Help spec spec a spectacular system

[specofdust]

Helooo folks, I've decided I need to get in on the opteron madness, but I've been outta the hardware game for a bit now, so need advice and info.

Firstly, mobos, am I right in thinking that the DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR and the Asus A8N-SLi Premium Socket 939 are the top dogs right now? If anyone could point out the main differences and advantages of both, that'd be great.

Now, the opterons. I know the 146 is the one I(and everyone else) wants, but what steppings are desirable, and are there any truly bad opterons that are clocking very poorly, or are they all getting fairly high regardless? Also, are they multi locked and at what?

Next, whats the best air cooler(obviously for sks939) doing the rounds these days? Or are there a variety of different choices?

Lastly, memory. If the opterons are multi locked as I suspect, does this mean I'll need memory that can get to a nice high FSB? How high am I going to need to get in order to reach 2.8Ghz and above? I may just buy a single GB in the near furture, but within a year I intend to be on 2GB, so I think 1GB sticks is the best idea.

Thanks for anything and everything folks

[herulach]

Anything other than CABGE for the opteron is good, get a 165 though :devil: Id go for the DFI, but it is very picky about ram/powersupplies, so you need to do your reading. You dont really need monstroudly fast ram with a64 as there arent really any performance penalties for using dividers like there was with AXPs

[specofdust]

Ah, so long as I have a bit of versatility upwards to maybe 220 then I can pretty much take the CPU as high as it goes then? That's great to hear.

How bad are the CABGE opterons?

[herulach]

Not too bad, just not spectacular i think, pretty similar to what youd expect from an E6 venice i reckon

[specofdust]

Ah, yeah, I want spectacular, otherwise I'd save further and get an X2. But I guess the Distance Selling Act could avert any disasters, if I were unlucky enough to get a cabbage.

Any suggestions on what RAM/PSU's to avoid and which ones to aim for for a good clock?

[TheAnimus]

I've had bad experiance with the DFI, it seams if they work, they work really really well, if they don't, they sit there, causing you a major headache.

PSU wise i'd recomend tagan.

[specofdust]

Antec it is (I'm slightly biased), unless they have any major problems that is

Hmm, might I be better going for an Asus, if DFI are that prone to major difficulties?

[RDL]

I myself would go for the Asus board, as they really are quality, especially now they have the passive cooling and new chipset fans. Check 'em out.

[Noni]

Helooo folks, I've decided I need to get in on the opteron madness, but I've been outta the hardware game for a bit now, so need advice and info.

Firstly, mobos, am I right in thinking that the DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR and the Asus A8N-SLi Premium Socket 939 are the top dogs right now? If anyone could point out the main differences and advantages of both, that'd be great.

Now, the opterons. I know the 146 is the one I(and everyone else) wants, but what steppings are desirable, and are there any truly bad opterons that are clocking very poorly, or are they all getting fairly high regardless? Also, are they multi locked and at what?

Next, whats the best air cooler(obviously for sks939) doing the rounds these days? Or are there a variety of different choices?

Lastly, memory. If the opterons are multi locked as I suspect, does this mean I'll need memory that can get to a nice high FSB? How high am I going to need to get in order to reach 2.8Ghz and above? I may just buy a single GB in the near furture, but within a year I intend to be on 2GB, so I think 1GB sticks is the best idea.

Thanks for anything and everything folks

Asus Premium for stability

DFI for overclocking

Most opterons are sold out now! And there are even talks of them not being sold ever again! But you can pick up a 3700+ (1mb cache) from www.lowestonweb.com for £148.

[specofdust]

Opteron orders will be fullfilled I reckon, and I'll try to get one anyway, they're alot cheaper tehn 3700's, if I dont get an oppie im aiming for X2 instead. Anyway, I'll check out some reviews of the Asus, but, how much of a difference in clocking are we talking, more then say 500mhz?

[Dark Horse]

They will clock to with similar levels probably within 100mhz. The main difference is that almost all DFI boards will run 300+ htt while most Asus boards will struggle to hit that. If you buy a 3000/3200+ or 144/146 then its a bit of an issue but if you get a higher mulitplier chip like a 3500 or above with 11x then it isn't so important.

Most AMD chips will hit 2.7ghz these days if you get decent enough air cooling. The best opterons will hit 3 ghz on air so its your call if you want that extra 300mhz.

[ed^chigliak]

The Asus A8N32-SLI Dual x16 with the 8 phase voltage regulation is a bit special and should be on your shortlist.

[Xaar]

im currently running 2 asus's (both premiums), and 2 DFI's (Ultra-D and SLI-DR with 146 + 165). If you have any intention to really tweak the system, i'd have to recommend the DFI.

[Zad]

I believe the new DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR Expert has 8 phase regulation too now, making it an even better overclocker than it's cheaper versions. I don't think it has dual 16x PCI though (which is nowhere near saturated by current cards anyway).

Mike

[specofdust]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think I'm going to read up more about the DFI, see if I can find a good make of RAM to go with it, and a good PSU, and get it. It sounds like it'd be the better board, and if it causes me too many problems I can sell it on for a slight loss and buy an Asus instead.

Any suggestions for RAM to choose? I want to make it up to about 220-235, tighter the timings the better, and Im aiming to have 2GB in the end.

[Dark Horse]

Any suggestions for RAM to choose? I want to make it up to about 220-235, tighter the timings the better, and Im aiming to have 2GB in the end.

If you only want to take it to 230ish then go for bh5 based stuff that will let you do 2-2-2-5 up to about 250. DFI nf4 can easily give you enough voltage for that.

I hear good stuff about this G.skill 2gb kit

http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=25&page=1