air cooling only (arctic cooling silencer 64). How is this a nightmare?

My ASUS A8V Deluxe rev2 and I are very happy together!

friend of mine has almost the same rig as me but he got the abit mobo, i really dont think there's anything in it to be honest.