Proposed athlon system - some component help please

[asdicus]

A long time intel user I am looking at getting my first athlon system via a custom build from scan. I am having some problems deciding on some of the hardware components - this is my proposed but undecided list :

Motherboard - Asus A8N-SLi Premium NF4 S939
Processor - AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4400+ S939
Memory - 2GB total 4*512 - 1Gb 2x512Mb Corsair, DDR400/PC3200,128Mx64, non-ECC *2
Case - Akasa Eclipse-62 Midi Tower Case - Hi-End
Processor fan - replace std unit - Akasa Evo 33 (AK913) HeatPipe Cooler for AMD Athlon 64
2* Akasa 120mm case fans and acoustic sound proofing for the case
Power supply - 480W Tagan 2Force SLi Ultra Quiet 21db
Harddisk - 250Gb Seagate Barracuda (7200.7rpm, 8Mb) - SATA NCQ

Stuff like graphics card(7800 gtx), soundcard (audigy 2 zs) etc I am happy about.

Looking for a fast gaming system also for work from home - no overclocking - quiet as possible given that it has fast components - must be stable.
My questions:
Is the memory ok and is 4*512 a good idea for this setup and motherboard ?
Should I use the standard processor fan or is the heatpipe cooler a good choice ?
Are all the components mentioned a good stable choice working together ?
Seagate harddisks are quiet and reliable models I believe ?
Will the extra case fans and accoustic proofing help significantly with noise reduction ?
The akasa case looks like a popular quality model - good for airflow and sound proofing - opinions ?
If possible can you estimate how loud this system might be ?

I am a newbie to building pc's and apologise if similar questions have been asked before - any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Chemical_Ali]

dont buy the audigy 2, wait 2 weeks and get the new creative X-FI sound cards.

dont buy the 7800gtx, waIt 2-3 weeks and see A significant price drop for it or an optianal 7800 Ultra/ATI R520 instead.

buy a decent cpu cooler even if u dont overclock becuase stock coolers are rubbish i presume u gonna be playin games.

[asdicus]

Thanks chemical ali for your reply.

Yes gaming will be the primary use as well as mundane work stuff like ms office.

'stock coolers are rubbish' - I have heard conflicting opinions re the stock athlon cooler for the x2 - is it an issue of noise and/or cooling performance that concerns you with the stock model running at std spec? Any opinion on the akasa evo-33 ?

New audigy card - for a gamer rather than a hi-fi buff will the new card make a significant difference on sound quality ?

7800gtx - yes it is tempting to see what ati come up with in september and then the inevitable nvidia response.

[philyau]

The stock cooloer for amd is actually alright, better than some 3rd party coolers, but if you want to o/c a lot and want more cooling i reccommend getting a thermalright XP90-c altough it is quite expensive.

phil

[gamesaregood]

Looking for a fast gaming system - I would say at the moment your better with a single core CPU as there are very very few games which take advantage of dual core.

My questions:
Is the memory ok and is 4*512 a good idea for this setup and motherboard ? - I am not sure if it will or not work but would think you would be better off with 2x 1gig sticks.

Should I use the standard processor fan or is the heatpipe cooler a good choice ? - I was impressed with my stock cooler which came with my 3000+ winnie when i had it but this Artic Frezzer 64 is nice and quite. The stock one used to speed up a fair amount and make some noise when i clocked cpu / played lots of games / did high cpu stuff.

Are all the components mentioned a good stable choice working together ? - Couple of things i am unsure if all four sticks of ram will work (maybe someone else can confirm this?) I am also unsure if they are shipping motherboards with dual core ready bioses yet?


Seagate harddisks are quiet and reliable models I believe ? I can not really comment on this as i don't have a seagate I think the samsung ones are meant to be the quitest? Seagate do have 5 year g-tee though

Will the extra case fans and accoustic proofing help significantly with noise reduction ?
- No idea not something i know about

The akasa case looks like a popular quality model - good for airflow and sound proofing - opinions ? Don't have it so no idea i am afraid.

If possible can you estimate how loud this system might be ? - Again no idea i am afraid.

Hope i have helped a bit.

Michael

[Chemical_Ali]

tbh im not too sure about the X2's, better off installing the stock HSF and if u dont like it replace it.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...ill_Micro.html

they havnt reviewed any of the x-fi but soon enough. but i've come across one game battlefield 2 which has the option to enable X-FI which sets the sound to ultra high, something u cannot do with the current sound cards so i assume most top line games will be x-fi and lets not forget EAX-5.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=1743

[sybrows]

Nice lookin rig btw ...are thee any performance advantages with dual channel and 4 sticks of RAM (other than more RAM ) do the second set get the same benefit from the mobo? ???
BrOw

[asdicus]

thanks for the detailed reply gamesaregood.

Memory decisions are baffling me to be honest re 2*1024 or 4*512 as well as what speed/make etc. I do not want to overclock - a stable system is most important - the corsair value ram I listed is approved by asus for this motherboard so I am hoping it is ok - I cannot see the point in paying a lot more money for the lower latency more expensive memory - opinions ?

cpu cooler - yes I am tempted to stick to the athlon std model but as scan will be building/fitting it perhaps I should just get them to put a nice cooler on it for £20odd.

I like the look of the 5 yr warranty on seagate drives - shows confidence in the product by the manufacturer.

Dual core processors seem to be the future and the price difference between say an athlon 4000+ and 4400 x2 is only say£100 - better to spend the extra I think - for gaming the dual core option should still be fast enough ??

Thanks everyone for all the answers so far - this is my dream pc so I want to get it just right !

[Tabris]

'stock coolers are rubbish' - I have heard conflicting opinions re the stock athlon cooler for the x2 - is it an issue of noise and/or cooling performance that concerns you with the stock model running at std spec? Any opinion on the akasa evo-33 ?

I've heard good things about this HSF, I'm getting one when I upgrade to my A64 system.

Otherwise, you've made some really nice choices.

I think the memory should be fine, if you're not intending to do any heavy overclocking, I doubt that picking one over the other will make much of a difference.

[narrowscope]

I'm using the stock cooler for the Athlon 4000+ San Diego, and it keeps temps around 45ºC on 100% load, 41ºC idle. It's not too loud, either, with a thermistor set to control the fan speed to 1800rpm.

[Chemical_Ali]

for gaming the dual core option should still be fast enough ??

someone told me the X2 4400+ is basically two 3500+'s on one die. so if ur playing single threaded games. ur only using one core. but its still fast enough imo although u can push more framerates with an 4000+

i know alot of people will say stick to single core now, preferably amd64 4000+ and upgrade in about 12-16 months time.

its entriely up to you mate lol.

[GhostRider2069]

To run @ Defaults 4x512 should be no problem, but if You want to overclock the system it's better to get 2x1Gb of Ram.

A XP-120 w/ a Papst or a Noiseblocker would perform well and give You silence

Also You should change the Hard Drive, build a Raid setup with 2x80gb Hitachi SATA 2, and leave the Seagate for storage, You will notice a big improvement when loading game levels, etc.

[Dougal]

If you want to go dual core, I am still reccomending a 3800+ X2 and a good overclocking board, dfi or Abit.

With sufficient air you'll easily get the same speeds as the 4400+ X2

[asdicus]

Once I get a pc I tend to leave all the major components alone then just buy a new model say 3 years down the road - never really been keen on upgrading stuff like processors or motherboards etc. Changing pci cards I can deal with ! The x2 4400+ should be plenty fast for games current and future and also good for my work stuff. Your comments are useful and appreciated.

Another cpu cooler I am looking at is the akasa evo-120 - a new model I believe - slightly more expensive than the evo-33 but seems to be quieter according to the spec. Any more views on quiet but efficient coolers ?

Also any more comments on the memory(configuration/type) question would be appreciated.

[cj2mrhat]

what sort of ram are you looking at? I'd recommend low latency ram if you're building a gaming system - it depends entirely on your budget though. Is the ram you've picked above corsair value? There are two types - one runs at 3-3-3-8 timings and a slightly more expensive set that run at 2.5-3-3-8. The latter would be preferable. What other options do they offer on th ram? Anything with 2-2-2-5 timings would probably be too expensive but see if they offer anything like g-skill zx 3200 @ 2-3-3-6 or corsair xms 3200 (2-3-3-6), personally I'd go for that.

[cj2mrhat]

hang on you want a 2gb kit - scratch the g skill then - but I'm pretty sure corsair do an xms 2gb kit with the above timings. Do let us know what other options there are.