Need Advice for new PC

BKtje

That time has come again where im looking to buy a new gaming pc.
While i am looking for a top of the range pc i wouldn't say that money is no object.

I realise that there are a lot of threads like this but id really appreciate any help that you can offer.
So far the specs below are what i have come up with. All prices are excluding VAT.

Case/Cooling:
Prometeia Mach 2 / Vapochill XE -( approx €650 from watercooliong.de)

Can any one make any other suggestions or help me decide which to get.

Motherboard:
MSI K8N NEO -(€120 from overclockers.co.uk)

Saw this reviewed about a month ago and was impressed. Can anyone recommend a beter one for me?

CPU
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.2 GHz Socket 754, 512 KB cache, OEM -(€210 from komplett)

While i realise that AMD64 chips are not great for overclocking, i do hope to get some overclocking done with it. ANnsuggestions?

Memory
1gb of Corsair Value S. PC3200 DDR-DIMM - (€160-Komplett)
Considering that i hope to do some overclocking, would this be suibtable?

PSU
PSU/True Blue 480 PGB 12V AC 480W ATX with BLUE LED Fan -(€70)
Right after reading the thread that explosive_cornflae posted, ive decided to go with this antec one. Again suggestions welcome
GFX
9700pro that i bought last year.

Basically thats the system that im considering. Id be very grateful if people could offer their opinions and what to change. Thanks.

Explosive_Cornflake

All seems good, just read this thread about PSU's

BKtje

Ah right, thanks

neokenzo

If you want to overclock, I think its better if you get a higher memory than the PC3200. You should be getting the PC3500 or the PC3700.

Woden

also it would be a same to just put value ram in a rig like that, i've decided you have loads of money if you are getting a vapochill so you should get some nice ram that can do decent timings at least CAS 2.0.

with regards to motherboards for the A64 and overclocking just make sure you get one that has a working agp/pci lock, its only a recent enough thing on socket 754 boards.

anandtech did a round up of some socket 754 motherboards recently might be worth a look

http://www.anandtech.com/chipsets/showdoc.html?i=2063

the antec is a good psu, i have one and it holds its rails real well under load and overclocking

BKtje

hehe dataisgod i dont have loads of money. I just decided a long time ago to get a vapo and im gonna go through with it even if it means living on bread and water for a while.

I was looking at overclockers.co.uk and they had high quality ram on special for the summer,

Corsair 512MB DDR XMS3200C2PT Platinum CAS2 (MY-007-CS) £90 per 512 ex vat(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Corsair_XMS.html)

That would be better would it?

Reason i went with pc3200 is that the board only supports 400mhz speeds but i suppose if im overcloking there wouldnt be much point in looking at the mobo specs too closely

Gonna have a gander at anandtech now, cheers.

Col_Loki

The AMD64 boards are well able to take advantage of faster memory. The chips are lower multiplier unlocked which means you can run with high FSB and lower multiplier......... ie you can run your Ram at high speeds.
It also doesent suffer any memory performance decrease by running the RAM out of sync with FSB (like P4's and XP's do).
The AMD64 boards are hitting 300mhz FSB+ in some cases. You have to choose bandwidth v memory timings.......... heres an excellent thread with reviews etc http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=158114&highlight=timings


Like Data said a HUGE thing to watch out for in your case is a working AGP/PCI lock. You might aswell have a crappy stock cooler if your overclocking without one. The new NF250 boards are due out round now, that would be a very wise investment IMO .

Have a look mabye at the AMD64 DTR. Its basically the mobile version of the AMD64 and has the newer stepping (the desktop has prob caught up by now) and overclocks a little better........... theres a link in the above mentioned thread.

PSU wise i think the 480w is a good choice. Its a very good PSU (had one myself) with excellent rails , noise level, and output. (plus blue lights)

BKtje

Thanks COL_LOKI, looking at that thread now.

Col_Loki

No probs, hope it helps!!

BloodBath

If your overclocking your raising the fsb of the RAM as well so you will be pushing it past 400mhz and most pc3200 won't go much higher than 450mhz which doesn't give you much headroom at a 1:1 ratio.

Get pc3500 or 3700 at least from a good brand like corsair, ocz, geil or mushkin.

Kinda a waste of money on the cooling unless you get a nforce 250 mobo which has a pci/agp lock as your overclock won't be limited by heat.

I'd wait another month or two for the new platforms for both the a64 and the prescott to see how they perform.



BloodBath

unkel

Originally posted by BloodBath
a waste of money on the cooling unless you get a nforce 250 mobo which has a pci/agp lock as your overclock won't be limited by heat.

I'd wait another month or two for the new platforms for both the a64 and the prescott to see how they perform.

Very solid recommendation

B-K-DzR, hold on to your hat for the mo if you can and avoid making a big mistake. If you can't wait that long, at least wait for the first o/cing reviews of the nforce 250 which will be with us within days rather than weeks...

Col_Loki

Get pc3500 or 3700 at least from a good brand like corsair, ocz, geil or mushkin.

Yea id agree. TBH i think there are 2 choices with reguards memory with the AMD64.

1) Go with a decent very tight timings Ram and get to 210~225 mhz with the tight timings.

2) Go for some HIGH FSB stuff. The motherboards are known for high FSB's so you should be looking at 250mhz+ Memory. The AMD64 is very flexable as you can lower the multiplier and adjust your overclock according to the FSB you reach. Have a look at mabye ADATA - Its a decent price and overclocks very well. The newer stuff will have 3.5ns chips and with a bit of luck and voltage will get close to 300mhz (mabye more). Also the Socket 754 is single channel ram so getting 1 stick of Pc4000 and adding another one later on wont impact your Memory bandwidth.

TBH as you will see in the link above the tighter timings will perform better than increased bandwidth. But over the 250mhz FSB mark the bandwidth gains some ground back.......... the Tight timings is a more awkward route i think, and also one that requires luck in what Ram you get (BH5 or BH6 to make it worth your while [edit] actually mabye think of the Pc3500 OCZ EB aswell).

I think id go with Pc4000+ due to the ability of the AMD64 to ramp up FSB. Pc3700 isint a great option IMO as its neither tight timings or ultra high FSB....... feel free to disagree

neokenzo

Originally posted by BloodBath
Kinda a waste of money on the cooling unless you get a nforce 250 mobo which has a pci/agp lock as your overclock won't be limited by heat.

The MSI K8N Neo is the nforce3 250 mobo and it does have a pci/agp lock. It does overclock quite well according to Anandtech. On standard cooling it they got the A64 3200 to 2.4Ghz. With the Vapochill, it should get a lot higher than that.

BKtje

1) Go with a decent very tight timings Ram and get to 210~225 mhz with the tight timings.

From reading the threads that have been posted in this thread i've decided to research a bit more into the memory timing vs bandwidth issue.
Ill make a decesion, followed by asking people on here followed by another decesion (always nice to have a 2nd/3rd opinion even after you've decided something).

TBH as you will see in the link above the tighter timings will perform better than increased bandwidth. But over the 250mhz FSB mark the bandwidth gains some ground back

The only problem i have with the msi board is that it seems to have a max fsb of around 300mhz (or so i read somewhere). If i decide to go the bandwidth route i may need to think of a different mobo. All these things to consider.

the Tight timings is a more awkward route i think, and also one that requires luck in what Ram you get (BH5 or BH6 to make it worth your while [edit] actually mabye think of the Pc3500 OCZ EB aswell).

More awkward in what way? Would you mind explaining a little as this is my first real proper overclocking project. Regarding the ram, im already putting serious consideration into getting bh5/6 after reading some posts in the threads posted. Whats pc3500 OCZ EB? *BK fires up google*

The MSI K8N Neo is the nforce3 250 mobo and it does have a pci/agp lock

I checked before that it was nf3 250 and then re-checked when people were talking about it in this thread. I realise the importance of pci/agp lock.

On standard cooling it they got the A64 3200 to 2.4Ghz. With the Vapochill, it should get a lot higher than that.

Thats what im hoping to find out. I am however slightly dubious how much more i can get out of it but im looking forward to finding out.

While I'm in no real rush to buy, would like it sooner rather than later. While my current pc is adequate its starting to show its 'age'. (xp2000@1.85)

I plan to order the vapochill in the next couple of weeks (getting a small discount) then the rest of the parts about a month later which gives me plenty of time to iron out any flaws in my plan).

Also putting serios consideration into getting the amd64 3400 1mb cache. How much extra performance would i get with the 1mb cache over the 512k one?

While i realise that socket 939 is just around the corner and part of me is screaming wait another part of me says that if i always wait for the next big thing ill never get my pc

Once again folks all your input is most appreciated.

neokenzo

Originally posted by B-K-DzR
Also putting serios consideration into getting the amd64 3400 1mb cache. How much extra performance would i get with the 1mb cache over the 512k one?

While i realise that socket 939 is just around the corner and part of me is screaming wait another part of me says that if i always wait for the next big thing ill never get my pc

Once again folks all your input is most appreciated.

The A64 3200 has 1Mb cache but the difference isnt that huge afaik.

Socket 939 will be a lot more expensive then the A64's. I would think they would sell at about €600 plus or so.

BKtje

The A64 3200 has 1Mb cache but the difference isnt that huge afaik.

The one on Komplett that i was lokin at has only 512k however i was lookin at jes-computer and for the same price (basically) i could get 1 with 1mb cache. Think jes might be getting some more of my custom.

Socket 939 will be a lot more expensive then the A64's. I would think they would sell at about €600 plus or so.

Didn't realise that they were gonna be that expensive. They would drive the price of the amd64 down a bit but you've just silenced my inner battle f what you say is true.

Col_Loki

The only problem i have with the msi board is that it seems to have a max fsb of around 300mhz (or so i read somewhere). If i decide to go the bandwidth route i may need to think of a different mobo. All these things to consider.

That isint going to be a problem as you will have to get lucky to find a stick of Ram that will go any higher even with very high voltage. Plus a BIOS update might sort it out!! If you get memory to run at 280mhz+ thats doing very well and will have pretty high bandwidth especially for a single channel board.

More awkward in what way? Would you mind explaining a little as this is my first real proper overclocking project. Regarding the ram, im already putting serious consideration into getting bh5/6 after reading some posts in the threads posted. Whats pc3500 OCZ EB? *BK fires up google*

Your talkin alot more voltage, every MHZ means much more that with higher speed memory. Ie 1mhz 2-2-2-5 timings might be worth 1.5mhz 3-4-4-8 (if you get what i mean) . With the tight timings your prob going to be finding the highest FSB and working the CPU overclock with the multiplier, where with looser ram timings a couple of mhz less on the memory isint as much of a big deal. Ack what a crappy way to explain it...... ie guess when you get the CPU's limit, the looser timing memory can be tightened / loosened a little more depending on wheather its at its limit or not where the tight timings cant be tightened more. (lol feel free to skip past this )

I checked before that it was nf3 250 and then re-checked when people were talking about it in this thread. I realise the importance of pci/agp lock.

Doh, i didnt check that i just presumed it wasent the NF250 as there not supposed to be out yet!!

Socket 939 will be a lot more expensive then the A64's. I would think they would sell at about €600 plus or so.

Yea the main problem is the minimum chip wil be 3500+ and the boards being new out and having dual DDR will be more expensive.

The one on Komplett that i was lokin at has only 512k however i was lookin at jes-computer and for the same price (basically) i could get 1 with 1mb cache. Think jes might be getting some more of my custom.

Wow i didnt know they had a 2.2ghz 512kb 3200+, that would prob be a better option as the extra cache didnt make that much difference when comparing the 3000+ and 3200+ (2ghz 1mb)..........

neokenzo

Originally posted by B-K-DzR
The one on Komplett that i was lokin at has only 512k however i was lookin at jes-computer and for the same price (basically) i could get 1 with 1mb cache. Think jes might be getting some more of my custom.


Didn't realise that they were gonna be that expensive. They would drive the price of the amd64 down a bit but you've just silenced my inner battle f what you say is true.

Oh yeah the new A64 3200 are 512MB. I think they are Newcastle chip and not Clawhammer. I thought you were referring to the A64 3000. Anyhow, there's a guy on Xtreme System who did some testing on the two. It'll give you some idea at least. Get the 1MB cache, it would be the better option imo unless the price difference is huge.
I dont think that AMD intend to lower the price of their A64's. The A64's would be their lower end product once the Socket 939 comes out. Besides, the A64 would have another 6 months to a year before they are discontinued.

BKtje

It'll give you some idea at least. Get the 1MB cache, it would be the better option imo unless the price difference is huge

The 512k on komplett (inc VAT ) is about 260 while the 1mb on jens is about 240 inc vat. They come to roughly the same if you remove the VAT (german VAT is lower than Irish).

That isint going to be a problem as you will have to get lucky to find a stick of Ram that will go any higher even with very high voltage. Plus a BIOS update might sort it out!! If you get memory to run at 280mhz+ thats doing very well and will have pretty high bandwidth especially for a single channel board.

Yer iirc the guy doing the test wasnt too worried about the 300mhz limit (think this was over on Hardocp btw).

Doh, i didnt check that i just presumed it wasent the NF250 as there not supposed to be out yet!!

Your actually right, they aint out yet. Id have it on pre-order but since im lookin at buying this in about a months time i figured it would be out.

Wow i didnt know they had a 2.2ghz 512kb 3200+, that would prob be a better option as the extra cache didnt make that much difference when comparing the 3000+ and 3200+ (2ghz 1mb).

Wooa, hold on a sec. You saying it would be better to get the 3200 512k over the 3200 1024k? Or am i mis reading this and neokenzo's post? Im planning to get a minimum of the 3200, possibly the 3400 depending on funds and wether i can find anywhere that sells the 3400 oem and not boxed.

(lol feel free to skip past this )

I will, but only for the moment. I know absolutely nothing (amt at least) about mem timings. I have read a site or two today which gave me some insight but its all very confusing at the moment. Will look into it more tomorrow and hope to find a simple explanation. I'll then come back to the above and hope to understand it a bit more (any sugestions on sites would be mucho appreciated)

The 1mb does 'seem' to be better than the 512k, however further down i came to this:

The Newcastle did max stable 2526 @ 1.7V Air cooled, boxed cooling, didn't get a chance to put it under the Prom.


The Clawhammer maxed out 2500 under the prom @ 1.7

Seems the roof for the clawhammer 3200 1mb is around 2500, even under the prometeia while the newcastle managed to reach above that under air cooling.
Seems like the Newcastle while having less cache can be overclocked further and therefore might be better to get with a vapochill system or was this just a 'dodgy' clawhammer as was suggested in a later post?

neokenzo

Originally posted by B-K-DzR
The 512k on komplett (inc VAT ) is about 260 while the 1mb on jens is about 240 inc vat. They come to roughly the same if you remove the VAT (german VAT is lower than Irish).


Wooa, hold on a sec. You saying it would be better to get the 3200 512k over the 3200 1024k? Or am i mis reading this and neokenzo's post? Im planning to get a minimum of the 3200, possibly the 3400 depending on funds and wether i can find anywhere that sells the 3400 oem and not boxed.


Seems the roof for the clawhammer 3200 1mb is around 2500, even under the prometeia while the newcastle managed to reach above that under air cooling.
Seems like the Newcastle while having less cache can be overclocked further and therefore might be better to get with a vapochill system or was this just a 'dodgy' clawhammer as was suggested in a later post?

No its definitely better to get the 3200 1MB cache. I think COL_LOKI was referring to the difference between A64 3000 and A64 3200.
The difference between the Clawhammer and Newcastle is that the multipliers for Newcastle is 11. Therefore the fsb on Clawhammer is higher then the Newcastle eventhough the Newcastle overclock slightly more. You have to consider that the Newcastles only overclock 26Mhz more but your losing on the cache.

BKtje

Well the N'Castle only overclockeed 26mhz more on air while the Clawhammer was under the prometeia.

Col_Loki

I would still think the 3200+ 2.2ghz 512kb cache would be better than the 2ghz 1mb cache.

Your comparing 200mhz with 512kb extra cahce. The 200mhz makes more of a difference that the extra cache would.

Also and this could be a majour thing, is the newcastle is a newer stepping than the clawhammer. This generally yields greater overclocks, as you can see from the example you quoted.

2.5ghz on Air Vs 2.5ghz on a pommie............ thats a huge difference. Your prob talkin 2.8-2.9ghz with the pommie on the newcastle in that case. Theres also a higher multiplier which means your overclock is less lightly to be limited by FSB (prob wont be a factor with multi or 10 or more anyway).

neokenzo

Yeah I agree you'll probably be able to overclock the Newcastle more but speed for speed, I still think that the Clawhammer will be faster even at a lower speed. Newcastle 2.5Mhz will be around the same speed as Clawhammer 2.3Mhz because of the less cache and lower fsb. The problem is no one have really overclock Newcastle with better cooling so we really dont know how far they would go. We could presume it would go more but it not guarantee.

Col_Loki

Yea thats true. The Extra cache is supposed to be worth 200mhz, but id say its closer to 150mhz mabye.

The DTR chips have the the newer stepping and they would be the ideal chip forthe pommie i think . 2.5ghz was achieved with higher end air cooling, 2.7-2.9 should be roughly what you would get with a MachII.

Newcastle 2.5Mhz will be around the same speed as Clawhammer 2.3Mhz because of the less cache and lower fsb.

I wouldnt factor FSB into it too much since the newcastle can ru nat multiplier 10 aswell so both chips would ru at the same FSB. But yea the cache will obviously make a difference to the performance levels.

BKtje

The newcastle is a 3200 with 512k and the clawhammer is a 3200 with 1mb.

Basicaly they are the same stock speeds with clawhammer having a 1mb cache.

(have kinda decided to go with higher bandwidth against tighter timings)

Col_Loki

Basicaly they are the same stock speeds with clawhammer having a 1mb cache.

No the newcastle runs @ 2.2ghz , the clawhammer @ 2ghz

BKtje

Ah so it does my apologies.

200mhz would make up for the extra cache you think? With the clawhammer basically maxing out at 2.5 the newcastle would seem to be the better way to go as long as its possible to get it to 2.7+ under a vapo/prom?

Col_Loki

I would say if you can get the newer stepping (think its the CG stepping) that is used in the DTR chips then the 1mb cache version is worth getting even with lower clock speed as it has hit 2.5ghz on air so its rite up there with the newcastle (mabye a little less but cache will more than make up for it).

If your talkin the older stepping then the newcastle would be a better choice IMO.

I will try and see what stepping is going round at the min, ie will chack overclockers.com and co.uk and see what the guys are gettin and give you a shout back. (will be after 6 as im workin now).

PS IMO 2.5ghz (1mb cache) would be roughly the same as 2.65ghz (512kb cache) .

BKtje

okie, theres absloultely no rush loki, wont be ordering for a little while yet.
Thanks again

neokenzo

http://www.amdreview.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15420

BKtje

What are the price increases that they are talking about? They raising the price of the FX only or the FX and the older amd64 chips as well?

neokenzo

From my understanding of it is that the A64 is going to increase in price as well but I'm not sure how much increase its going to be for the current Socket 754.

BKtje

sigh

Thats what i thought as well. Better not go up too much or i wont be a happy monkey.

Col_Loki

I wouldnt put too much heed in that if he was refering to AMD64's , atleast not the newcastles anyway. There would be very little point in AMD upping the prices of what it wants to take over as its more budget range.......... it will also benifit intel .

Are they trying to increase the price of the 1mb cache versions? To warrent the price of the new 939 Fx's mabye (as the only real difference is dual DDR over a 1mb cache A64)?

neokenzo

I still think that the cache makes a huge difference. Maybe not so in benchmarks but real world apps you'll feel the difference.

BKtje

Am leaning towards the 3400 1m cache atm but ill see what the dealio is when i order in a month. (vapos on its way next week )

Matt Simis

Originally posted by B-K-DzR
Am leaning towards the 3400 1m cache atm but ill see what the dealio is when i order in a month. (vapos on its way next week )

Guess you arent going with my Mach II then!


Ive had 4 A64 CPUs (1x 3000+, 2x 3200+ 1MB and 1x 3200+ 512k) and 3 motherboards (2x Via K8T800 and nf3150) on a Mach II and aircooling.

Heres my input based on first hand experience:

- 1MB vs 512k is not noticeable realworld, less than 5% under benchmarks
- Tried 4 or 5 brands of memory, CAS2 didnt work on any board/CPU/memory. Im not alone in that, dont count on CAS2 support. Infact memory support is quite spotty
- Some of the 512k CPUs are crippled Clawhammers, these arent very good [edit - typo]
- Even "bad" Clawhammers get 2700MHz on a MachII
- The 3200 512k 2.2GHz is EUR200 cheaper on Komplett and should be a Newcastle core, checking it out soon, got it yesterday
- PCI lock isnt an issue if you have a nf3-150 and a CPU with 11x multiplier (3200/512k and 3400+). I even ran a 3200 (1MB, 10x multi) at 270MHz FSB (2700MHz). 2800MHz with 11x is only 254MHz FSB.
- The onboard VIA SATA controller is absolute junk when PCI is overclocked, if you have a VIA board (dont recommend 1st gen for overclocking) use the 3rd party SATA chip.
- Even cheap, old Twinmos with Winbond works at DDR533 when you put 3.6v into it... barely gets warm too.



Matt

Spoonman

- Even cheap, old Twinmos with Winbond works at DDR533 when you put 3.6v into it... barely gets warm too.

What memory timings were you using Matt?

Matt Simis

Originally posted by Spoonman
What memory timings were you using Matt?

2.5 - 3 - 3 -7

Not tight by any means, but not the slackest. Some claim to have Winbond running at CAS2, something I cant try as none of the boards post at CAS2 (any frequency).


Matt

neokenzo

I have mine running at CAS2 with no problems. I think its a matter of finding the sweet spot.

po0k

Originally posted by neokenzo
I still think that the cache makes a huge difference. Maybe not so in benchmarks but real world apps you'll feel the difference.

Prehaps in a traditional Cpu+[cache] <-> northbridge/memcontroler <-> memory setup, but with dual-channel DDR400 socket 939 A64 and due to the memcontroller being integrated into the die itself I think that cache over 512k gives seriously dimminishing returns.
Also remember that the more cache you have, the slower it gets and the lower the yield from each wafer and therefor the worse the price/performance becomes.

Personally I'd rather more memory bandwidth running at higher speeds (reduces latency) and spread across several independent channels (ie several buses of say 256Meg instead of one bigger pipe feeding off 1Gig).


I've seen boards on Anandtech and xbitlabs that have both 754 and 939 sockets, running off an nF3 chipset.

Personally I'm waiting till things settle down a bit.
There hasn't been a A64 platform released yet that meets all of my requirements for a large-purchase machine.

BKtje

DDR400 socket 939 A64

We discussing the socket 754 tho

Matt Simis

Any other bios settings you had to set? Mine wont even post.. havent tried with the 2.2GHz CPU, could be different (as mem controller is on CPU).



Matt

BKtje

Right just to let people know i went with

Vapo EE
MSI K8n Neo Platinum
amd 64 3200 512k (newcastle)
1 gig of 2-2-2-5 ram.
9700pro
antec 480w psu.

Will let people know how i get on and how much i get out of it

LookingFor

Good stuff B-K. Please do let us know how you get on - I'm very interested in the vapochills myself..

neokenzo

What kind of ram are you getting?

Col_Loki

That looks like a very sweet machine, good choices IMO.

BKtje

http://www.corsairmemory.com/

^ above is what im getting. Getting it from overclockers.co.uk.

(Prob be a couple weeks before i have it all up and running as total cost is about 1700 incl VAT and will have to purchase the parts in a couple of stages)

Ill get it asap tho, im really looking forward to it now

BKtje

Right, update time

I seem to have reached the cpu/bios max. (people report getting better overclocks from the 1.2 betas but ill wait for officials).

Basic specs
amd 64 3200 1024 L2 (2ghz, Clawhammer , CG revision)
MSI K8N Neo Plat (bios 1.1)
1 gig of corsair xms3200XLPT (2-2-2-5-1T)
9700pro (375/347 from 325/310, no special cooling)
VAPO XE
Antec truepower 480w.

Have just reached 2.45ghz (wouldnt post at 2.5 without a cold boot and then wouldnt load windows). Will be running prime95 while at work tomorrow to test stability.

CPU 10x 245fsb (1.75v)
mem 204fsb (2.7v)

Im fairly happy with this. Wanted to reach 2.7 with the n'castle but thats a 2.2 so ive got basically the same overclock.

I could up to the voltage to 1.8v and see if it will boot windows but im reluctant to go over the AMD recomendations. I'll see how it goes on the 1.2 bios when it is released, expect to get a little more outta it.
Basically ive gotten just under a 25% overclock

3d Marks 2001 Se (20,003 at 2.4)

Overall im happy enough

BadCharlie

Nice 2001 Se score, to think if u had a top of the range video card your score would be so much higher. But as you have spent 1700 all ready you might not want to spend another 400 on a video card.

Next test you should try is 3dmark 2003, let us know how you score there.

BKtje

Right tried to run it at 2.45 but it just would not work, kept turning off the monitor (but i know it was workin as temp rose to -17.5. Stuck it to 2.4, kept cpu voltage up and tightened the timings.

Got 20,603. Dont think ill improve on that until new BIOS release. Still 2.4 is good enough.

Downloading 2003 now.