I am so fed up with my computer! Thinking of replacing it!

[SparkyJJO]

I've been trying to hold out for K10 but my PC has been nothing but trouble for the past several months. Replaced or RMA'ed every part and it still acts up, so my guess is there is something that doesn't like each other in my system. All parts test fine in other systems, just not together in mine. So I'm thinking of selling off this stuff and buying new.

What I need:
dual gigabit LAN (I manage network traffic)
decent overclocking capability

What I don't need:
SLI or crossfire support - I don't plan on using dual cards.

I tend to prefer ATI gfx cards. This is going under water so no heatsinks necessary, and I plan to reuse my Audigy 2ZS, X1950XT, hard drives, case, PSU, and opticals.

Now I posted this specifically in the AMD section because I do not want intel, so don't even go there

This is what I was thinking of:

-------------------------
MSI K9A Platinum Socket AM2 ATI CrossFire Radeon Xpress 3200 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813130057
$129.99
-------------------------
WINTEC AMPX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AXT6400SE5-2048K - Retail
Item #: N82E16820161229
$99.99
-------------------------
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Windsor 2.8GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADA5600CZBOX - Retail
Item #: N82E16819103771
$185.99
-------------------------
Grand Total: $415.97
-------------------------

That memory is cheap I know, but there were some reviews that it clocked OK. After using my current G.Skill 2GB DDR kit that won't OC worth crap I know how to work around it when overclocking the CPU. So if it clocks well, cool, if not, oh well.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Is one of the cheaper CPUs better for overclocking, i.e. will get me roughly the same results for a lower price? I would like that 1MB cache but if getting that is going to cost me a bunch of extra money for little or no gain then that is fine.

Also, any idea how much a decent clocking naked opteron 165 is worth?

[|3ourne]

why dont you save some money and get the 4400+ brisbane and overclock it ? I had the K9A before I got my dfi , its a good board , a little picky and quircky while ocing through the bios but its quite stable and worked great. For the memory , check in the online deals section , there is a post about Crucial ballistics 2 gb kit for 99 USD and you get 10 dollars off more if you use google checkout.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Brisbane 2.5GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADO4800DDBOX - Retail
Item #: N82E16819103778
Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy

$129.99

I know its slower than windsor stock but its 65nm , and it runs cooler and ocs better. My 3600+ hits 3 ghz no problem , so you should be able to do at least 3.1 ~ 3.2ghz .

[derektm]

Originally Posted by SparkyJJO

I've been trying to hold out for K10 but my PC has been nothing but trouble for the past several months. Replaced or RMA'ed every part and it still acts up, so my guess is there is something that doesn't like each other in my system. All parts test fine in other systems, just not together in mine. So I'm thinking of selling off this stuff and buying new.

What I need:
dual gigabit LAN (I manage network traffic)
decent overclocking capability

What I don't need:
SLI or crossfire support - I don't plan on using dual cards.

I tend to prefer ATI gfx cards. This is going under water so no heatsinks necessary, and I plan to reuse my Audigy 2ZS, X1950XT, hard drives, case, PSU, and opticals.

Now I posted this specifically in the AMD section because I do not want intel, so don't even go there

This is what I was thinking of:

-------------------------
MSI K9A Platinum Socket AM2 ATI CrossFire Radeon Xpress 3200 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813130057
$129.99
-------------------------
WINTEC AMPX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AXT6400SE5-2048K - Retail
Item #: N82E16820161229
$99.99
-------------------------
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Windsor 2.8GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADA5600CZBOX - Retail
Item #: N82E16819103771
$185.99
-------------------------
Grand Total: $415.97
-------------------------

That memory is cheap I know, but there were some reviews that it clocked OK. After using my current G.Skill 2GB DDR kit that won't OC worth crap I know how to work around it when overclocking the CPU. So if it clocks well, cool, if not, oh well.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Is one of the cheaper CPUs better for overclocking, i.e. will get me roughly the same results for a lower price? I would like that 1MB cache but if getting that is going to cost me a bunch of extra money for little or no gain then that is fine.

Also, any idea how much a decent clocking naked opteron 165 is worth?

Most people with the AMD 3600+ Brisbane get at least 2.8ghz. Others get 3ghz+. I'm at 2.8ghz with mine right now. Boots windows at 3ghz but not prime stable and I can use lower vcore keeping it at 2.8. They only cost $59 at newegg. If you get a bad clocker just buy another. For the price of that CPU you picked out you could pick up three of these and find the best one.

Theres lots of good deals on better memory right now. Just check the deals section here or check slickdeals.

[SparkyJJO]

That is what I figured, that I should get a cheaper CPU and just overclock it. I'd be happy with 2.8GHz, that's all I've run my opteron at 24/7 anyway, now it is running lower because I've been messing with my system. I hit 3GHz but my zalman 9500 can't handle the heatload.
Is there much of a difference between the 2x512KB cache and 2x1MB cache? That 3600+ does look pretty sweet for the price.

[v0dka]

Oh come on, $185 for a stock 2.8Ghz CPU? That's a good deal. Get that for your main machine and let the 3600+ for what it is - a good cheap cruncher.

[SparkyJJO]

See I don't have much money right now, I just bought this water setup. I can't really afford to go much over what I can get out of my current parts.

[derektm]

Originally Posted by v0dka

Oh come on, $185 for a stock 2.8Ghz CPU? That's a good deal. Get that for your main machine and let the 3600+ for what it is - a good cheap cruncher.

Hard to justify the price of that 2.8ghz stock chip when you can get 3 for 1 with the 3600

About the 1MB cache difference. There used to be a discussion about that around here somewhere back when the X2's were first coming out. There really isn't much difference and I believe that in some cases 1MB cache even hurt performance because it increases the cache latency. The question is, is 1MB cache worth 3x more money?

[TEDY]

what people said: get 3 from newegg, keep the best sell others to me for 50$

[SparkyJJO]

OK so I replace the 5600+ with this:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane 1.9GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADO3600IAA5DL - OEM
Item #: N82E16819103036
$59.00

Puts me to a total price of $288.98 before shipping.

So maybe change the memory, how about the mobo? So far one opinion on that, quirky but stable. Any other input there?

Gosh I'd be so mad if I did all this and still had problems...

[TEDY]

well some DFI, ASUS M2NSLI DLX or some GIGABYTE or BIOSTAR

my sistem runs 300x9 at 1.3v in bios with easy...no problems at all

[SparkyJJO]

The M2N-SLI deluxe is nvidia, but for a single card it won't decrease performance any with an ATI card will it? Also, that stock heatpipe thing, does it work well or will I need to replace it with something better once I get water set up?

[TEDY]

hm...here

[informal]

If I were you I'd get the lil higher multi capable Brisbane,let's say the 4400+,just to keep out the "possible" HTT limit of the future mobo(not that it will happen;just to be sure ).
Also the mem. choice is OK,since it defaults at 800MHz,will keep you Brisbane clocking till it reaches the max on the mobo.
What cooling are you looking to buy?
My recommendation is CM Hyper TX,excellent cooler(heat pipe).

Edit:nvm the cooling qn,i saw you bought watter block.

[xVeinx]

I have the eVGA 590 SLI board, which is $100 after rebate at Newegg. Overclocking is nice on this board, and the performance is solid. The NB gets toasty, even at stock, but a fan fixes this easily enough.

[SPQQKY]

People, let's not forget he'll need to flash BIOS first, so getting 3 Brisbanes will be bonkers if they won't boot. How about 2 brisbanes and a crappy sempron to boot and flash BIOS with. Also, I'd pick the M2N-SLI before any MSI board for AM2. The NB will not make a difference at all. Don't worry about the NB and the video card.

[|3ourne]

K9A is a good board. The only quircks I have seen are that it doesnt like to take the memory over 1000mhz ( might be my ram , I dont know ) . But at stock the performance is really good , it has a decent set of sub timings ( nothing crazy like dfi but still decent ) . The nb barely gets warm , you can clock the HTT speed high and in terms of fsb , the max I have done on a 3200+ was around 360 mhz. Their latest bios ( 1.5 ) really does wonders for the board in terms of overclocking. Vdroop is there but not that much. MSI has done a great job with this motherboard, they just need to work on the bios to let it clock ram higher. Other than that , its a VERY fast board. Also bios doesnt like FSB jumps over 15mhz , so ocing comes in steps. Also very easy to recover from a setting the oc limit too high as the board defaults to optimal settings after three restarts.

Overall I was quite happy with the board , except the 2.3V max Vdimm and the inability to clock my ram higher. I am using the DFI RD580X right now and although it doesnt have 2 Lan ports , its a MONSTER when it comes to overclocking.

I would just get 3 3600+ , find out the best one , lap it and put it under the Zalman that you mentioned , it should be more than capable of handling the heatload of that processor. I am using a BT and with 1.52V it barely every breaks high 40s.

[SparkyJJO]

Originally Posted by |3ourne

K9A is a good board. The only quircks I have seen are that it doesnt like to take the memory over 1000mhz ( might be my ram , I dont know ) . But at stock the performance is really good , it has a decent set of sub timings ( nothing crazy like dfi but still decent ) . The nb barely gets warm , you can clock the HTT speed high and in terms of fsb , the max I have done on a 3200+ was around 360 mhz. Their latest bios ( 1.5 ) really does wonders for the board in terms of overclocking. Vdroop is there but not that much. MSI has done a great job with this motherboard, they just need to work on the bios to let it clock ram higher. Other than that , its a VERY fast board. Also bios doesnt like FSB jumps over 15mhz , so ocing comes in steps. Also very easy to recover from a setting the oc limit too high as the board defaults to optimal settings after three restarts.

Overall I was quite happy with the board , except the 2.3V max Vdimm and the inability to clock my ram higher. I am using the DFI RD580X right now and although it doesnt have 2 Lan ports , its a MONSTER when it comes to overclocking.

I would just get 3 3600+ , find out the best one , lap it and put it under the Zalman that you mentioned , it should be more than capable of handling the heatload of that processor. I am using a BT and with 1.52V it barely every breaks high 40s.

What CPU did you have in your K9A? Because I'm wondering about this:

Originally Posted by SPQQKY

People, let's not forget he'll need to flash BIOS first, so getting 3 Brisbanes will be bonkers if they won't boot.

Also, I'm not 100% sure about this - heck I can't be anymore with my computer right now - but I'm beginning to think that I may have found my problem with my PC. Maybe I'm delusional, I've thought that several times now, but I'm beginning to wonder if the problem is ATItool. I just played 3 rounds of COD2 which usually by the 2nd or 3rd it has frozen on me, but it didn't this time. Way too early to declare victory though. If I do figure out the problem with mine I'd be happy so I could save myself the hassle and money of buying new parts.

[Plywood99]

ATI tool DID cause problems for me, but ATI Tray tools does not...


Ply

[SparkyJJO]

What problems did you have exactly Ply? My system has been hanging in games and a power off is needed to get going again. Windows and F@H have been fine though.

[|3ourne]

I started with a New Orleans 3200+ and then moved onto 3600+ brisbane. I had already flashed the bios with the New Orleans. I think the newer boards are coming with the latest bios , but I have no idea if the newegg has the latest batch or not. Nething beyond bios 1.3 is brisbane ready. If not , just buy a cheap 90nm proc ,flash it and ebay it off. or buy one off cheap from someone and keep that as a backup.

[Plywood99]

Originally Posted by SparkyJJO

What problems did you have exactly Ply? My system has been hanging in games and a power off is needed to get going again. Windows and F@H have been fine though.

Just general instability problems, made no sense. Took ATI tool out of startup and things were fine...


Ply

[SparkyJJO]

Originally Posted by Plywood99

Just general instability problems, made no sense. Took ATI tool out of startup and things were fine...


Ply

Well pretty much the same here. I shut down ATItool the other day and have not had 1 problem since. I think I'm going to keep it off from here on out. So now that my problem seems fixed I am no longer fed up with my PC and this thread is now useless

[Plywood99]

ATI Tray Tools by Ray Adams has been an excellent program thus far. My overclock is a touch lower since I can't adjust vddqi or whatever the last voltage adjustment was. But it is worth it...


Ply

[SparkyJJO]

Here is something interesting....
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=30471

Apparently ATItool and punkbuster services don't play nice together for some strange reason. This might explain why I was having to trouble at the lan party I was at a couple weekends ago, punkbuster updated between then and now. Very interesting...!

Maybe a new version of ATItool will be released to fix this.

In the meantime I may check out ATT. Thanks Ply for the suggestion. ATItool 0.26 has no voltage adjustments for my X1950XT for some reason, and the most I've overclocked is about 20MHz on the core (on air atm, and like silence, so trying to keep temps down, probably will go higher once I get my water set up).