i need some advice

[Wetchaser]

my system has gotten real buggy, and reformatting really didnt do the trick. I can not overclock anymore as it locks up fairly quickly under stress. Im at the point of tearing it apart, and starting from scratch. I have a lanparty to attend in about a month, so i have to get moving on whatever i do. Im seriously considering grabbing a e-machine from best buys that i know works great with a new vid card and psu. Entire rig can be had for under a grand, and all parts can be here in less then a week. I know this is a cop out of sorts, but as i sit here looking at my highdollar rig, wires everywere from trying to get it to boot this morning, im definatly thinking easy way out. The p4 even when it was overclocked could not touch the amd3500 my son has in his e-machine. F'ing sad.

[lowboy]

why not just PU a 3500 and a lanparty board as the OC ability of oems suck and have weak power supplies if it were me i'd get X2 3800+ and LP board.

[Smoken Joe]

You can always overclock the P4 to keep it from overheating :shake: I actualy have my old P4 underclocked it really doesnt hurt performance that much.

 

You really are never going to be able to compete with an intel rig unless it is an overclocked EE. I would just get a 748 if you are low on cash or buy a whole new system with an ultraD and some good memoy I dont know what kind yours is for sure. I dont like buying stuff on ebay but it is sure nice dumping your old stuff there.

[Angry_Games]

the Lanparty NF3 250Gb is the only board I truly consider "bulletproof" (and Rgone, Roadie, Thunda, and many others agree). I feel it is possibly the best board ever put on the market by any company (my previous favorite was the Asus A7V KT133 as it is still in service as are every other A7V I ever had my hands in).

 

a 3400+ Clawhammer cpu (1MB L2, 2400Mhz) or whatever the new cores are now (Newark?) and the NF3 250Gb Lanparty board will work perfect with every other piece of hardware you have (remember...I had your rig for a couple of weeks so I got good idea of what is in there heh)

 

your power supply is still top notch, and the NF3 only requires a 20-pin (my Fortron 530w is powering my NF3 250Gb).

 

Your ATI X850XT PE is still a very very good card (my gf still has the X850XT PE and I can guarantee its still a worthy card and you don't need any upgrading yet)

 

your hdd's are still great, and will work on the NF3

 

that TCCD is sorta exactly what the NF3 and NF4 Lanparty boards were built for lol...you should check through the Overclocking Database and the AMD - Overclocking section to see just how good some good TCCD is on these boards...

 

here's some good choices for cpu's...Mobile cpu's like Newark and Turion require a bolt-thru heatsink like the Thermalright SLK-948U for aircooling or most any waterblock like DangerDen TDX and Swiftech Storm etc.

 

Clawhammer, Newcastle, and Sempron cpu's have IHS so any standard air/water cooler that fits on a 754/939 socket will work.

 

AMD Turion64 MT-40 2.2GHz 25W 1MB L2 (754) Mobile (Lancaster core):

 

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/m...8&AFFIL=pg&NR=1

 

 

 

 

AMD Turion 64 ML-40 2.2GHz 35W 1MB (754) Mobile (Lancaster core):

 

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/m...2&AFFIL=pg&NR=1

 

 

 

4000+ Mobile 754 1MB L2, 2.6Ghz (Newark core...this is an FX-55 on socket 754 basically...):

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819104257

 

 

 

 

now these are still very nice at 2400Mhz

 

Athlon64 Clawhammer 3400+ (2.2Ghz, 1MB L2, socket754):

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819103427

 

 

 

Athlon64 Newcastle (512k L2, 754, 2400Mhz):

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....Submit=Property

 

I have one of these...so does CPU Killer from DangerDen...neither of us can get them (and they are originals remember...newer ones might be better who knows) to overclock even 100Mhz...but at 2400Mhz they are still plenty fast, faster than a Pentium4 at 3Ghz for sure, especially for gaming.

 

there's a plethora of cpu choices for 754...always keep in mind that the only difference between 754 and 939 cpu's is dual channel memory controller...and just like the AthlonXP cpu, there's very little difference in single channel and dual channel (remember the difference on the NF2 was between 3% and 6%).

 

Athlon64 and Sempron cpu's are superior in design and honestly, I cannot tell the difference on my 754 and 939 setups at the same cpu speeds...and I've been able to cross-test this with a 939+AGP motherboard (Lanparty 939 Ultra-D NF3 AGP), and a 754+PCI-Express motherboard (DFI NF4X Infinity 754 PCI-E) so I've been able to get the best overview of all the differences...and to tell the truth...there's not much difference.

 

My 754 Sempron cpu's are crazy overclockers, but they start out waaaay down at 1600 and 1800mhz so getting them up to 2600Mhz is pretty cool...but its a lot of work with 8x and 9x multipliers lol.

 

My Turion Mobile ML-32 35w 754 512k L2 is a piece of junk overclocker...or I have still not figured out how to overclock the damn thing...but it is absolutely not a good clocker...yet if you check around these and other forums, other ML Mobile Turion cpu's seem to be decent.

 

Then look at the mobile Clawhammer and mobile Newark cpu's...the 4000+ Mobile (Newark) at newegg is the most interesting as it is pretty much an FX-55 cpu that only does single-channel and doesn't have adjustable-upwards multiplier...but when your stock speed is 2600Mhz (an FX-55's stock speed), it really isn't a concern as you only have to do about 215x13 to hit 2800Mhz (if it will do 2800Mhz...thats a toss-up as we all know...but it has the possibility...and if not...well sheesh 2600-2700 is pretty fantastic anyway).

 

anyway....thats the best move into the A64 world without blowing some serious cash (for new PCI-E card that you DONT NEED because your X850 is still awesome).

 

blowing a grand on an Emachine....yuk.

 

Blowing half that or less to get an even faster rig than you had...booyah.

 

 

 

 

also...I would consider selling that TCCD and getting yourself some 2GB kit of OCZ, Gskill, Ballistix...something good, especially with a 90nm 754 cpu...2GB is really needed for today's games, and there's no worries about loose timings or using dividers these days with A64 cpu's...

 

that Gskill kit you got would do great in the NF3, or it would do great in someone else's motherboard so you could get into a 2GB kit

 

 

 

 

 

anyway...just my suggestions. Sorry to see the Intel setup kinda bumming out =(

[smolt]

yeap theres just no way to go wrong with a NF3 250GB UT

[Wetchaser]

so far this is what i have,

 

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?...N82E16813136147

 

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?...N82E16819104257

 

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?...N82E16820145509

 

Nothings been ordered yet, but as soon as my parts list is finalized, im ordering everything.

 

Watercooling sounds cool, and with this cpu i think its a must have do to the fragile nature of chip. Please point me in right direction to obtain it. Not sure how its going to work with this case, but i guess ill just have to figure that part out.

 

Also, comcast guy put his pen in the rear fan of my PSU. (He was leaning over back of case when installing my free wireless router, that ended up being a pos) I opened psu, and removed damaged fan, but did not have one that fit inside it. So i stole from peter to pay paul and mounted one on the outside of psu that keeps air moving like it should. Anyone know were i can get the proper replacment fan? Right now i can not mount psu as fan is screwed directly to back of psu. Fan was only 1/8 to 3/16 to thick to fit inside psu..grrr. But it is plugged into psu like original.

[Angry_Games]

erm...

 

here's some memory I highly suggest...

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....Submit=Property

 

the EL's and GX are about $100 less than the Corsair...and go look in the Stock Speed Database and the Overclocking Database and see how many times I've added these EL, EB and now GX kits

[Angry_Games]

Also, comcast guy put his pen in the rear fan of my PSU. (He was leaning over back of case when installing my free wireless router, that ended up being a pos) I opened psu, and removed damaged fan, but did not have one that fit inside it. So i stole from peter to pay paul and mounted one on the outside of psu that keeps air moving like it should. Anyone know were i can get the proper replacment fan? Right now i can not mount psu as fan is screwed directly to back of psu. Fan was only 1/8 to 3/16 to thick to fit inside psu..grrr. But it is plugged into psu like original.

 

get ahold of Fortron

 

tell them you need a replacement internal fan for your model of psu. They'll either sell you one, or send you one for free, or tell you an aftermarket fan that will work.

[Angry_Games]

Watercooling sounds cool, and with this cpu i think its a must have do to the fragile nature of chip. Please point me in right direction to obtain it. Not sure how its going to work with this case, but i guess ill just have to figure that part out.

 

contact CPU Killer at these forums, or send me an email and I'll give you his email address. He works for Danger Den, and will help you the same way we help you here at the Street. He visits the street regularly (he's at CES in Vegas right now) and will take care of your needs...but I am pretty sure he will tell you that you need a new case to accept watercooling well, or will tell you you'll need to modify the heck out of the one you have.

 

And if you still have the same one as when I had your system, I am going to instantly suggest that you look into a new case lol. That one is just too compact for a water setup.

 

If you want one of the best...look no further than the Coolermaster Stacker

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16811119042

 

or

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16811119039

 

or

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16811119092

 

 

 

There's plenty of good watercooling cases...but I think a good chunk of us have one, and those of us that do have one...would not want to go back to anything else...its like living in a real house...a nice big house...you can't imagine yourself having to move back into a ghetto 1.5 bedroom house with only a stand-up shower and no covered parking lol.

[Wetchaser]

Thankyou for the response, i will get right on all 3 subjects. Of course im going to get the ram your recommending. Old ram will go into kids e-machine. The EB is out of stock, so ill get the GX unless you think i should just use my old ram till the EB is back in stock. The stuff is in demand as some one posted about still waiting for it to get back in stock on the 31'st of December, and it still shows it out of stock. Must be da stuff!

 

Man that case may be just little large, lol. Psu goes on the bottom? Wierd.

[Angry_Games]

the GX is great stuff, slightly better timings than the EL, and I really like the new heatspreaders...much lighter (meaning they are much easier to cool lol).

 

I'd go with the GX if you got a hole burning in your pocket

 

if you want, we can ask AndyOCZ if he can find out when some EB will be in stock at some places...but I'd honestly get the GX or EL and then go for some decent watercooling

[Wetchaser]

As far as money burning in my pocket, im still thinking about the last lanparty i went to and the guy next to me had 5 drives on his raid. BF2 loaded so fast. I mean what else is there that could possibly make this build any faster? Without going sli or x2 that would would be the only thing right?

 

SLI gpu, and x2 cpu chips really do not impress me as far as dollar to speed ratio differance. I really feel both technoliges need to make some more magic before its worth it.