First Build

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prestermatt
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2006 4:41 pm
Location: Minnesota

First Build

Post by prestermatt » Thu Nov 09, 2006 3:41 pm

This is my first post here, though I've been reading through the forums for a while.

I've been planning to replace my decrepit Dimension 2100 for a while, and when the SOLO went on sale at Fry's I couldn't pass it up, since that's the case I was looking at. Anyway, now I've got this case sitting in my room, and I need to fill it up. Can you help me nail down the components?

This computer is going to be for playing older games, so I don't need the latest and greatest equipment. (I'm usually a couple of years behind or more, since I don't buy games until they're $20 or less.) I'm upgrading from a 900mhz celeron, PCI graphics, and Windows ME, so my standards are fairly low. I won't be doing any multitasking, and I won't be playing any games that can make use of a dual-core processor for a couple years at least, so I don't see any reason to pay for dual-core. They'll be plenty cheap by the time I need one.

Also, I don't need *super* quiet, just an improvement over my very loud Dell.

My current plan is to get an Athlon 3500+, 1GB of 667 ram, and a Seasonic S12-380. I've got a passable hard drive, and I hope to reuse the optical drive and floppy drive in my current computer. Eventually, I plan to get a Gigabyte 7600gt or similar passively cooled card.

While I welcome comments on all of the parts, my main issues right now are the motherboard and heatsink/fan. How noisy is the stock AM2 cooler? Quiet enough for a beginner like me who doesn't need super quiet? I'd rather not pay a lot for 3rd party cooling if I don't have to.

As for the motherboard, I am looking for ATX with firewire support so I can connect it to my powerbook if need be. I am considering one of the $80ish Gigabyte boards at Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... rchInDesc=

Does anyone see any problems with these? Other recommendations? I might be willing to settle on a board without firewire and getting an add-on card if necessary.

Finally, any general thoughts or comments? Thanks!

Matt

p.s. Am I going to need any intake fans with this set-up?

stupid
Posts: 544
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2005 2:21 pm
Location: NYC, NY

Post by stupid » Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:05 am

The only significant comment I can make is that socket AM2 Athlons needs DDR2 800 RAM to keep pace with socket 939 Athlons of the same model using DDR 400 RAM. I believe it was Anandtech.com who wrote that article. Using DDR2 667 RAM will probably lower overall performance by 5%. Of course you can always overclock the RAM to DDR2 800 equivalence.

I can't comment on the stock Athlon fans since I own a Core 2 Duo.

trudodyr
Posts: 21
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2006 8:15 am

Post by trudodyr » Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:40 am

stupid wrote:The only significant comment I can make is that socket AM2 Athlons needs DDR2 800 RAM to keep pace with socket 939 Athlons of the same model using DDR 400 RAM. I believe it was Anandtech.com who wrote that article. Using DDR2 667 RAM will probably lower overall performance by 5%. Of course you can always overclock the RAM to DDR2 800 equivalence.
Not quite. To cite this article:
"From a broad perspective, memory bandwidth and latency of DDR400 was matched by DDR2 at a speed of just over DDR2-533. Put another way, DDR2-533 provides equivalent bandwidth and latency to DDR400 on this 4th spin of AM2. DDR2-667 provided a bit better performance, and DDR2-800 3-3-3 provided a 12% improvement (lower number) in Latency over DDR400 and a 13.3% to 28.6% improvement in bandwidth depending on the memory benchmark used."
The performance differences between 667 and 800 DDR2 in real world applications are negligible, though.

stromgald
Posts: 887
Joined: Wed Jun 09, 2004 12:45 pm
Location: California, US

Re: First Build

Post by stromgald » Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:22 am

You could probably get away without any intake fans at first. Unless you have three or more hard drives, I wouldn't consider an intake fan. A 3rd party heatsink/fan doesn't have to be very expensive. Look for AM2 compatible Arctic Cooling products. They range from about $15-30.

Here's a link to one for $14 at FrozenCPU. It won't be as quiet as a big Thermalright or Scythe heatsink, but it'll be quieter than the stock cooler.

For the motherboard, just find something that's stable, from a reputable company, and doesn't have a fan on the chipset.

prestermatt
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2006 4:41 pm
Location: Minnesota

Post by prestermatt » Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:29 am

Thanks for the comments!

prestermatt
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2006 4:41 pm
Location: Minnesota

Post by prestermatt » Sun Nov 19, 2006 3:23 pm

How about the MSI K9N Platinum? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813130049

The northbridge seems to get pretty hot. I wouldn't be overclocking, but I would like to use a Gigabyte 7600gt, which would cover part of the heatsink. Would that create any problems?

stromgald
Posts: 887
Joined: Wed Jun 09, 2004 12:45 pm
Location: California, US

Post by stromgald » Mon Nov 20, 2006 10:16 am

prestermatt wrote:How about the MSI K9N Platinum? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813130049

The northbridge seems to get pretty hot. I wouldn't be overclocking, but I would like to use a Gigabyte 7600gt, which would cover part of the heatsink. Would that create any problems?
As long as they don't physically conflict for space and you have decent airflow in the area (make sure you have a 92mm intake fan on the front of the SOLO), then it will be OK. Something like a 92mm Nexus would be good.

Those are two hot heatsinks in one small area. Without airflow, you'll get serious heat buildup. You might not overheat, but you'll be running pretty hot if you don't have that intake fan.

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