First Amd Machine

[Ruisu]

Hello OCC!

 

I'm trying to pull off a feat here. I've budgeted $340 to build a new system (that's going to pay for s&h, too!) and I've got it all worked it, almost. I just need to know some things...

 

Is it worth the extra $30 to get a 2600+ Barton w/640k cache @ 333mhz over a 2400+ Thorton w/256k cache @ 266mhz? The Barton is going for $99.

 

I hear you can get a 2500+ to run at 3200+ speeds, is this true for the Thorton, too? And how well does the 2600+ Barton O/C?

 

Do I have to get PC3200 RAM to get a good O/C going? How low can I go?

 

For cooling I'm looking at a Thermaltake Extreme Volcano 12, it costs a third of the price of the Barton!! Will a cheap Speeze get the job done?

 

What's more important good RAM or a good heatsink?

 

My MOBO's going to be Chaintech 7NJL6 with the nforce2 Ultra 400 Northbridge & MCPS on the south. What kind of performance degradation will I be inflicting if I don't buy an ATA/133 HD and just stick an old ATA/66 in there?

 

As for the rest I already have a GeForceFX 5200... & an old HD? maybe?

So, if I had the Barton and the 5200, think I'll be able to play HL2 or other new games?

 

I know they're a lot of questions so thanks for reading & responding

 

BTW I'm comming from a PIII @ 900mhz it took 1m 08s to run superPI @ 1M.

Am I in for a mindblowing difference, should I be this excited

Edited October 11, 2004 by Ruisu

[suchuwato]

i wouldnt say mind blowing, but not bad

[BabyBalrog]

Nice gains that you'll notice in games the most.

 

As far as Ocing, make sure you pair thigns up, if you're jsut goign to OC the Thorton a bit then get cheeper 3200 but if you plan on Ocing the Barton then get a bit better ram, not budget ram. The stock coolers shoudl be ok for most of those parts, as far as HDD go jsut use what you have, and make sure your system has 512 RAm and you shoudl be ok

[asus]

ahh.. why are you skipping from a 2400+ to a 2600. lol.. you skipped over the 2500 barton.. the best AMD.. out there i would go with the 2500+ it hase great overclocking potential

[cybergrunt69]

I'm not too good in the details of a "really good" OC, but I'd opt for a better CPU cooler than the better quality RAM.

 

Also, if you get the volcano, you might also want either earplugs or a good speaker system to counter-act it...

[Ruisu]

To babybalrog:

 

Thanks. Wow, okay. I thought I'd need some powerful cooling to keep things stable... I have a habit of leaving my computer on for months and don't want a burn out. I forgot to ask, how much life does OC'ing take off of a CPU? Is it the OC'ing in general or extra high temps? If it's the extra high temps I want to be as cool as possible.

 

To Asus:

 

Thanks, simply because they don't sell it over at tiger.

 

To cybergrunt69:

 

Thanks. Lol, about the volcano (don't worry it's got variable control). But that contradicts babybalrog, what's the real deal?

Edited October 11, 2004 by Ruisu

[cybergrunt69]

Supposedly, OC'ing shouldn't reduce the life of your machine as long as it operates within it's "accepted" heat limits.

 

I don't even bother hooking up the variable control on my cpu fan anymore - since the box is running either folding or seti, it's gonna run at the highest setting anyway...

 

 

[edit]

I couldn't tell ya squat about which cores OC better - I'll just shut up about that part to avoid looking like a bigger dumbazz than I usually do... I'll let someone here who knows what they're talking about handle that part of it.

Edited October 11, 2004 by cybergrunt69