NF4 SLI-DR Component Recommendations?

[TomT]

I have been considering the Asus A8N-SLI Premium and DFI LANParty NF4 SLI-DR boards, and am pretty much ready to go with the DFI.

 

Building a new system, I will be installing an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo cpu and using my two Western Digital Raptor 74GB drives, raid 0.

 

I am looking for advice/recommendations on:

 

2gb DDR ram

video card (single for now) perhaps nVidia 6800GT w/2 dvi

psu

cpu cooler

 

I plan on installing XP Pro sp2.

 

Any advice on installation as well as memory, etc. would be greatly appreciated. I have looked over the posts on installation, and it appears one needs to be quite careful in getting everything set up properly.

 

Thanks for any advice,

 

Tom

[teknical]

since your getting all that bang

 

might as well get either a EVGA or XFX 7800gt

 

PSU i would get a OCZ Powerstream 600w

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10854

 

and CPU cooler.....a XP-120 with PANAFLOW Ultra High SPEEDD!!!

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23259

 

 

and about the ram....im not good with 2gb ram so ask someone else lololol

[Arboleda]

Some of this advice has become cliche to those who've been around here for awhile (me only for about a month!) but here goes:

 

1 - There's a PSU sticky floating around here. READ IT AND GET A PSU from that recommended list!!!

 

2 - CPU Cooler: Assuming you're going air, the XP90's are probably the most popular around here followed by the XP120's / SI120's (I just ordered one). You might google a review on some of these. I've found reviews where dozens of heatsinks are compared by cooling ability and noise level which are probably the two main decision factors for you (whether you want aggressive cooling at high noise levels, minimal cooling at near-silent levels, etc). Obviously you want the best cooling that you can tolerate from a noice perspective for overclocking.

 

3 - I haven't done 2GB RAM on DFI boards yet. Someone else will chime in. Alternatively, look at what people in the overclocking database thread who have 2GB have used. At least you know they experienced success.

 

4 - VC: I'm not a heavy gamer, others will chime in. The general feeling is that dual video cards in SLI is not worth it from a hassles perspective or a cost benefit perspective. Put your money in the single best video card you're willing to pay for.

 

In general, be prepared for more troubleshooting and tweeking than you experience on other brands that tend to be more plug-n-play. However, nothing (I mean it) overclocks like a DFI. Welcome to the club!

[tweak50]

For the GC the XGX 6800GT is awesome. Its easily overclockable, but if you can spend the money and get the 7800gt it would deffinatly be worth it. If you plan on doing heavy gaming, one of these two cards is the way to go.

[davidhammock200]

PSU Guide: http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10854

 

Heatsink Guide: http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread...4494#post224494

 

Where to Shop Guide: http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24392

 

Good Luck,

Dave

[pro7070]

Here's a good recommendation for your memory

 

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.p...673&postcount=9

[ajones]

Just popped 2Gb OCZ PC4000 Gold in last night. Sooooooo much easier to get working than my 1Gb Corsair XMS memory was (TwinX 1024 XLPT - had to play with timings, voltage etc). Just a quick (*cof) clearing of the BIOS, set to defaults, and bingo! Works like a charm (ok, running slow at the moment with stock timings and at DDR400, but not too bothered about that atm)

 

Seen some threads peppered around various boards that XFX cards are problematic, but I've been buying them since my GF5200 (please don't wince!) days with no worries at all. The 6800GT I'm using now is a dream, but with your setup wouldn't you like one of those nice spanky 7800s?

 

Think I may have had a dodgy Tagan 480-U01 which was replaced with the OCZ unit. No regrets with that swap either, very stable now (if a *little* more noisy).

 

Using Zalman HSF. Hovering in the low 40s under load at stock speeds, but then this is Blighty, so far from a tropical climate!

[TomT]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I am looking for as simple a start up as possible (since this will be the system I do all my work on), and I'll get into fiddling with settings later on.

 

With that in mind, I'm hoping to find ram that will work well right off the bat. Sounds like the Crucial Ballistix would be a good choice....

 

Are there any special considerations for bios, and os installation when using the dual core cpu's?

 

Thanks again for your help

[davidhammock200]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I am looking for as simple a start up as possible (since this will be the system I do all my work on), and I'll get into fiddling with settings later on.

 

With that in mind, I'm hoping to find ram that will work well right off the bat. Sounds like the Crucial Ballistix would be a good choice....

 

Are there any special considerations for bios, and os installation when using the dual core cpu's?

 

Thanks again for your help

I prefer the OCZ RAM & we have GREAT direct support from OCZ right on the forum, too! :nod:

 

Yes, you will probably need to update the BIOS for X2 dual core.

 

You will want to slip-stream XP & SP2 with the drivers for OS installation, use search, the info is here.

 

Good Luck,

Dave

[TomT]

I prefer the OCZ RAM & we have GREAT direct support from OCZ right on the forum, too! :nod:

 

Yes, you will probably need to update the BIOS for X2 dual core.

 

You will want to slip-stream XP & SP2 with the drivers for OS installation, use search, the info is here.

 

Good Luck,

Dave

 

Do you mean the OCZ5002048ELGE ram?

 

Are you also suggesting slipstreaming the mb specific drivers with the XP install? I already have XP sp2 ready, but that's all.

 

Thanks

[jlissandrello]

I follow the website, www.tweakguides.com, pretty closely and he put together a guide on what to select for components. I used it to put together my machine and it is awesome. Other than a bad HDD when I first started putting it together, it's running like a fine tuned machine. All the temps are great, all the games I've put on it run great, and he explains all of his decisions. Check it out at http://www.tweakguides.com/Hardcon_1.html

[TomT]

I follow the website, www.tweakguides.com, pretty closely and he put together a guide on what to select for components. I used it to put together my machine and it is awesome. Other than a bad HDD when I first started putting it together, it's running like a fine tuned machine. All the temps are great, all the games I've put on it run great, and he explains all of his decisions. Check it out at http://www.tweakguides.com/Hardcon_1.html

 

Thanks very much for the info. Do you have any tips to avoid problems with the HD and dual core setup?

 

It appears your system is pretty similar to what I plan to build.