First Time System Build

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 10:58 am

J, As to your cpomponent list. I would pass on the 4000+, the 130nm chips burn hotter and don't overclock as well as the 90nm parts, go with a winchester (3500) or wait a few weeks for the Venice 3800+) you will save a ton of money on the CPU and the cooling....the 3500 is a great processor for overclocking too, so when you are ready for that, you have everything you need.
I have never heard anyone say anything negative about silverstone....except that they are pricey, very good quality stuff.
Other than that, you're components look pretty good.
If you had the money you might want to check out the OCZ VX Gold 4000 memory, with the DFI board you can run that stuff up to 260FSB at 2-2-2-5, which is incredible...the drawback is you need to put 3.3V through it to do that, and the DFI NF4 is the only board that will do that without a mof

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 11:53 am

some stores are shipping venice as soon as the 18th so i would make sure the chip you buy ends in "BP" or "BPBOX"

jtm55 · Post by **jtm55** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 1:22 pm

Hi Capper,

I'm going to take your advice & go with AMD's 3500+. As to the Memory, OCZ VX Gold 4000, do I need the SLI version of DFI's Lanparty to utilize it?
Let me know so I can make the necessary adjustments, as there is a big price difference between the 4000+ & the 3500+.

Thanks for looking out for me, I really appreciate it.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:02 pm

no problem man....there actually is a pretty big difference in price between the 3500 and the 4000....but you can O/C the CPUs to about the same level, the 3500 is probably the best value for the money.
The VX memory should work with both the Ultra and SLI, i only reviewed the SLI, but Yves has the Ultra.....I am positive that it supports the 4V memory. We'll get you hooked up

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:29 pm

Hell yeah it does, you will have no problems runing the VX on the DFI. Just remember to unplug the power supply when you switch the jumper from 3v to 4v or you will fry the mobo, memory and cpu... nate

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:44 pm

yeah, if you use the VX, and switch the memory voltage jumper to the 4v setting, make sure you follow the instructions closely in the manual....A little story.
I have this really good friend, who just ruined his entire setup because he didn't follow the instructions....burned up his CPU, board, memory, and PSU......what a dumb ass.

gvblake22 · Post by **gvblake22** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 5:57 pm

capper5016 wrote:I just finished helping a person who was having video card issues, while he originally thought his 430W PSU was more than adequate, he quickly found out that it was the root of all his problems.

OH NO!!! I am runnin' my Athlon XP setup on an Antec True430!!!

HAHAHA, I do plan on getting the Fortron Blue Storm 500w to accompany the VNF4 Ultra and 3200 Venice

As for you jtm, Capper's advice about the 3500 is good; I couldn't have said it better myself!

Waiting a few weeks for Venice to arrive would be your best bet though ;)

The reason I have a thing for that Fortron is it is a PSU that comes from a reputible company, has dual 12v rails with sufficient Amperage, has PCI-Express and the 24 pin power connection, fully sleaved cables, AND is less than $100. Its pretty darn hard to beat a deal like that!

Good luck with your build and be sure to let us know how it goes!! You'll definately have fun with it, thats some top notch hardware you have picked out!!!!

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 6:13 pm

It's going to be hit or miss getting a Venice for awhile....as companies are going to be depleting their stock of Winnies first.
As to the PSU, I am hearing a lot of really good things about that Forton PSUs

jtm55 · Post by **jtm55** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 6:19 pm

Hi Guys,

I've decided to go with the Maxtor Maxline III 300GB Hard Drive with the 16MB buffer.

I asked this before but in reference to the 4000+, but as I'm going with the 3500+ will the retail cooler be sufficient or do I need a after market cooler.

I'm thinking that either Thermalright or Zalman. Let me know what you think.

My Thanks to all of you who have been so kind in helping me.

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 6:24 pm

I always vote thermalright

but the zalman is good if your not going to OC much.

gvblake22 · Post by **gvblake22** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 6:32 pm

jtm55 wrote:Hi Guys,

I've decided to go with the Maxtor Maxline III 300GB Hard Drive with the 16MB buffer.

I asked this before but in reference to the 4000+, but as I'm going with the 3500+ will the retail cooler be sufficient or do I need a after market cooler.

I'm thinking that either Thermalright or Zalman. Let me know what you think.

My Thanks to all of you who have been so kind in helping me.

That Maxtor is a nice choice, I'm sure it won't let you down!

As for cooling, again, the stock HS/F would be sufficient (givent that you purchased a retail "Box" CPU) but if you were looking for something more (that is either quieter or cools better or you bought and OEM processor or all of the above) then most people would agree that Thermalright's products are top of the line. I have also heard many people swear by the Zalman 7000Cu or 7700Cu or whichever is which. Both make great coolers and either would probably suit you just fine

Just remember that you usually almost always have to buy your own fan to put on the Thermalright HS/F's so keep that in mind when you make your purchase.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 7:31 pm

I use the Maxtor DiamondMax 10 and swear by it, best HDD I have ever used.
As to cooling.....btween the two, i swear by thermalright, in my opinion, the best air cooled solution available....you could also go all out and get a good kit like the Corsair Cool. Water Cooling is somethi ng you might look into with that case. while extremely solid, CoolerMaster cases have horrible air flow and ventilation (except the CM Stacker and the Centurion 5).

jtm55 · Post by **jtm55** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 11:05 am

Hi Capper,

I wanted to know if the Thermalright XP-120 was compatable with the DFI Lanparty nForce4 Ultra board. I checked on Thermalrights site & it appears to be okay, just wanted to be sure.

Also, would 1GB of the OCZ EL Platinum Rev2 Memory be sufficent?

I'm really excited about this build & am not sure if I'll be able to wait for Venice.

Thank you for all of your help, as I really appreciate it.

gvblake22 · Post by **gvblake22** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 11:36 am

Yeah, I would say the XP-120 should work fine. It just says the heatpipes will block the first PCI-Express slot but that slot looks like it is an x8 slot and there are two other x16 slots for graphics cards and another x1 slot for whatever other add-on card you would most likely have that happens to be PCI-Express.

That OCZ PC-3200 Platinum rev.2 RAM is great stuff and I doubt you will be disappointed!

Good luck!

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 12:22 pm

It fits but just check your clearence if your vid card has a large heatsink or retention bracket on the back then you need to point the heat pipes over your memory and hope they are low profile enough not to hit.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:09 am

I personally use Corsair 4400C25PT, but OCZ also makes some great memory, and the stuff you mentioned works very well.
Let us know how the system build is going

jtm55 · Post by **jtm55** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 10:59 am

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you know that I've ordered my CPU, the AMD Athlon64 3500+ (Venice) which will ship 29 April from Monarch Computer.

The excitement is building more & more. Will definetly let you know how I make out once my processor arrives.

At the risk of repeating myself, Thank You to everyone who has taken their time to help me.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 2:37 pm

No problem at all, these are great people who are always willing to help. If you ever need anything, just ask. AS always, tell your friends about us.

jtm55 · Post by **jtm55** » Wed May 11, 2005 11:17 am

Hi All,

Sorry I've been away for a while however, my parts came & I've assembled my FIRST computer. My system is running at stock speed right now as I have Sandra 2005 running. My System specs are as follows

AMD Athlon64 3500+ Venice
DFI LanParty nForce 4 DR
Thermalright XP 120
Maxtor Maxline II 300 GB
Plextor PX 716A
Pioneer DVD 120S 16X
SoundBlaster Audigy ZS
OCZ EL DDR PC3200 Platinum Rev 2
Coolermaster ATC 101
Sony CPD-G520P 21" CRT
EVGA Nvidia GeForce 6800 GT 256 MB
Mitsumi 3.5 Floppy
Klipsh ProMedia 5.1

As soon as I figure out how, I'll do that cool graphical post that validates all of the settings and such.
Also once I've verified that my system is indeed stable I'll try to Overclock it a bit.

deadly-app · Post by **deadly-app** » Wed May 11, 2005 11:22 am

Heh, I found this thread a little late, but I would have gone with the corsair xpert series. Not only are they blingin but they run 2-2-2-5 timings at ddr400 speeds.

I got my single 512 stick up to ddr540(htt 270) @ 3-3-3-6 timings(probably will run 2.5-3-3-6, but my board doesnt feel like listing 2.5), with a cpu running at 270x7.5

I'm not sure what timings the ocz runs though

Oh, did i forget to mention, Awesome system!!

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