Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 4152
Joined: June 2003
Posted: July 22 2006,10:29
Last November (2005) I build an X2 4400+ gaming system, this summer 2006 I couldnt help to build another!
My excuse? My workstation is fastly becoming too "slow" therefore I was original going to upgrade it. Then I decided to upgrade my gaming system instead, and pass down the one I build in Nov 2005 to my workstation.
After researching on opterons I decided to go with the Opteron 165 again. I also build an opteron 165 for my Media Center PC.
This time around I went with this stepping: CCBBE 0615EPMW which is suppose to be one of the best steppings out there to easily overclock to 2.8ghz on stock air cooling! I'm partnering this CPU together with: Arctic Silver 5 + Thermaltake CL-P0024 + 2 xVantec Stealth 8cm Fans. Much better than stock cooling in hopes to easily reach 2.8 ghz and beyond. It will be hosted on the DFI LanParty Ultra-D mobo.
I have to say I am bit dissappointed and have a little regret I didnt research Intel and wait a bit more. I've already bought these until I found out about the announcement of Conroe. Either way, My purchase isnt too bad. $313 for the mobo and CPU and if I get 2.8ghz+ I'll be right up there with FX-62 performance for $313 which is about the same ballpark as the equivalent priced conroe. Thats only *IF* i can achieve 2.8ghz and beyond.
Next is RAM. After researching many rams, and websites for prices, I decided to go with: "Patriot PDC2G3200LLK 2GB". They were $195 and had a $45 mail in rebate (150.80 after rebate) with timings of 2-3-2-5 which is equivalent to Corsairs priced at over $300! I got Patriots before so I like em. I almost went with OCZ OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K which is almost the same price and couldnt go wrong with it, but in the end went with Patriot since the promotion/sale was better.
For HD, I intent to use the same HD's I had for my gaming system, which is 4 x WD Raptors 360GD SATA drives in RAID-0. I had another 2 already in my workstation, so I ended up buying 2 more so my workstation also have 4 of these, along with my gaming system. This way I wont have to re-install Windows XP twice when I pass down the old gaming rig to be my workstation.
For Video card, I went with the XFX Nvidia 7950 GX2 Extreme Edition. I I actually am bias towards BFG because they are the few that offer liftetime warranty, and overclocked cards. This time around they didnt offer an OC'd version of the 7950, and they had no running promotions... all sites I found were selling them for over $600. The cheapest I found was on zipzoomfly.com for $599.99 with free shipping. Then I saw many promotion for XFX and i went to check their sites and found they also offered Lifetime warranty and also had good reviews. Found 2 on ebay selling for $519 and $569. Discover the one for $519 was equivalent to the BFG at 500mhz core clock, and then the $569 was their extreme edition clocked at 520mhz! Well I really didnt care for the clock speed, and went for the $519, but couldnt win that auction. So ended up bidding and winning the $569 version. So still cheaper than online stores, and I got the fastest single PCIe slot card up-to-date!
I was also shopping for the Ageai but decided to wait. Not many games out there really supported it. Just a few, and a few more coming out. The pricepoint for Ageai now really isn't attractive, so I decided to save a few bucks and opt out. When there is more games and if there is a advantage buying one later, it will probably be a lot cheaper too. So I'll wait on this one. Another reason is my SLi'd BFG7800OC GT already chews up most games I throw at it. the 7950 gx2 should be faster than those. However if you absolutely must own the fastest of fastest rigs that includes the fastest video card setup, include this card with your purchase along with spending an extra $250 for it.
Finally the last piece, the power supply unit. I couldnt re-use my old one. Because it doesnt work with these socket 939 mobos. U needed a 24pin ATX power, and the current workstation PSU is 20pin. This forced me to shop around. Now that I'm passing down my gaming rig, I wouldnt need one for my workstation, but I would need one for my new gaming rig. Considering price points, promotions, and performance, I dediced to go with the 600W Cooler Master. I was actually looking for an Ultra... but they had no promotion that matched the cooler master. I spent $69.99 on it with another $30 mail-in-rebate at zipzoomfly.com.
So far I think I'm done. I am hoping I dont need to buy another soundcard. Here's my list for those who also am interested on building what I build:
Thermaltake CL-P0024 Pure Copper +Arctic Silver 5 +2 x Vantec Stealth 8cm ----------------------- = 68.83 (at directron.com)
Coolermaster 713001180 eXtreme Power 600W Power ($69.99) + Patriot PDC2G3200LLK 2GB ($195.80) ----------------------- = 266.79 (zipzoomfly.com)
2 x Refurb WD360GD 36GB raptors ----------------------- = 131.96 (ebay)
XFX Nvidia 7950 GX2 Extreme Edition ----------------------- = 579.98 (ebay) (cheapest retail price would be a BFG version at zipzoomfly.com)
Above is the cheapest price I can find at pricewatch/ebay. And I also looked at tigerdirect.com, monarchcomputers.com, newegg.com. They reflect July 22.
Either way, My purchase isnt too bad. $313 for the mobo and CPU and if I get 2.8ghz+ I'll be right up there with FX-62 performance for $313 which is about the same ballpark as the equivalent priced conroe. Thats only *IF* i can achieve 2.8ghz and beyond.
