Need some advise on mobo/chipset/processor...

[G-Lizard86]

Hey you guys....in the near future i'm gonna buy myself a new processor, and mobo. I've got an idea of what processor i want....i'ts probably gonna be a P4 between 2.0 and 2.53 ghz, i probably can't afford more than that, but i haven't got a clue of which mobo i should choose...i head asus is good in overclocking cuz that's what i'm gonna do as soon as the stuff is working, what is the best mobo/chipset combination, and what is the advantage of having 533 FSB over 400.....or do you recommend a totally different processor like AMD? Gonna use this rig for pretty heavy overclocking and gaming, often at lanparties ofcourse....please help me a bit here....i could also use some advise on the memory...

 

[Sazar]

first off why are you going into heavy duty overclocking?

am just curious... thats all..

concerning making a rig its cheaper to get AMD and they have nice solutions but if you want slightly more aircooled headroom go with a p4...

the p4's are supposed to oc better and scale better than the amd's thoroughbreds though the thoroughbred B (2400+ and hiher) scale extremely nicely and bench very high too... higher than 2.4ghz solutions and above for intel..

however if you are looking for oc'ing get a p4 solution..

now.. make sure you get ddr instead of RDRAM for a couple of reasons... main being cost... ddr is cheaper... also in future if you are buying an AMD solution it is easy to swap em instead of buying a whole new set of ram just for that new solution...

with intel go with the SiS chipset since they appear to bench higher and higher fsb is always better so go for the 533 with p4's..

with amd there are 266fsb cpu's through the lineup till the 2400+ which runs at 2.0ghz...

there is a 266 AND a 333 fsb 2600+ solution though the 2 may be clocked different from each other and the 2700+ and 2800+ from AMD also run with 333 fsb clocks... if you have single clip of DDR use a via chipset... if you have 2 (dual channel ) use the new upcoming nforce2 chipset from nvidia... via benches high in single channel, nforce2 in dual channel... and both oc' pretty well

for AMD buy either the nforce2 or solutions from soyo, msi, asus or epox... these are the best/most stable boards for oc'ing and come with a lot of features... abit has dropped a little in recent times and along with gigabyte forms the next layer...

for intel buy sis first and intels own reference boards next when it comes to performance...

g.luck

 

[pothitos]

AMD 2400+ because this overclocks very nicely. Gotta make sure its water cooled though as air cooling on the xp's is a bit crap in my opinion.

Nvidia NForce 2 cuz it runs dual channel very well
asus A7n8x board. Has a nice little feature that allows you to lock the speed of the PCI and AGP slots ao when you overclock you dont have to worrk about you running the FSB too high for the PCI cards.

 

[Nick M]

If you want to go with something proven, stable, real nice for overclocking, I think you should ditch the P4 idea; and get an AMD, XP 2400 with:

Gigabyte Ga-7VRXP- Not that expensive; but now proven to be the best KT333 board you can get.

RAM: With this board; you need PC2700 DDR RAM; it's pretty fast.
If you are going to use overclocking; I suggest you get heatsinks for the ram ( Thermaltake makes pretty good ones ) and as for cooling...that new EXOS thing; that sounds pretty good.

Just...why do you need to do heavy duty overclocking? I'm curious...even for hardcore gaming; you don't need it that much.

Now the board that I told you about it's that new, or top of the line stuff anymore; so if you want more then that and have the $ I think you should look into nVidia's Nforce.

 

[pothitos]

pfffft those ram sinks dont do **** for the ram really all they do is look purrrrrdy

 

[Nick M]

When what do you suggest he use?

I don't know anything else' cept water cooling your RAM; if that is possible.

 

[Sazar]

Posted by Quiksilvah
pfffft those ram sinks dont do **** for the ram really all they do is look purrrrrdy

passive copper cooling for the ramsinks doesn't hurt... it DOES allow for better dissipation of the heat generated by oc'd ddr ram

bga ram sinks do help for vid cards though.. I can attest to that...

with water cooling you have to make sure you not only have a very good watercooling kit BUT you have to make sure you have all the seals set proper and check the setup on a regular basis... watercooling systems WILL leak regardless of how great the brand name and how brilliantly it is set up...

one of our resident oil rig engineers attested to as much...

however we are going just a touch off topic... lets just answer our m8 to the best of our abilities shall we ?

 

[a_scoundral]

Well, I have about 2.5 cents to offer you too. I have had a bit of experience in this with the death of my old rig. I have to say that OC is overrated. Sability, and performance always outweigh clockspeed.

Just look at Intel. Up until just recently, all Intel could do was look at AMD's tail lights. AMD was kicking the tar out of Intel in all the gaming benchmarks. Largely to to the fact that AMD has always had a superior floating point algorithm.

Intel chose fewer decisions per clock cycle and more clock cycles. Whereas AMD stuck with the tried and true game plan. More decisions per clock cycle, and pump up the clock cycles slowly. This means that the AMD will trounce the competition even though they operate at a slower clock speed.

Lesson: Clock Speed means BUGSQUAT!

I recommend going with a dual processor rig similar to my own. I dig Tyan, but if you want to spend less, and use a smaller case, go with the Asus. Asus and Tyan both make good boards. What most people dont know is that Intel uses Tyan boards now. Check it out for yourself. You will see I am telling you the truth. Tyan usually picks up where the competition leaves off. Most manufacturers leave off at 150 - 200 bux. Tyan picks up around 150 - 600. But you get what you pay for

Bottom line is, I dont wait to do stuff while I am doing other things. For example: I download files, update newsgoup headers, unrar filesets, rip VCD's, and play Jedi Outcast ALL AT THE SAME TIME without missing a stormtrooper! I would invite any overclocked single proc Intel boy to try and match that!

If I had to go Intel. I would get the Asus P4T533-C. Get 1GB PC1066 RDRAM, mate them with an Intel 2.8GHz processor, and get myself a ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. The only reason I would even consider Intel is for the sake of this thread, but anyway, I would do it this way because that is exactly what you would get if you bought a Voodoo EGAD.

If you can't get the best, ask for money in your stocking, and wait until you can! You will be much happier in the long run.

nuff said

 

[Taurus]

seeing as how g-lizard is trying to save money, i don't think watercooling is for him... to get a decent kit, he'll need to spend like $150. but at the same time, for a more cost-effective system, go with amd... which creates more heat. }:\

so you can get a water-cooled xp2400+ or higher... or a p4 2.53 with a decent hsf... both are probably around the same price.

if you go with amd, get one of the newer 333mhz proc's with a gigabyte 7VARXP and like 512mb of pc2700 cl2 (low-latency) memory. your processor and memory will run syncronously (333mhz) and that'll give you an extra bit of performance.

if you go intel, be sure and get a 533mhz proc and like 512mb pc1066 rdram (rambus). the asus P4T533-C is an excellent board.

 

[G-Lizard86]

Thanks you guys for all the advise...this helps me alot...i'll go and find some reviews now of the boards you mentioned....and as for the overclocking part..it's not really necessary but i kick on tweaking my computer lol.... but still can't decide whether to choose amd, better performance, lower cost but high temp...or intel, higher cost but low temps and stuff.... also i'm more known with intel....

 

[a_scoundral]

G-Lizard peep this out...

My system runs ALL the time. I even have it on a UPS and a seperate circuit in my house. *My Nerd is Showing*

Anyway, both my CPU's run at 40 degrees each, and never deviate from that temp. *Sounding like a Thermaltake commercial* Proper cooling is very important, that is why I use the Dragon ORB 3 +. 7000RPM's of dual fan cooling for each processor!

Get rounded cables, and an Antec (or Antec-like) case with all the extra fans. Promote air flow/throughput, that is the key. Water smells like bong water after a while, and they are notoriously unreliable. Case in point: my bud had his rig all overclocked and water cooled, then he sprung a leak inside his case. Fried everything but his cold cathode. Not good when it's all you can do to build it begin with. He spent months saving for it, only to watch it drown 6 months later. Water is for kewl factor. It's not worth the risk for the initial investment.

another 2.5 cents

 

[Sazar]

Posted by a_scoundral
G-Lizard peep this out...

My system runs ALL the time. I even have it on a UPS and a seperate circuit in my house. *My Nerd is Showing*

Anyway, both my CPU's run at 40 degrees each, and never deviate from that temp. *Sounding like a Thermaltake commercial* Proper cooling is very important, that is why I use the Dragon ORB 3 +. 7000RPM's of dual fan cooling for each processor!

Get rounded cables, and an Antec (or Antec-like) case with all the extra fans. Promote air flow/throughput, that is the key. Water smells like bong water after a while, and they are notoriously unreliable. Case in point: my bud had his rig all overclocked and water cooled, then he sprung a leak inside his case. Fried everything but his cold cathode. Not good when it's all you can do to build it begin with. He spent months saving for it, only to watch it drown 6 months later. Water is for kewl factor. It's not worth the risk for the initial investment.

another 2.5 cents

personally I don't like the orb coolers... don't get me wrong.. they cool pretty decent... look great and perform admirably/consistently..

but the 7000rpm lol... drives me nuts.. prefer the high end volcano series coolers since they are quieter and have good CFM..

concur about the water cooling.. there is a risk factor involved and yoiu know it is gonig to spring a leak... its just a matter of when rather than if..

 

[G-Lizard86]

still can't figure out whether to choose amd or intel....both sound good...

 

[Nick M]

AMD! AMD ! AMD! AMD ! * get's out sign; paints AMD in crayon *

Get the AMD dude.

 

[G-Lizard86]

yeah i know they perform better or just as good at lower clock speeds but i'm a bit worried about how reliable they are and about the heat.....i can't afford watercooling and i think the risk is too big....on the other hand amd is cheaper though.....

 

[Taurus]

g-lizard... unless you want your comp to be super-quiet, i'd just go with amd... you can get decent air cooling for it... and no, it doesn't have to sound like a household vacuum cleaner. as long as you do the right things, like buy a really good heatsink, arctic silver 3, some quiet case fans, and maybe a 5000rpm fan for your cpu, your temps will be fine. gotta do the right things when you biuld it, too... like making sure there's good, clean contact between the cpu and heatsink, not letting cables hang everywhere, and having a nice smooth airflow direction through your case.

 

[G-Lizard86]

I'm also thinkin bout buying a blue metallic chieftec full tower...it has three intake fans, two outtake and one on the side....should be sufficient....thinking about the AMD 2400+ and i'm gonna wait till the Nforce2 chipset is out....sounds good to me...

 

[aScoundral]

Yeah, now you are talking!!! LOL

Please always remember and don't ever forget, the early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese!

Meaning: Intel might get there first, but AMD gets there right!
(I know I just PO'ed some Intel guys, but hey facts are facts)

nForce is fast, but the *kicking myself for saying this* the 9700 Pro is putting nVidia to shame. Just another 2.5 cents.

 

[Friend of Bill]

The solution is simple. P4 CPU, Corsair XMS memory. Abit IT7 Max-2 or Asus P4S8X motherboard. Make sure you get the P4 with the C1 core stepping.

 

[G-Lizard86]

help! /me confused again...what's wrong with the nforce2 chipset?