New System Dilema

**Rexmonster** · 28th May 2005

Hi,

I am in the process of building a new system.

I have chosen the Athlon 64 (939) 3200, an ABit AV8 m'board, a Levicom 450w power supply which leaves the memory. I am on a limited budget, and the prices vary greatly.

Somebody recommended buying 4 sticks of 512mb Elixir which are currently only �21 plus VAT each, or going for Kingston 2x1gb which is around �160 plus VAT.

As there is a difference of �80 between these two options, i just wondered what you guys think? Am i better to buy the Elixir and spend more money on a higher spec CPU?

The system will be used for a mixture of work (Photoshop, Fireworks, Dreamweaver etc.) and games. My graphics card is currently a 128mb 9600 Radeon, hence the reason i have not chosen a PCI express board.

Cheers guys,

Rexmonster...

**t_k** · 28th May 2005

id go for the Elixir 4 x 512mb and get the bigger cpu 3400 or 3600
i have a xp64 3200 on a av8 deluxe aboard with 1gig ram
and tbh is so stable its unreal
ive at the same time been 1.unraring a dvd 2.burning a iso 3. leeching full tilt (370kb/s) and surfing the net and all at the same time.

if i tryd the above on my p4 1.7 it would have died on me

**b!lly** · 28th May 2005

is it realy essential that u get 2 gig of ram.if not i would personally get 1 gig of ram and spend the extra on a good graphics card

**neo2810** · 28th May 2005

I'd buy Crucial Ram, it's pretty secure...

These are compatible with your mobo:

CT2KIT6464Z40B - 1GB kit (512MBx2) - �68.19 inc. VAT
CT2KIT12864Z40B - 2GB kit (1GBx2) - �147.94 inc. VAT

**pumpman** · 29th May 2005

you wont need more thn 1 gig in your system in some cases makes it slower get 1 gig of decent pc3200 low latency ram stick with the 3200 processor you can overclock it easily and get a better power supply sometthing like a Tagan 480 for instance look round the various forums on the web planty of peeps are ditching their winchesters to get the newer venice cores , but in real world terms there is nothing in it so youll get a bargain there for instance i paid �85 for a winchester 3200 delivered �50 for the asus a8v deluxe
hth

**Rexmonster** · 30th May 2005

Appreciate the thoughts guys.

Think i will go with 2x512mb, either Kingston or Crucial, and go for a better CPU.

B!lly, you mention about the graphics card, do you think its worth upgrading to a PCI express graphics card, and if so what do you recommend for a reasonable price, somthing like the 6600GT?

Cheers,

Rexmonster...

**b!lly** · 30th May 2005

i would personally upgrade the gcard,the 9600 is ok but if u upgrading the system then i would get a new card.
i have a 9800pro in a amd64 3000+ with 1gb ram
and if i where gonna upgrade i would opt for pci express
the 6600gt is a good card.on a the same par with the 9800pro.
but you could always go for the Asus A8N-SLi nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) and get one 6600gt then if u wanted get another 6600gt and sli them for some serious graphics power.
u can pick up a sli compatible 6600gt for around �100-130.
check out this place as they have some good prices http://www.o v e r c l o c k e r s . c o u .k
(without the spaces in between)
hope this helps,let us know how u get on
b!lly

**neo2810** · 31st May 2005

Originally Posted by b!lly

i would personally upgrade the gcard,the 9600 is ok but if u upgrading the system then i would get a new card.
i have a 9800pro in a amd64 3000+ with 1gb ram
and if i where gonna upgrade i would opt for pci express
the 6600gt is a good card.on a the same par with the 9800pro.
but you could always go for the Asus A8N-SLi nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) and get one 6600gt then if u wanted get another 6600gt and sli them for some serious graphics power.
u can pick up a sli compatible 6600gt for around �100-130.
check out this place as they have some good prices http://www.o v e r c l o c k e r s . c o u .k
(without the spaces in between)
hope this helps,let us know how u get on
b!lly

Rex, take Billy's advice and go for the Asus A8N-SLi mobo. I've got 1 and it's a very good board. One thing you have to rember though, is that if you buy a Gfx card now (6600GT for example), and then decide at a later date to SLi with another, the second card you buy has got to be EXACTLY the same chipset and firmware version as the first, so if the firmware has been upgraded, you have to flash the original, which, in most cases, voids the warrenty (which is only relevant if it's less than 12 months old).