AMD Advice

[DeanGTI]

Since I've had an Intel based machine for the last 2 years, I have fallen behind with the AMD scene. Im currently looking into an upgrade since my trusty P4 is starting to show its age and is giving me stability problems.

I have been looking on various sites including Overclockers.co.uk, Ebuyer.com, and many more (too many to list), and I have realised I don't know the best AMD setup to be looking at.

Im looking for a motherboard, processor, ram and graphics card. I don't have a massive budget availble for this upgrade, but I want something that has some go.

Just for reference my current spec is listed below;

Intel Pentium 4 'Prescott' 3.0ghz
1024Mb Kingston DDR400 RAM
Intel D865GBFL Mainboard
ATI Radeon 9800PRO (Sapphire Board)
2x Maxtor SATA150 300GB HDD
plus the usual dvd drives

This is in a Lian-Li PC7-Plus case which has front (120mm), top (60mm) and rear (80mm) fans. Plus the optional PCI Exhaust fan (80mm I think). My CPU cooler is a Scythe Ninja (That damn prescott ain't easy to keep cool) with a 120mm fan. Im fairly sure that this problem isn't related to overheating.

Any advice will be gratefully recieved.

[jon_s]

Now this is a product of envy if ever I saw one! :lol:

Although, you best not kick my ass with an AMD processor just after sorting out mine :roll: :twisted:

[PATo355]

Opteron 146
1024 XMS , Firestick or any good overclocking ram ... wait till thamar arrives ...
Epox or DFI Motherboard for 939 ... Look for Nforce 4 Ultra
As for the graphic card ... a cheap one must be a Nvidia 7600gt or ATI x1600xt

Look at them in newegg.com ... i dont have time to look at the site for you now ...

[PATo355]

MSI K8N Diamond+
X2 3800
Some good memory, 2x512 ddr500
7900GT

And you're all good to go ;)

He said he was on a budget thamar , which part of that you didnt understand :lol: the 7900gt is quite expensive :(

[DeanGTI]

Thanks for the replies, I will be having a close look at the products suggested.

Jon, I assure you this is unrelated. My pc has been doing some wierd things the last few days. :cry:

[jon_s]

Yeah yeah :roll: he he

See you on Sat 0X

[Fleischmann]

Motherboards - go for MSI (Microstar Int.) or ASUS with socket 939 of course. I really don't know what else to say as "not a massive budget" only slightly narrows things down :p

[DeanGTI]

I've got a figure of £600 to play with, but that is a maximum. I won't be able to push much further than that. I have worked out I can make about £200 by selling the bits from my old pc, plus I can put up £400.

Hopefully, that will help any recommendations.

Thanks.

[jon_s]

So, you have roughly:

£200 on a graphics card
£200 on a processor
£100 on RAM
£100 on a motherboard

edit: what about this for a starting point:
http://img479.imageshack.us/img479/4859/amd2lj.th.jpg (http://img479.imageshack.us/my.php?image=amd2lj.jpg)

[DeanGTI]

what are peoples views on the DFI boards vs. the MSI boards? I want to make sure I end up with a board that is going to be realible, overclocking is something I would look into in the future, but not straight away.

Edit:

I'd prefer to get DDR2 memory if I can, I have noticed the DFI boards don't seem to have one available with DDR2.

[DeanGTI]

Update, I have been offered an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+, and a MSI K8N-SLI motherboard for £200 all in. Opinions required, as this is a limited time offer.

[jon_s]

Umm, I thought AMD did not support DDR2 yet?

[dutchmasterflex]

:shock: With your current specs I wouldnt want to upgrade until Hard drive are replaced by NAND Flash Drives...

[DeanGTI]

Umm, I thought AMD did not support DDR2 yet?

My bad, been doing some research and just noticed that. d'oh!! :roll: My bad. Told you I was out of touch with AMD stuff.

[jon_s]

Btw, do like normal people, talk about €'s or $'s :D

Normal!! Cheeky; the ££££££££££ rules :twisted:

hehe :wink:

but for reference:

Overall budget = £600 or 800€

which breaks down to:

GFX card: 290€
Motherboard: 145€
RAM: 145€
Processor: 290€

and the deal on the table is 290€ for AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+, and a MSI K8N-SLI motherboard which looks like a bargain to me :shock:

As you can only use DDR could you not use your current Kingston stuff? which would leave room for something like the Gainward (or a 7900GT - 256) as well as a Zalman water cooler thingy! Well, maybe a bit of a squeeze :lol: 8)

I think I should start a new job :P

[DeanGTI]

Im going to be running some tests on my current rig, to try and find the cause of the problem. If the memory is ok, I reckon I will take up the offer on the cpu and board. Does anyone have experience of the K8N-SLI? Is it a good board?

[DeMoN]

i got the x2 4400+ dont know how much better the fx-55 or 57 are compared to X2.

[Fluxlo]

If you're building a computer for gaming more than anything else, I'd invest alot more in the Video card than the CPU. Graphics cards are the bottleneck of modern computing.

I'd get a 7900gtx (at least 30% faster than the 7900gt), amd althon64 3200+, and a reliable asus a8n-e. From the site that I shop at the total came out to about 480£.

Keep your ram and sell that motherboard and chip, you should be set (except for maybe your power supply, new graphics cards take up alot of power so you might need to upgrade that).

[DeMoN]

^ that depends on the game you wanna play. If its a game that involves physics, then you need CPU to do the calculations, however, if you play WOW or some thing like that, then more Video Power is needed.

[DeanGTI]

power should be a problem, I have a enermax liberty 400w psu. Unfortunatly I missed the offer for the msi board and cpu. Back to shopping online for now.

Thanks for the help guys.

[DeMoN]

if you wanna play FEAR then CPU cuz shiet that game has a lot of math into it.

[DeanGTI]

The P4 crashed again today, I thought I had solved the problem but its still haunting me. turns out the problem is the mainboard, which is going to be swapped by intel (Great working for a Intel Premier Provider). Back on the upgrade hunt, currently looking at the DFI Lanparty boards with a 4200 X2 CPU. PS, my current setup except memory & HDDs will be for sale. I will listen to any offers.

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/5294/cache2tn.th.jpg (http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cache2tn.jpg)http://img418.imageshack.us/img418/7990/cpu1ya.th.jpg (http://img418.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cpu1ya.jpg)http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9387/mainboard8qf.th.jpg (http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mainboard8qf.jpg)http://img418.imageshack.us/img418/62/memory1nh.th.jpg (http://img418.imageshack.us/my.php?image=memory1nh.jpg)http://img418.imageshack.us/img418/7420/spd7qk.th.jpg (http://img418.imageshack.us/my.php?image=spd7qk.jpg)

[DeanGTI]

thats a very good question, misreading perahps. The intel active monitor is reading ok.

[jon_s]

Must be the month for misreadings!!

[DeanGTI]

Voltages seem fine in this.

http://img313.imageshack.us/img313/9287/monitor2jw.th.jpg (http://img313.imageshack.us/my.php?image=monitor2jw.jpg)

[crazidude]

power should be a problem, I have a enermax liberty 400w psu.

You PSU should be fine unless you have some severe overclocking planned or you're planning to get a 1900xtx :P.

Choice of processors are quite high. X2 3800+ will do well if you want something cheap and dual core, a 3200+ will be fine if you don't mind single core, or an opteron of any kind if you want to o/c very high.

Rather than getting a 1gb kit I suggest you get a 2gb kit now. They're fairly cheap nowadays and they perform fairly well. They won't overclock as well generally, with the exception of the Ballistx, but that doesn't matter too much if you use a divider.

A 7900GT is relatively cheap, but I don't know how much it costs you there. With a new cooler it'll probably hit speeds close to the GTX if you mod volt it a bit.

[DeanGTI]

Im not sure of comparitive costs, but a 4200X2, DFI LanParty Board, and a 7900GT came to around £800.

***Edit***

Just priced up the same options on newegg.com, and it came to $839 (£480ish). Damn shame they won't send it to the UK.

[espen]

I blew an Enermax 400W on my AMD64 3200+ (OC'd) and 7900GT so don't be so sure it will last. Enermax used to be good :roll:

[DeanGTI]

The shop I work at, here it goes for € 893.00 or about 625 pounds.

Can you ship to the UK?

[DeanGTI]

Do you have a website I can look at?

[DeanGTI]

Which make of graphics card would you recommend for the geforce 7800/7900 GT?

[DeanGTI]

What about this?

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/2656/codima0rx.th.jpg (http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=codima0rx.jpg)

Any help with the translation on certain bits would be greatly recieved.

[crazidude]

Which make of graphics card would you recommend for the geforce 7800/7900 GT?
I'm gonna say evga or bfg. Whichever is cheaper.