Building another damn comp...god valve knows how to take my cash....

[ShinRa]

I'm really going nuts this time around. Saving up $2400 for this. Tell me what you guys think, if you know of any parts I have here that there's better, let me know, throw in your 2 cents. and NO sidewinders its not a "penis showoff." I'd just like comments, suggestions, advice, etc.

Processor

AMD Athlon 64 FX-53, 1MB L2 Cache, Windows Compatible 64-bit Processor - Retail
-$765

Motherboard

ASUS K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 940 CPU, Model "SK8V" -RETAIL
-$188

Drives/Floppys

Keeping ones from old computer.

Video Card

(Currently not available) ATI X800
-$500

Sound Card

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro PCI Sound Card, Model "SB0360" -RETAIL
-$206

Memory

Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series, (Twin Pack) 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-4000 with Platinum-Silver Heat Spreader - Retail
-$335

Hard Drive

Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model WD740GD, OEM Drive Only
-$219

Power Supply

Thermaltake Silent PurePower 560W Power Supply for AMD and Intel ATX 12V, Model "W0023" -RETAIL
$99

Keyboard/Mouse/Monitor/Speakers

Logitech X-620 6.1 Speaker -RETAIL
-$70

Keeping mouse/keyboard/monitor.



Total Expense: $2400

 

[Xtasy0]

you made this same thread the other day, i dont think anyone cares about your computer dude.

 

[ShinRa]

as expected from xtasy to never make a relevant comment. NO i didnt make thread the other day at all like this. anyone with the maturity level above a 4 year old please feel free to advise and comment

 

[oD1Nz]

Okay, now is a good time not to build. Atleast wait for the FX line to move to socket 939.

I'd suggest waiting for things like BTX, PCI-Express etc. as it looks like you're going for quite a high performance machine, and things like BTX and PCI-Express will only add to performance (in the long run, anyway).

 

[kickass2009]

BTX is probably a year or two away so that shouldnt factor into any decision you make. And besides i read somewhere that even when it is releases ATX may still be around for a a while into the BTX lifetime. But it might be a wise decision to wait for PCI expsress. But guinny for the last month i have been looking at getting a computer. And the compnents you listed are the exactly same im looking at, right down the the Thermaltake power supply. The only thing different about the config im looking at is its OCZ memory and two 36g HD instead of one 74.

Just my thought though is it might be more expsensive to get two 36gig HD instead of one 74 but its definitly worth to raid then in 0.

odiniz is right to wait for 939 though. I know i am.

But if you just bought a computer in the last 18 months it would be well worth it to wait a couple more months and get PCI exspress and DDR 2.

The only reason i am buying right now is because im still running a p2 450, 384 ram, 80gig hd and a radeon 7000. (atleast it runs warcraft 3)

 

[gh0st]

i hate to say it, that computer will not run half life 2... and dont even thinkg about doom 3 with that.

 

[blackeye]

I know but hey that what my parents bought I wasnt a huge fan on computers untill about 2 years ago.

 

[ShinRa]

Ok I wasn't planning on buying til like mid-end of summer anyway. Whats the difference between fx-53 socket 940 and this new socket 939 ur talking about? Thanks for the help by the way guys. And whats ddr 2 opposed to ddr?

 

[gh0st]

DDR2:

Instead of current DDR's fetch rate of 2 bits per clock cycle, DDR-2 memory can fetch 4 bits per clock. This means that, with equivalent core speeds, DDR-2 offers theoretically double the data throughput of DDR or quadruple that of conventional SDRAM. (The key word, however, is "theoretically")

socket 939 is the athlon64's socket number (it will be changing very soon). there isnt really a difference. fx-53's use registered ram, different socket, slightly higher performance.

 

[ShinRa]

Thanks ghost you've been a big help. Now you've filled my mind with a buncha questions.

1. When is DDR-2 coming out?
2. How much will it cost?
3. Am i better off going with the Fx-53?
4. What the hell IS registered ram anyway?
5. Will this comp last in the high end category or am i gonna get it for 2 days and be the bottom of the food chain again? because this is really the last time i can muster the cash to do something like this.

thanks for everything!

 

[blackeye]

This should answer the DDR-2 question
http://hardware.earthweb.com/chips/article.php/3295571

As for 939 Vs 940 from what i understand the 940 was designed for use in servers. It still provides great gaming performance it wont be as good as when the 939 comes out. When 939 is released companies will be able to create much less expsensive motherboards for gamers. Socker 939 is also supposed to be a fraction faster then the 940 in games.

By clearly separating gaming and server platforms, AMD won't feel the need to keep prices of the gaming platforms sky-high so as to protect their Opteron pricing structure. That should mean much lower socket 939 prices.

I think but im not positive that when the 939 is release it will eliminate the need for registered ram.

ghost is to fast for me, he replied at same time. argg i went through all the trouble to type.

 

[blackeye]

registered memory uses dedicated registers. These registers are an area between the memory and the outside that keeps track of where everything is a who is accessing it, but this process delays the speed that data is transfered to and from the chip. So it is ever so slightly slower than unregistered memory but it increases the reliablity of the data. Servers use registered memory desktops use unregistered (faster and less expensive but more prone to errors).

if that doesnt help you can go here.
http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair/products/tech/trg-reg.html

This is what ia gather for the release of DDR-2 (based on the quote below i dont think its that necessay to wait for DDR-2 because in 2006 it will be time to buy a new computer anyway.

Keeping in mind that starting from next year there will be more supporters for DDR2 at 667MHz and beyond speed-bins, the technology may finally become adopted more widely. Nevertheless, memory transitions historically took pretty long time, therefore, it is quite natural to look on DDR2 as mainstream solution of 2005 or even 2006.

 

[Asus]

DDR2 is not more advance than DDR but rather like Intel how they decreased it's performance slightly to increase clock speed (Although it has better power savings which would be good for notebooks). More expensive memory ($100+ more) with higher latency. I think I'll pass on DDR2.

Waiting to get a PCI Express board/ Socket 939 CPU/ PCI Express gfx card is all good and would have the best possible upgrade path. Also you don't have to spend twice as much for the top of the line when the model right below will give you 95-99% of that performance for 60-80% of the cost.

If you are going with a Raptor drive, I recommend going for the 74gb.
It is as fast as a standard IDE/SATA RAID configuration yet with no latency penalty. 2 36gb Raptors in RAID-0 would have a faster max. transfer speed but any RAID setup can be a hassle to setup and keep while they are slow for latency since they take longer to find the data on both drives.

The 74GB model has fluid bearings, is quieter, faster, and more storage than the 36GB Raptor.

Why get an Audigy with low class analog speakers?
Might as go for a Logitec Z-640 with digital coax connections.
Or an analog Logitec Z5300 are awesome too.

 

[junco]

valve isn't taking your cash dude. your impatience is i'll be overjoyed when i can give valve $50 and get something in return.

 

[ShinRa]

Ok so ditch the speakers or the sound card? Because I could go with a better set of speakers I didn't know they made a difference. (I just went with the coolest looking ones :-p).

 

[blackeye]

Are raided drives prone to failure? Cause when i build my machine when pci expsress comes out i was thinking of getting two 36g instead of on 74. Its the same price and same amount of storage. But overall which would be faster for game load times.

Just to clear things up kickass2009 is my other account. And i have a peice of shit for a computer that cant even run divx video.

One thing i just noticed is that corsair memory you plan to buy. Do you know if its registered or not? If its not it wont work with the fx

 

[ShinRa]

Damn it's unregistered......is the 939 socket going to be unregistered? cuz thats really good ram for a good price...

 

[ShinRa]

EDIT:

Here I'll keep it simple.

The best AMD64 Processor I could get. (Gotta be windows compatible)
The best AMD64 Motherboard I could get.
The best RAM for the comp I could get.

 

[gh0st]

Are raided drives prone to failure? Cause when i build my machine when pci expsress comes out i was thinking of getting two 36g instead of on 74. Its the same price and same amount of storage. But overall which would be faster for game load times.

raid drivers are very nice, but suffer some latency problems (obviously from having to search 2 drives) just get the one 74.

Damn it's unregistered......is the 939 socket going to be unregistered? cuz thats really good ram for a good price...

yes its unregistered

The best AMD64 Processor I could get. (Gotta be windows compatible)

all athlon64 processors are windows compatible.

 

[blackeye]

yes its unregistered

I thought that with 939 you had the option of going with either one you want. Or do you have to have unregistered.

 

[gh0st]

um.. no its unregistered. but it will run in dual channel.

 

[ShinRa]

Can someone answer me from my last post?

And if theyre all compatible why does it say in the description (THE only windows compatible 64 bit processor) ?

 

[Asus]

Because other 64bit CPUs that are made by other manufaturers are not Windows Compatible (E.I. Intel's Itanium(2), IBM's Power 4/5).

EDIT:

Here I'll keep it simple.

The best AMD64 Processor I could get. (Gotta be windows compatible)
The best AMD64 Motherboard I could get.
The best RAM for the comp I could get.

Right now, A64 FX 53 (Socket 940).
Later, FX series will be on Socket 939 (FX 53 and above).

Although the idea of being able to pop in a dual core CPU into a Socket 940 next year is very nice.

Nforce3 250 is probably the best overall chipset. You choose the brand/board.

Many love Corsair's XMS series or Muskin LVL 2. Crucial is nice as well. These are good picks because they are very quick while very reliable.

While Registered memory has a small latency hit, it is a great path to go if you choose to have more than 1GB of RAM.
Rather than letting the memory controller register the memory addresses, each memory module addresses it's own memory which gets rid of any performance loss when going above 4 banks of memory (Banks != slots).
Link

Also, Socket 940 will have a very long life since the workstation/server Opteron is on that socket.

Socket 939's apeal is getting rid of the slight latency with registered ram (From Socket 940) and adding dual channel memory (Socket 754 has single...940 has dual channel).

Socket 940's apeal is Registered Ram and now the possibility to drop a compatible dual core A64 (Opteron) CPU in the socket (2005).

 

[Moto]

Guinny, make sure you buy ECC Registered RAM. Standard DDR RAM that is non-ECC and unbuffered WILL NOT WORK. I learned the hard way. :thumbs:

 

[Xtasy0]

oh you didnt post a thread the other day about your computer/building a new one? gee then whats this http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=21829

hmmmmmm

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

closeing this thread becuase it seems like it started like a penis-show off, then developed into questions that are
a) answered in threads below this one
or
b) answered by using google.

that was my favorite part of the thread!

 

[ShinRa]

Thanks to everyone who helped and wasn't a 5 year old.

I've made my final decision to wait for:

Motherboard - Socket 939 w/PCI express support and AGP 8X

Processor - AMD Athlon 64 FX 53 (or if theres a better one) socket 939

Ram - PC4000 1024mb, corsair xms unregistered ram.

And everything else will remain the same...thanks everyone!

 

[shapeshifter]

Get an Antec Powersupply. don't bother with the thermaltake

 

[FCKaul]

Pci-E and agp 8x? when not just get a pci-e graphics card? It seems like you certainly have the money. Also the AMD 64 3400+ is amazing for alot less than the Fx, i just dont see the point in having something that is so expensive when something much less will still perform to a very high standard.