DrMekon Posted February 7, 2006 Posted February 7, 2006 After 2 months of deliberating.. Ive decided to take the plunge and get a new rig!!! This all started because of the Opteron frenzy over the past months, when I had, and took the oportunity of getting a 146 CABNE 0545BPMW (maybe not the best week, but Ive still seen nothing but good results with this particular release). My choices are: DFI Expert: Im not new to overclocking, however, no expert either. This does seem like a very advanced board, but I am keen to get my hands on it, and see what I can do with it!! My only other contenders were the MSI Diamond Plus, or maybe the ASUS A8N32. The Expert however, stood out above both of these!! 2gb ]Mushkin Redline XP 4000: First choice where the Crucial Ballistix PC4000 however, after reading many many posts in many forums about their failures, I have chosen to stay away from them. However, the Redline also seem to be a great kit, with potential to hit DDR560, or lower with tighter timings, hopefully helping me to hit 2.8ghx with my Opty!! OCZ ModStream 520 or OCZ PowerStream 520: I really need to have some good cable management, dont want wires all over the place, so maybe the modular?? ATi X1900XT: Have thought long and hard about this!! Dont think I could afford SLI, and the buy one now, get one later approach doesnt really appeal to me. I would rather go for the best I can afford at the time, even though going ATi would prevent me running dual vga at a later date. For £350, this card just beats the 7800gtx512 which is £500+, so this is a no brainer for me, even though Nvidia are due for new release next month. The 7800gtx256 is almost same price as the X1900XT and is way behind it... Coolermaster Stacker 810: Great airflow, plenty of space.. not really any other choice that I liked, other than the TT Armour, but this had dual 12cm fans at rear!! Arctic Freezer 64 Pro: Still not too sure about this one, but it has good reviews everywhere I have seen, and it is quite cheap compared to others... so I may as well give it a go. I usually like to get a HS and fan combo, so I can choose my own fan, and run it with a controller. My current cooler/fan combo sounds like a vacuum cleaner when on full, so I want a quieter option!! Can always opt for an XP120!! Think thats about it.. for the main compnents.. would love any suggestions, comments or alternatives before I order, possibly on thursday/friday!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bp1019 Posted February 7, 2006 Posted February 7, 2006 Top notch stuff, the only thing I would do different is get the G Skill Extreme 2G kit, but thats just my opinion. Everything else is excellent. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dynamic Posted February 7, 2006 Posted February 7, 2006 Does the Artic Freezer work better then the XP-90c? I mean if a HS has copper heatpipes it would be best to go with that, i would think. Awesome choices, but shoot for a higher powered PSU, unless you're running into money issues, i have the OCZ 520 Mod and it's been working just fine with my overclock, but i would shoot for something better if you decide to go crossfire later on. We can go crossfire with these SLI boards, correct? Note:Always remember to do your research for your memory and other important components, good luck..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bp1019 Posted February 7, 2006 Posted February 7, 2006 The Freezer 64 Pro performs about the same as the XP-90C, Big Typhoon, and Zalman 9500 and is quite a bit cheaper and much lighter. It is a great cooler from the reviews I have read. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrMekon Posted February 7, 2006 Posted February 7, 2006 We can go crossfire with these SLI boards, correct? Unfortunately not....!! SLI for Nvidia boards, and Crossfire for ATi... there are none currently that would allow both pairs to be run.. if only!!! IMO crossfire boards are very new, and have teething problems.. I personally dont like them, SLI, particularly Nforce are far superior in both features and capabilities... Ive been looking for decent mem for a while, and these Mushkins seem to have great reviews from every site I have seen them on... tight timings at DDR400, and capable of pushing in excess of 280mhz with looser timings... http://anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2676&p=8 http://www.ocprices.com/index.php?rev_id=2...&action=reviews http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Mushkin/XP4000-2GB/2 The G.Skill, from most reviews dont quite make the 280mhz... nor are they quite as tight at lower speeds... not seen that much about them.... http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/GSkill/4000-2GBHZ/2 Will consider a 600w... do the powerstream have cable management, ie., not seperate wires which end up going all over your internals!! You dont seem to get many modular cables with the modstream...?? Thanks for you input......!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
xanskeet Posted February 8, 2006 Posted February 8, 2006 First, I would go with 2GB of G Skill Extreme Series. This ram is so great. Cheap aswel.. For the PSU i prefer a FSP Epsilon 600 Watt. Great PSU Lastly i dont prefer ATI Cards. I have had a bad experiance with them . I like my 2 eVGa 7800's . But if you dont have the money i guess get something that you like. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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