seeking advice, upgrading mobo, chip and memory

[buckman341]

i've been searching over the boards this morning, doing some research and asking advice. thanks for all the advice btw, it was very helpful.

this is what i've come up with for a potential purchase:

ASUS A8V DELUXE Socket 939 VIA K8T800 Pro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
110.00

OCZ Premier Value 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model OCZ4002048V3DC-K - Retail
190.00

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX - Retail
192.00



it fits my price range nicely and its a pretty solid upgrade over my asus a7v8x, athlon xp 2400+, and 1 gig 2700 (maybe 2400 i forget). i'm just wondering if there are any glaring inconsistencies or incompatibilities.

the one question mark is the asus board. i've always been an asus man so it was my first instinct. however, i know every company has a bad day, i'm hoping this isn't the case with a8v cause it fits the bill nicely.

few more details, i just got an Antec NeoPower ATX 480W Power Supply - Retail a couple months back so power shouldn't be an issue. im also using a BFG 6800 GT and an audigy 2. also have 2 maxtor 160 GB drives in a performance raid array. that's all i can think of for potential incompatibilities.

thanks a lot for any advice.

 

[daappleby]

I personally have had issues with via chipsets and don't care for them. The intel chipset works best with intel procs, I don't know what the best chipset for AMDs is though.

 

[MasterShazbot]

Uhh . . . sounds good! I don't know why you need 2 GB of memory, but its your money.
P.S. - Price grabber has that mobo for $89.00
From a pic of the mobo, it looks like a 6800 will take up one PCI slot to fit in there. Other than that, your 6800 should do well. You might want to bump your powersupply up to 500 watts or higher. I have a dual-fan 500 watt supply. It cost me $25 from Ebay.

 

[Trifid]

I would recomend cutting back on the ram. Unless you are doing video decoding, than there is no point. 1gb is more than enough (with 512 not being enough for modern games)

I would still recomend getting a DFI board (the NF3 with AGP will be here soon, if you can't wait, the MSI Neo 2 is a good board.) But that board will be better than my Abit AV8 3rd eye.

Edit, due to my slow typing, That PSU is a great PSU, so it doesn't need changing. It will have more than enough power to supply his system. Just because a PSU is 500 watts, doesn't mean its any good.

 

[Elbatrop1]

The Asus mobo will be fine. You are going to hear someone recommend a DFI mobo, though. DFI mobos are really good for overclocking. If you arent going to be overclocking, then the Asus will be fine.

2GB instead of 1GB wont give you a big performance increase in much of anything. I would go with 1GB and put that money elsewhere. Also, if you are going the valueRAM route, then the RAM you chose will do good.

Good choice on the CPU. If you decide to get 1GB instead of 2GB, maybe you can get a 3500+ instead with the money you saved.

You PSU power will be plenty enough for your setup.

 

[buckman341]

hmmm, a couple people have said 2GB is probably a waste. i guess my goal was to not have to upgrade my memory for a really really long time. since im getting a dual channel board i'll need 2 chips to take advantage of it. i dont want to get two 512s then find out in a year that i need more memory. then i have to buy 2 new chips (for dual channel).

trifid, as for my typical memory usage, i play World of Warcraft and alt tab between browsers and computer folders a lot. i keep a lot of aps open. maybe 1 GB is enough... i'll have to think about it.

as for your other suggestions, elbatrop you were right, someone suggested DFI i've never heard of them but i'll check it out. i personally almost never overclock so thats not so much an issue for me.

its funny you should mention the 3500 cause i was looking at this one too.

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3500BPBOX - Retail


im curious, whats the difference between having the FSB 'integrated' on the chip and just having a 1000 mhz fsb like on the 3500 ? they dont mention the fsb speed on the 3200 integrated, just that its 'integrated.' its a new concept to me

thanks again.

 

[senseless]

1) the a8v uses a via chipset. everyone will say that via sucks... But every so often a mb manufacturer puts together a board that will work right with their chipsets. This is one of those boards. I'm actually using one to test dualcore amd 939 chips.

2) You only need 2gb of ram if you know you're going to be loading more than 1gb worth of data. For instance, starwars galaxies is a huge game and loads about 800mb worth of stuff into ram. I noticed a huge difference in my system when i upgraded my 2x 512 to 2x 1gb. But all the other applications ran at the same speed

3) When cores for the processors are made.. They are made on a big wafer of silicon. Then split up and multiplier locked to a certin frequency. Regardless of if you're buying an amd 64 3000 or an amd 64 4000, they all have the same core. If you were to downgrade to an amd 64 3200 venice you could overclock up to 2.895 (at least, thats the max that my motherboard could run one at). Or you could just overclock to the 3500 speed which wont give you any trouble and save yourself 100$

4) I'm not sure about the integrated fsb is talking about.. Possibly newegg just slacked and didnt put the correct information in?

 

[Elbatrop1]

That integrated FSB means that it has an on-die memory controller, as compared to Intel having a Northbridge, which is an off-die memory controller.

 

[buckman341]

well i looked at the DFIs on newegg, wow expensive. also... maybe i'm not looking the right way but i didn't see a single one with an AGP slot

that pretty much kills it for me since i just dropped a bomb on a 6800 gt


for memory a couple stuck out:

CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX1024-3200C2PT - Retail
timing 2-3-3-6
115.00

CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX1024-3200XL - Retail
2-2-2-5
190.00


the first one seems like a good deal. out of idle curiousity i listed the second one. is that extra 75.00 because it has slightly faster timing? those last 3 numbers are for ras to cas delay and recharge or something right? it's been ages since i really studied ram.

 

[senseless]

Watch out for the XMS memory.. There is some of it that has LEDs on the top, there is one that has a marquee that you put ontop of your ram. Then you can set it up to scroll "my computer rocks" or whatever across your ram. Don't want to end up paying an extra 100$ for something you dont need or want. The first set of memory with 2336 timing should work great for you.