High End Upgrade, but price smart... need opinions.
hey all 
This is my first post here as i was lookin thru google and found here! looks like a bunch of smart people here to answer my question! :P
Im Upgrading from:
Barton 2500+
1.5gb PC2100 DDR
Radeon 9600XT 256mb OC'd.
80gb 7200rpm + 40gb rpm. HDDs
to a new system thats gunna look like this :
- Upgrade based on alot of 3d Rendering, Hardcore 3d Gaming, Multi-monitor usage. Multi-tasking, Application Development, Graphics Designing.
1 x Enermax / 600-Watt / ATX / Dual 80mm Fan / 24-Pin / Dual PCI-Express / SATA-Ready / Power Supply / SLI Ready (6 lbs)
1 x Thermaltake Black Armor Full-Tower AXT Case with 11 External Drive Bays, Clear Side, Front USB, Firewire and Audio Ports (40 lbs)
1 x Asus A8N-SLI NVIDIA Socket 939 ATX Motherboard / Audio / PCI Express / Gigabit LAN / USB 2.0 & Firewire / Serial ATA / RAID / SLI (3.5 lbs)
1 x (Kingston or Corsair) Dual Channel 2048MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB)
2 x Western Digital / Raptor / 74GB / 10K / 8MB / SATA-150 / Hard Drive
2 x eVGA GeForce 7800 GT CO / 256MB GDDR3 / PCI Express / SLI / Dual DVI / HDTV / Video Card
1 x (Any Brand Name) 80gb USB2.0/Firewire External Backup HDD
My questions are,
1 - Overclocked 2x Geforce 7800GT's SLI or a 1xGeforce 7800GTX 512mb
- I hear you can get a 20% overclock on the eVGA Geforce 7800GTs, would that spank a Geforce 7800 GTX?.
2 - Athlon 4000+ looks like the only proc to be under 500$ thats a little slower then the FX-55's.
- Is Athlon 4000+ a good proc? Is it fairly overclockable?
3 - RAID 0 WD Raptors
- Fast enough HDD's for the price?
Thanks !!
This is my first post here as i was lookin thru google and found here! looks like a bunch of smart people here to answer my question! :P
Im Upgrading from:
Barton 2500+
1.5gb PC2100 DDR
Radeon 9600XT 256mb OC'd.
80gb 7200rpm + 40gb rpm. HDDs
to a new system thats gunna look like this :
- Upgrade based on alot of 3d Rendering, Hardcore 3d Gaming, Multi-monitor usage. Multi-tasking, Application Development, Graphics Designing.
1 x Enermax / 600-Watt / ATX / Dual 80mm Fan / 24-Pin / Dual PCI-Express / SATA-Ready / Power Supply / SLI Ready (6 lbs)
1 x Thermaltake Black Armor Full-Tower AXT Case with 11 External Drive Bays, Clear Side, Front USB, Firewire and Audio Ports (40 lbs)
1 x Asus A8N-SLI NVIDIA Socket 939 ATX Motherboard / Audio / PCI Express / Gigabit LAN / USB 2.0 & Firewire / Serial ATA / RAID / SLI (3.5 lbs)
1 x (Kingston or Corsair) Dual Channel 2048MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB)
2 x Western Digital / Raptor / 74GB / 10K / 8MB / SATA-150 / Hard Drive
2 x eVGA GeForce 7800 GT CO / 256MB GDDR3 / PCI Express / SLI / Dual DVI / HDTV / Video Card
1 x (Any Brand Name) 80gb USB2.0/Firewire External Backup HDD
My questions are,
1 - Overclocked 2x Geforce 7800GT's SLI or a 1xGeforce 7800GTX 512mb
- I hear you can get a 20% overclock on the eVGA Geforce 7800GTs, would that spank a Geforce 7800 GTX?.
2 - Athlon 4000+ looks like the only proc to be under 500$ thats a little slower then the FX-55's.
- Is Athlon 4000+ a good proc? Is it fairly overclockable?
3 - RAID 0 WD Raptors
- Fast enough HDD's for the price?
Thanks !!
0
Comments
2) An X2 Dual Core CPU is a better buy for your needs (Video processing, Multitasking & App developement) .
An Opteron 170 (Dual Core - 1MB/Core Cache - 2.0ghz) will OC to 2.4-2.6 easily with the right heatsink. I have an Opteron 165 (Dual Core 1.8ghz) running FAH full load 24/7 @ v1.5 @ 2.5ghz using the stock AMD heatpipe heatsink it ships with. It runs 10C cooler than my old X2 3800+ (Dual Core 512K/core Cache 2.0ghz) @ v1.44 @ 2.4ghz on the same motherboard.
3) Raid 0 raptors are plenty fast but so are the new 300-500gb 16MB Cache Hard drives from WD, Maxtor, Seagate & Hitachi.
monarch just got some 165's in stock if you're interested.
For the mobo I'd seriously consider the asus a8n32-sli.
For bandwidth you may be better off with some redline pc-4000xp 2x1024 - 3-3-2-8.
For hd's you might consider the raptor for your OS and the 16mb cache drives for your arraying your data files.
2X7800GT is only a good/better choice when they drop below $250 in my opinion. A GTX is MUCH better than the GT. Now that the x1800 is out, the prices will drop on the GTX.
Cpu: Either the Opteron 170 or the X2 3800+. Both of them holds the best value for how they perform. I'm not sure you really need the extra cache on the cpu. Get 2GB of good value ram or if you overclock, quality ram.
To cool the cpu, i'd suggest the Thermaltake Big Typhoon. It's probably the most effective cpu cooler today and it beats the popular XP-120 and Zalmans by miles.
Looks like $740~ is the goin price for the 7800GTX 512mb... I figure if i get one of those, prices will drop evenmore over time and i can get another one to SLI and that'll be a video upgrade to last me a few years eh?
Is Opteron 170 and the X2 3800+ very good for gaming tho?
Is the Premium Better then the Deluxe version? It'd be nice to get the RAID 0 Raptors then the 500gb drive SATA for data.
You will not suffer in gaming with either the Opty 170 or the X2 3800+ at all, and for your rendering tasks they will absolutely spank a single-core CPU. Either of those dual-core CPUs will be nicely OC'able.
OC'd into the 2.4ghz+ range any Dual core CPU will be great in any application
No idea on which Asus is better, although the A8N32-SLI uses the latest C51 chipset which allows for dual 16x/16x PCIe video slots (vs 8x/8x of regular SLI)
In general Opterons will OC better & run cooler than the X2
MonarchComputer X2 & Opteron page
Opteron 165 (1MB/1MB 1.8ghz)
X2 3800+ (512K/512K 2.0ghz)
Opteron 170 (1MB/1MB 2.0ghz)
X2 4200+ (512K/512K 2.2ghz)
Opteron 175 (1MB/1MB 2.2ghz)
X2 4400+ (1MB/1MB 2.2ghz)
X2 4600+ (512K/512K 2.4ghz)
X2 4800+ (1MB/1MB 2.4ghz)
But i mean, how much of an FPS hit will i take of i go X2 or opteron? LOL.
Every game will still go like snot right?
You may get 263 FPS instead of 267 FPS in some games. It doesn't matter, since the human eye sees at 30 FPS.
At 2.6ghz you have two FX-55
At 2.8ghz you have two FX-57
You get the picture - there is no noticable FPS loss
To top off the dual core issue I add this. While current games do no support dual processors there is currently a shift to do so. And it will not be very long till we see games that will utilize 2 or more CPU's or multiple cores. The Quake 4 engine does support it now but it isn't really in use yet. And as mentioned a dual core will spank a single core for rendering. My vote goes to the Opty 170.
Hows the price on that one?
Does the Asus A8N-SLI32 support Opterons? Or i need a different mobo?
That is as good as you will find and they are a reputable company to deal with.
All 3 mobos will support the X2's. If you don't want to swing for the SLI32 the A8N-SLI Premium is still an excellent mobo.
Ah i know they'll support X2's... But will they support opterons?
A 939-pin Opty X2 is supported anywhere you see X2 support listed, at least with the major mobo manufacturers like Asus.
So... This is what i got so far..
1 x Enermax / 600-Watt / ATX / Dual 80mm Fan / 24-Pin / Dual PCI-Express / SATA-Ready / Power Supply / SLI Ready (6 lbs)
1 x Thermaltake Black Armor Full-Tower AXT Case with 11 External Drive Bays, Clear Side, Front USB, Firewire and Audio Ports (40 lbs)
1 x A8N32-SLI Deluxe
1 x (Kingston or Corsair) Dual Channel 2048MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB)
2 x Western Digital / Raptor / 74GB / 10K / 8MB / SATA-150 / Hard Drive
2 x eVGA GeForce 7800 GTX 512mb
Look good?
Memory testing.
http://anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2560
In short, at 400 the Corsair CMX was slightly faster, at 533 the OCZ EB plat was quickest.
Nope, the memory support is a function of the memory controller that is a part of the CPU on the 64-bit AMD chips, so we won't see DDR2 support that's native to motherboards for this generation of CPUs.
The new upcoming S940 (M2) CPUs due in Q2 2006 will support DDR2 (only)