Upgrade Headaches

[blaznee]

Well, as my sig says, I'm currently with a 3500 Winchester and a pair of 512mb Ballistix modules...

 

I'm at the brink of an upgrade, but I'm not too sure which way to go, and come to you guys for help :-)..

 

Basically it started out with me wanting to upgrade to 2 gigs of memory (I'm a gamer).. Because I have had TONS of problems getting a stable overclock above fsb218*10 with my "wonderful" Ballistix modules, I kinda thought I'd just get some cheapo Value memory 2*1GB modules and leave it at that for now until AM2 platforms come out..

But then I spotted 2*512 Ballistix modules at a very nice price, so I'd end up with 4*512 modules, buuuut is that really a good idea? Even without overclocking?

 

Anyways, I then started to think that maybe I should upgrade my CPU as well. I have heard a lot of nice things about the Opteron 165, but also that you really need to OC it because of it's relatively low mhz rating...

 

But now I'm stuck! Should I just go for 2*1gb valueram and leave it at that? Or should I go for the Opteron and a pair of performance modules? Any ideas for a set of 1 gig ram sticks that'll give me a nice easy OC on an Opteron? I don't need to squeeze every last mhz out of it, just to make it go like 2.2/2.3 ghz.. (It's 1.8 standard)

 

Thanks for ANY help recieved..

[red930]

Well, if you're planning on getting an Opteron 165 then why don't you go for the G.SKILL F1 PC4000 3448 2.6-2.8 Rated DDR500 250MHz. You can get that Opteron to 250x9 1:1 with memory at 3448 running 2.6v no problem. I have that ram and i just made a purchase on that particular Opteron, so we'll see what happens on Friday!

 

BTW, You won't notice to much of a performance boost since your gfx card is outdated. If you plan on playing games at higher resolutions with AA/AF on than i would advise you to get a better video card as well. Yeah, i know so much bs to go through just to play games now and days, it's just the way it is bro..good luck!

[blaznee]

Thanx for the reply..

 

I'm ofcourse updating my graphics as well, I just didn't think it would influence my memory/cpu choice, so I left that out.. I'm going for an XFX 7900GT XXX edition..

[Angry_Games]

please read rule #9 and fill in your location.

[supershanks]

Trepid seems to have had some luck running 4x512mb Ballistix 3200 NF4 SLI-D - Crucial Memory Problem? I used ballistix 3200 in my old 754 rifg was pretty good ran well @ 228 2.5,3,3,6 2.7v.

 

Might be worth trying it with the new CPU then if it's no good upgrade as Mack27 suggests. Must admit a winnie 3500+ was my 2nd AMD64 Cpu & was a disappointment. max i got was 245x11 stable.

 

luck

[blaznee]

Well, I have come down to three performance memory choices, anyone care to point me in the right direction when paired with an Opteron 165?

 

(Sorry for the Danish language links, but you should be able to make out the specs for the modules)

 

G.Skill Extreme Series DDR I PC4000 3-4-4-8 Dual Channel

Mushkin Extreme Performance Black Series Dual Pack

OCZ Enhanced Latency Gold Gamer eXtreme XTC Edition Dual

 

I'd rather have an easy stable overclock at maybe 2.5ghz with low latency, than a 2.8/2.9 ghz push-it-to-the-limit OC with high latency..

[blaznee]

Seems that the Mushkin and OCZ both have Samsung UCCD chips, but I have not been able to figure out what the G.Skill's have, so at least until I know for sure the that have UCCD's or perhaps Winbond UTT CH-5, they are off..

 

The Mushkin's are 35 dollars cheaper for a 2 gig set, but the OCZ's look a little nicer.. Looking at the OC database here, I see a few good Mushkin OC's, so I guess those are "in the lead" unless I hear something fantastic about the 2 other brands..

 

I also see that most people here pick Opteron 170's.. Can anyone tell me why? Isn't it the exact same core as the 165's just clocked a little higher? Or am I missing something critical here? The price difference is quite noticable, so I haven't really given the 170 any thoughts..