Buying advice

-oRnein9-

I'm planing on buying a socket 754 processor this week sometime, just wondering what is the best mobo and ram to get for gaming and overclocking.
Thanks
Richy.

naitkris

i haven't got a socket 754 (thinking of getting one), but from the dozens of socket 754 motherboard review i've read, the MSI K8N Neo Platinum wins hands down in performance and features, imo.

as for RAM, i don't buy the high-end stuff so can't help you there. though, the nForce chipsets (which is what the MSI K8N Neo Platinum uses) can be fussy with regards to the type and make of RAM that works well with it, so whatever RAM you choose make sure other people who have the same RAM and motherboard have no problems first.

BKtje

The Msi K8n neo is an absolutely great board....once u find its sweet spot.

It has been plagued by problems as can be see on their forum. However they have been working on fixing the problems (problems imclude miss reporting temps and not being able to boot past 230/240/250 fsb). However there are a string of bios's which fix he problems for most. Not that i've got it workign nicely im very very happy with this board. It just needs a little bit of patience to find its sweet spot.

If you dont want to overclock it will work perfectly out of the box.

As for your ram question there is a list of ram that works well and ram that doesn't.

Basically all ram will work at stock speeds but some people have trouble with some types of ram when overclocking. One thing i do suggest is that you go for tight timing ram (whatever mobo you go with) as the A64's really appreciate tight timings over max bandwidth (for games that is).

Any more questions feel free to ask

DamoKen

why are you getting the 754?, all indications seem to point to Socket 939 as the future of the Athlon 64 platform. Price wise the 64 3500 is a good starting point for the budget concious, also have the option of upgrading to something like the FX53 later on. http://tech-report.com/reviews/2004q3/athlon64-3500/index.x?pg=16

-oRnein9-

These are the specs I'm goin with so far any comments:
CPU: Athlon64 socket754 3400+ http://www.jes-computer.de/product_info.php?pID=15496
Mobo: MSI K8N Neo Platinum http://www.jes-computer.de/product_info.php?pID=16393
Ram: Mushkin Level One PC3200 ddr 2x512 (2-3-2) http://www.gobeyondltd.com/products/results.asp?id=34
PSU: Thermaltake butterfly 480watt http://www.jes-computer.de/product_info.php?pID=14691
Sound card: SB Audigy LS http://www.jes-computer.de/product_info.php?pID=15018
Hard-drive: 200gb sata seagate barracuda 720rpm 8mb cache http://www.jes-computer.de/product_info.php?pID=16157
CPU cooler: Zalman CNPS http://www.jes-computer.de/product_info.php?pID=13543

I'll also be gettin mesmelf a nice 6800 Ultra Deleuxe in about 2 weeks time when I get paid again.Any comments or preferences will be much appreciated.
Thanks
Richy

Col_Loki

Very nice choices. That Ram is a good performer and tends to work well with that motherboard from what ive seen. Plenty of power, the 480w should be well able for the AMD64 & 6800 .

Mabye think about a Samsung or 2x160gb's for Raid 0? Seagates are lovely and quiet, so are samsungs.... just that samsungs perform slightly better (and i like then).

Socket939 is more future proof but expensive......... might be worth keeping in mind as your going for the 3400+.