Suggestions on Setup?

[MRZigzz]

Hello, I'm planning on building a system specificly for all the games in the Unreal Tournament series and overclocking. Plus I'm trying to keep the system around 1000 US (Newegg).

Here it is the core pieces:

ABIT "NF7-S2G" nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket A CPU -RETAIL

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ "Barton", 400MHz FSB, 512K Cache Processor - Retail

SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9800 PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -BULK -OEM

Corsair Value Select (Dual Pack) 184 Pin 1G(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 - OEM

Total: $652.00 US

Adding in the other stuff for it (optics, HD, case, etc.) comes to : $946.00 US

Now, I'm not planning on upgrading this system till the socket 939's drop down a fair bit. I'm not sure on the mobo or the memory (suggestions is greatly appriciated, though I am set on the proccessor and video card). Another thing that's not added in is cooling, which I can't decide on, water (effective, expensive) or fan (noise, cheap).

Suggestions? Thanks.
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[Yawgm0th]

Re: Suggestions on Setup?

Getting a Mobile processor with a third-party HSF and overclocking it to hell might yield even better results than just getting a retail 3200 and OCing it. It would certainly be cheaper. You'll also want PC3500 RAM. I'd suggest cheking out this thread for more on this. Particularly, the RAM, HSF, and processor I've chosen.

[MRZigzz]

Re: Suggestions on Setup?

At that price, I might as well get the Athlon XP 3200+ and the Mobile Athlon XP 2500+. I got another A socket somewhere in my room, I can set up both. BTW, did you ever find out about the L12 wire thing? If it's worth it or not?

[Yawgm0th]

Re: Suggestions on Setup?

No, but the articles were pretty self-explanatory. When either myself or my friend actually get this, I'll do it whether or not someone over there tells me anything. It seems it may be necessary to stay stable over 200FSB. If that means an OC as high as 2.8GHz, I'd say it's worth it.

If you have another motherboard, getting both wouldn't be a bad idea. See how far you can get the multiplier-locked 3200, and then try with the unlock multiplier 2500. Then just use whichever ends up performing worse in the extra mtherboard. Just make sure you swap heatsinks when doing this as the retail HSF won't do as much as the thermaltake. Also be sure to get enough thermal compound for both of them.

[MRZigzz]

Re: Suggestions on Setup?

Unfortunetely, even if I do get the mobile athlon first, I'll be stuck with slow memory, an old (like, six years) mobo, and a lame graphics card (fans pretty much shot, got to find another to put on it). I might be able to get the processor in a few weeks, though it's slim to none of me actually spending to get it, what's the point of getting one part when everything else will bottle-neck it? I much appriciated the knowledge

[Yawgm0th]

Re: Suggestions on Setup?

Assuming your mobo has multiplier controls, you could just up the multi of it. It only runs at 266, just like PC2100 RAM, so you can overclock it with the multiplier before you even get some nice PC3500 RAM.