Cpu/Mobo/Ram

Thordon

Im looking to upgrade my aging rig for better games performance. I bought a radeon 9600 a while ago, so that should do me for a while, but I want to try to get the best I can afford for cpu/mobo/ram, I picked out the following things on komplett:

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=120423&s=sc
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=122903&s=sc
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=117212&s=sc

Ive never upgraded a mainboard or a cpu before, so would anyone mind answering a few questions?

1) Do you see any compatability problems with the items I picked, or can you recommend some good value substitutions. Im sure I want an AMD64, but other than that, Im easy.

2) My current comp has nearly a gig of SDRAM 133 (I think), I noticed in the spec for the mobo that it mentions both DDR and SDRAM, what Im asking is that can I use my current ram (at least some of it), in combonation with the DDR (might not get the DDR at all if the SDRAM works).

3) Fans, I dont think the cpu I linked comes with a fan, I have a basic heatsink fan on my current cpu. Do I need more, or is that enough?

Thanks in advance

tman

Originally posted by Thordon
2) My current comp has nearly a gig of SDRAM 133 (I think), I noticed in the spec for the mobo that it mentions both DDR and SDRAM, what Im asking is that can I use my current ram (at least some of it), in combonation with the DDR (might not get the DDR at all if the SDRAM works).

stop right there:D
133mhz ram instead of 400mhz is a very bad idea!
can't quite see it working tbh

just sell your old ram on the fs hardware forum, it's pretty much antiquated now but still in great demand (especially a gig of it)

you'll need more than a basic hsf for it as well

other than that, i can't fault your choices. personally, i'd wait for socket 939 cpu's and mainboards to become available.
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=121241&cks=PRL
i might go for that mobo instead, purely because i've been burned by MSI's shoddy drivers before (but then again, you'll be going to VIA for drivers for either board)

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=113518&cks=PRL
that's a decent stick of cheap ram as well

Pacifico

Yeah as tman said that ram ain't compatable

Ram and CPU are grand, have the same cpu myself its an excellent chip. i'd consider a different motherboard though. Have a look around here . lots of people having problems with that board and it will require a bios upgrade out of the box. i'd reccomend any ASUS motherboard

netman

SDRAM stands for synchronous dynamic random access memory, what you have is PC133, SDR SDRAM - single data rate SDRAM.. And the motherboard you're looking at is using DDR SDRAM - double data rate SDRAM. Probably PC3200.

Different number of pins, different voltage etc. Definitely not compatibile

When you're doing a more radical upgrade like this one, people often fail to consider the foundation of the system - power supply. Have you got enough power to run this demanding hardware? 300W is the bare minimum I'd go for, and that's brand name 300W, not some cheap no-name power supply that blows up as soon as you hook it up to a power hungry system. 400W+ would be a safe bet.

Personally, I'd stay away from VIA chipsets... Not only are they unable to release stable drivers, they also have problems coming up with a workable PCI / AGP lock. If you decide to dabble into overclocking you can pretty much scratch that off your list with a VIA chipset.

Go for a nForce 250 chipset instead. If you want RAID, go for this one:
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=300323&cks=PRL
if you don't need RAID, save yourself 50 euro and go for this one:
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=300671&cks=PRL

Both have an integrated gigabit ethernet adapter, and a hardware firewall.

Also, Epox are in my opinion miles ahead of MSI in both features and stability.
They do for AMD what ASUS do for Intel motherboards.

netman

just to mention, hardocp have managed to overclock the athlon64 3000+ to 2.45 GHz. that's faster than 3400+ !

Col_Loki

Yea exactly what the guys said. Definetly would go for one of the motherboards that Netman listed (although the MSI NF250 doesent look too bad from some reviews either).

Get a decent cooler for it , people are hitting 2.4-2.6ghz on Air with the newer revision ..........

PSU wise if you are buying a new one get a 380w+ NAME brand just incase you want to upgrade your GFX card etc a while down the road.

silverside

I just built an AMD 64 system yesterday. It was ridiculously easy to put together, worked first time (almost ).

I got a Sonata case, Asus K8vse deluxe motherboard, 64-3000 oem, silent boost cooler.

I know the Via Kt800 chipset isnt overclockable, but it is very well specced and feels like a quality piece of kit. Asus wrote a great manual and everything was colour coded.

BTW the only reason it didnt work first time was I forgot to lift up the lever to put the cpu in - luckliy I dindt crack anything, and I got a robotic voice in the POST telling me 'CPU not connected' or somesuch - very helpful.

Thordon

Thanks for all your replies , I think I will go with the following upgrades:

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=300671&s=sc
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=122903&s=sc
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=113518&s=sc
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=117905&s=sc

For the PSU, is that a name brand, I wouldnt know

vigos

according to col_lokis thread he doesnt recommend Q-TEC PSU's

grimloch

from what ive heard Q-Tec overrate their power eg. a 550w wont go near 550w

Scruff

are any of the psu that komplett sells any good? aside from q-tec i've never heard of the other 2. where are the the good psu's from the likes of chieftec and Enermax gone????

grimloch

as far as i know komplett dont sell good PSU's
www.overclockers.co.uk sell some good brands antec and so forth

Col_Loki

Q-TEC's are just crap PSU's......... there have been 400w / 450w versions failing to power AMD64 / P4 systems.

Have a look at the thread in my sig and it goes into a little more detail and gives a few tips......

netman

i wouldn't recommend any of the power supplies that komplett sell.
if you have to go with them, get a fortron.

otherwise, the good brands to get are:
enermax, antec, aopen, enlight, pc power&cooling.

TacT

Add Tagan to that list of psu's netman

Col_Loki

i wouldn't recommend any of the power supplies that komplett sell.
if you have to go with them, get a fortron.

Wow didnt know komplett had fortron....... well there getting them in anyway. Fortron are very good power supplies, there fantastic value for money with great power output and decent rails.

I was running a Fortron 300w on the system in sig up till a week ago!!

aopen

Arent they built by fortron?

Add Tagan to that list of psu's netman

Yea tagan arent bad. Also be-quiets , fortrons should be added

Thordon

Ok, Ill go for the fortron.

Does the processor/mobo come with thermal compound/heat sink/fan, as I said earlier, I have a fan and heat sink that I could re-use, but would that require cleaning the old thermal compound off, should I just order a new heat sink (assuming I can re-use the fan easily)? feeling a little lost here, I want to make sure I have everything I need.

Pacifico

Originally posted by Thordon
Ok, Ill go for the fortron.

Does the processor/mobo come with thermal compound/heat sink/fan, as I said earlier, I have a fan and heat sink that I could re-use, but would that require cleaning the old thermal compound off, should I just order a new heat sink (assuming I can re-use the fan easily)? feeling a little lost here, I want to make sure I have everything I need.

Is this the CPU you're getting?

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 2.0 GHz Socket 754, 512 KB cache, OEM

If so you will need to get a new heatsink/fan. The heatsink will contain some thermal paste. I wouldn't use it tbh Ive this one. Its very quiet and simple to install.

btw looks like you have everything you need there!

good luck

Thordon

Great thanks

But: "Availability: 19 pcs 2004-08-03 (unconfirmed) "

Would this work too, looks like it comes with thermal paste (Im guessing it was the thermal pad you meant you wouldnt use):

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=123406&cks=PRL