which opteron?

[cybermaniac]

hi guyz

im lookin to spend about £300 on a processor.

ive heard the opteron 170 is quite nice...

what im after is overclockability, dual core, socket 939 and 64bit (as i heard opterons do 64bit and 32bit simultaneously, im quite keen to go with them)

ne ideas, also what stepping should i be looking for? ive heard the CCBWE 0550 stepping is quite good for the 170s...is this true at all?

and the last question.....what ram should i be looking for to compliment (for eg, an opteron 170) on a DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR EXPERT?

thank you very much for any useful replies

 

[FragTek]

170 fits the bill perfectly for ya mate, great processor!

As for memory there is a LOT of good memory out there. It all depends on what you're doing I suppose. Do you want more capacity w/ looser timings or would you like a more mid-level capacity with uber-tight timings? Gaming or engineering?

 

[cybermaniac]

id like this to be a gaming system.

atm ive got a 3.6ghz p4 with HT disabled (it sucked on the older games that didnt take advantage of it), 1gb of melco RAM (3rd party crappy ram).

ive heard the 2-3-3-6 timings are quite nice, then again hearing and knowing what it means are 2 diff things

i was also thinking about getting the WaterChill High End CPU/VGA/Chipset Cooling Kit - 120mm Radiator/Fan

ne views on that matter?

 

[Eguy]

For ram I recommend Crucial ballistix tracers or some good UTT mushkin ram on the Expert

 

[|3ourne]

Gskill HZ or TeamGroup 2gb PC4000 .

Both have Samsung UCCC chips which seem to be doing around 290mhz at 3-4-4-8.

Opteron dualies are good. But if you want value for money then nothing beats the 3800+ . W/e you do make sure u flash the expert to the latest bios before overclocking or u run the risk of killing your cpu.

Ballistix are good but they are going EOL. Crucial said that they are not going to make them nemore. If you want micron ICS then I suggest Teamgroup 2gb kit based on micron ICs. They have the timing as 3-3-3-8.

 

[FarFarAway]

170 and either GSkill HZ or that good stuff |3ourne said

Though My Ballistix are fine with me

 

[cybermaniac]

do ne of u know nething about decent watercooling for the 170 (i want to get it to about fx60 speeds) for about £100-£150?

 

[Tec]

You should hit 2600 easy with an air cooling. In the mean time i ll lookout for waterkit reviews to see which performs better in your price range.

 

[FarFarAway]

do ne of u know nething about decent watercooling for the 170 (i want to get it to about fx60 speeds) for about £100-£150?

I think Frags or Jim are the best men for the w/c aspect

And you'll hit 2.6GHz on air

 

[FragTek]

To touch on RAM for a second... I've fallen in love with my Ballistix. At 2.85v they do 300mhz stable and error free with timings of 3-3-3-8! Made for some uber good SuperPi results on a DC proccy.

As far as watercooling if you want to get the most out of it you will want to hand build a system from the ground up. Watercooling kits are usually not the best way to go and are no better than the best aircooling (with the exception of a few kits).

If you do want to go with a kit, check out Swiftech's kits. IIRC they have a kit with a nice rad, the Storm (or Apogee) cpu block, a decent pump, and 1/2" tubing. Check them out first if you don't see anything you like then let us know and we can give you a spec sheet for the right parts to build up a custom watercooled beast.

 

[|3ourne]

swiftech uses 3/8" ID tubing frag. But I agree , you should build your own wcooling setup. Look out for my project. Im getting one soon . The parts are in the mail. Ill post the pics of the projects once I get them all .

 

[cybermaniac]

If you do want to go with a kit, check out Swiftech's kits. IIRC they have a kit with a nice rad, the Storm (or Apogee) cpu block, a decent pump, and 1/2" tubing. Check them out first if you don't see anything you like then let us know and we can give you a spec sheet for the right parts to build up a custom watercooled beast.

i would love a spec sheet if you could.

the main things are to cool the CPU and GPU, and if ne1 thinks its worthwhile, the Mobo chip as well.

appreciate all the help so far guyz

ps. i thought the opteron needed ECC ram...

is this right? as if it is surely i wont be able to use the g.skills :/

maybe im just getting confused and u can use either. plz clarify

also would it be better to get the HS or the HZ model of the g.skill?