Well i ve been wanting to try out overclocking eversince i really stared gettign into computers (last summer) And i dont want to risk my current system which was just under $1300. Well do you think this system would overclock very well CD/DVD Burners (RW Drives) Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price 1 NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - Retail Model #: ND-3540A BK RT Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $9.99 2 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $14.99 Remove Save Move To Wish List $43.99 $43.99 ATX Computer Cases Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price 1 Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems Power Supply - Retail Model #: SONATA II Remove Save Move To Wish List $109.00 $109.00 Internal Hard Drives Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price 1 Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM Model #: WD800JD Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $14.99 2 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $19.99 Remove Save Move To Wish List $55.00 $55.00 AMD-compatible Motherboards Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price 1 EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail Model #: EP-9NPA+Ultra Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $29.99 2 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $39.99 Remove Save Move To Wish List $105.00 -$10.00 Instant $95.00 Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price 1 SAPPHIRE 586L Radeon X300SE 128MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail Model #: 586L Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $9.99 2 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $14.99 Remove Save Move To Wish List $49.00 $49.00 Memory - System Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $9.99 2 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $14.99 Remove Save Move To Wish List $49.75 $49.75 Memory - System Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price 1 Patriot 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model PDC1G3200LLK - Retail Model #: PDC1G3200LLK Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $29.99 2 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $39.99 Remove Save Move To Wish List $129.75 $129.75 Processors Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price 1 AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX - Retail Model #: ADA3200BPBOX ** This item is warranted through the product manufacturer only. Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $29.99 2 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $39.99 Remove Save Move To Wish List $190.00 $190.00 Subtotal: $672.49 Im about halfway there money wise and im about to have about $400, but i wanted to know if epox is a very good overclocker i might push it up $20 or $30 to get an Asus a8n-e (in current system, good mobo but i want to try out some newbrands), or MSI neo4 platinum.
You can overclock just about anything, I really likk my MSI board beacuse it can be overclocked 'safely' All i have to do is push a button in core Center and watch it work! Most new MSI boards have "Core Cell" chip (which is what you need for the auto-overclocking) *your getting the same processor as i have, using the MSI utility (Core Center) I just managed to get the clockspeed from 2000 Mhz to 2319 Mhz before i moved the mouse and it conked out! () *edit* MSI is a good choice, generally there stuff is cheap but PACKED with every feature that you will never find time to use! (take a look @ the backplate of the MSI Neo4 below.... and there connectore on the motherboard to add MORE usb ports!)
the MSI was my first choice by a mile cause ive heard such great things about them, and my Asus has been great and has teh AI booster which is like core cell, but because i have to buy this my self, i might get some help from my parents, ive been trying to shave off as much as i can, ill probably shave off 10 bucks by swithching from that dvd burner to a cd burner/dvd player. Also for optical drives who is better lite-on NEC or Ben Q.
i would suggest not skimping on the dvd burner, they are fun toys to play with and well worth the extra few bucks.
Well i have a decent dvd burner on my good system, so this one is not that important, i just wanted to know which of those brands are teh best quality.i have a lite on burner right now it is pretty loud when its starting up a cd or burning one. Are all highspeed burners like that or is that just lite on.
also since i wont be using this sytem for much gaming, mostly internet and to play around with overclocking, and school related apps (i.e word, power point) will 512 mb of ram suffice cause i wouldnt mind saving the extra $60
While that Epox may overclock, based on their track record, I strongly advise against any Epox motherboards. I have heard the 9NPA+ series are actually pretty good, but given their poor quality control over the past few years and some bad run ins with a few of their motherboards myself, I simply can't recommend that brand. Besides the MSI K8N nForce 4 board, you might also look at the Asus A8N-E. If you're looking for something a little bit more advanced, the DFI NF4 Ultra-D (UT or regular) would be a good choice. The power supply in that Antec doesn't look too bad and comes with dual 12V rails. I do like the Patriot RAM, but you might want to look at their +XBL stuff instead of the LLK that you have. The +XBL uses Samsung TCCD memory chips that overclock well with very little voltage increases. I know mine can hit 285MHz with 2.9V. The +XBL is a little bit more expensive, but if you're into overclocking, it's worth the little extra you'll pay. I believe a 1GB dual-channel kit runs around $140-150 online of the PC3200+XBL.
As for the A8N-e i have that in my current system, it has been great so far and it looks like its got a bunch of oclocking features in the bios, but that system also costs 1300 and is the family system, so thats a no go for overclocking. The reason im not gonna use it in this build is because im still really new to computers, and i want to get a feel for what brands i like, i chose asus for my first build becaus all the books in barnse and noble said Asus all teh way. But i do kinda want to try out MSI. Also could you tell me what benifits 1 gb of ram has over 512mb, i know it helps for gaming but this computer is just to learn to oclock and do school work internet, and maybe some older games i still like-AoE II and Civ II. I know the ram your talking about and i was eyeballin it but i dont know if i can fit it in my budget.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220032 this is the 512ms of what i think your talking about and i would buy this instead of what i have but as i said before for what this computers being used for (internet, oclocking, school work, old games that still kick a**) will there be a big performance difference between that and the 1 gb version
That really depends on what settings you use. If you're running high-detail settings, then yes, it'll help more than if you were running defaults and/or lower detail settings. For what I do, 512MB tends to work out quite nicely, but some people do benefit from 1GB. After that, the majority of people are looking into dimishing returns, especially if you want to overclock as larger densities tend to make this tougher to do than lighter ones. That ram is the +XBL stuff and seems to be a very good high-performance RAM for the money. You'd be able to get ultra-high performance with some of OCZ's high-end stuff, but that tends to be a bit on the pricey side of things. Unless you have an endless desire that you can't sleep without having the system as fine tuned as possible, it's probably not worth the money, especially since you could easily see a $100 extra tacked on for some of it. But it is good stuff...just too much for people like myself. I do not have to have the highest 3DWangmark score as some people do. I can play my games at a comfortable resolution with eye candy on and they run smoothly. That's my preference, so keep that in mind as yours is probably different.
As much as Id like to get ocz its out of my price range, as i said im 14 and im paying for teh system no help form parents unless i sacrifice alot of christmas presents. Also im doing this to play around wiht overclocking and i dont want to fry anything expensive also im not really trying to be like every review on teh Amd 3200 who says got to 2.8 easy on air i just want to learn get some experiance learn what i can/cant do so in the future i can mayber oclock some other components and see how it affects teh system. so im gonna wait till i get a little closer to having the money(about half way to 700) before i really start finalizing what i will and wont buy. THanks for the help
