New Green Setup Advice Please! :)

[stocky]

My dothan rig seems to have died, I don't know what it is, but when I returned it wouldn't work, I think it's over. I need a computer to get on with my CAD, but would like to do a fair amount of benching.

I'm thinking of turning green... could I have some recommendations from the benchers (or people who have/ had AMD) please.

I'm talking about ordering in the next few days. I'll be using the Stacker and strong peltier cooling with a PA120.3.

What about the DFi NF4 boards?

What CPU, these opterons look pretty good for overclockability?

 

[DaGuv]

If your after an opteron I'd say go for a 148 (or 146) CABYE or CABNE as they will o/c much better, try to avoid anything newer especially CABGEs. A very good place for optys atm is ebay about £90-120 for a good stepping. Most are good for over 3.0Ghz on air, so a strong pelt wouldn't hurt lol. As far as motherboards, i would go for either the DFI SLI-DR or the new SLI-DR Expert, Or if you want crossfire then the RDX200 is a good'n.

This is all my opinions though, I'm sure others will have other suggestions, all good lol. Good Luck mate.

 

[boardy]

Don't go for the EXPERT, chances are you'll get a duff board and that's fun over. Stick to the SLI-DR and your pretty much laughing, they like low temps as we had one under LN2 so no worries there.

As for CPU, if you can afford it, get an X2 4800+, they overclock nicely and perform really nicely aswell. If you can't afford that, I'd stay away from the Optys as they seem to be getting much more common with the cold bugs now so chances are it won't like your pelts. Of course you could grab an FX which are awsome as you know

Boardy

 

[stocky]

So you say Opty isn't that good a choice for the pelt? Even one with good stepping off the bay?

Also - what is the best single PCI-e graphics to go for at the mo? (will be under a very powerful peltier!) 7800GTX or this xfire (I know nothing of, at present!)

 

[justin]

my opty was fine with the cold bug, i say go for whatever is cheaper, if your not multi tasking the opty would be the better choice imo (for the time being at least)

 

[boardy]

my opty was fine with the cold bug, i say go for whatever is cheaper, if your not multi tasking the opty would be the better choice imo (for the time being at least)

This may be true for yours but the latest ones and I'm sure mav will back me up here seem to have the cold bug. Getting one off fleabay is an option but even then you run the risk of having a bugged one.

If you can find a Week 13 FX55 you'll have a very nice chip which will do nice things under those pelts of yours. The X2's don't seem to have probs until about -35 either so they should be good to go.

The ones atm are the 7800GTX SLi setup but with the latest G71 core coming soon you'll get a load of ppl selling the GTX's I recon. I'm just goin with GTX's until at least the next gen cards.

Boardy

 

[stocky]

So compared to the 7800's the xfires wern't any good after all?

 

[maverik-sg1]

Nothing wrong with teh crossfire set-up but the board sux big time (IMHO of course) no SATA2 support and even suckier USB support.

An FX of the flea will be cold bug free and with unlocked multiplier means no worries for running 1:1 with high FSB

I agree with Boardy that the SLI-DR is a great weapon of choice for overclocking and its a better all rounder (as in not as twitchy) as the expert board.

Heard some good things about the Asus premium and the a8n32 but the DFI is the one getting all the top 3dmark scores in the ORB and you get a 4v DIMM so you can really push some old skool BH5 if u get some 265Mhz at 2-2-2-5 timings - massive pelt cooled overclocks and a great balance between bandwidth and tight timings make it the best you could hope for from and AMD set-up.

FX55's (of no particular stepping) can be gotten for a song now (£200 cheaper than a used 57).

Mav