Halo 1 & 2 for PC
This topic has moved here: Subject: Highest End PC
  • Subject: Highest End PC
Subject: Highest End PC
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I was just wondering what the highest end AMD processor and board would be. Best RAM? I just got a job for the summer so I'm thinking about just building a top of the line PC...

  • 05.22.2005 1:18 AM PDT
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I think I found what I was looking for...this is what I'm going to save up for this summer:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 FX55 Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1681910349 6

Video Card:(DUAL on SLI) eVGA Geforce 6800Ultra 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1681413022 2

With that kind of horse power I'm definetely going to need a cooling system:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1683511811 1

All of this on my Asus A8N SLI board...(I already have 2 Gigs of OCZ High Performance RAM on it)

  • 05.22.2005 1:59 AM PDT
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Yeah, I don't really need new hard drives but if I did I would probably get this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1682214416 0

  • 05.22.2005 9:19 AM PDT
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1. FX-55...compared to the other FX's, it's pretty crappy. It's the only one in the series made by 130nm process, not 90nm, so it runs much hotter and has trouble overclocking. You're better off getting an FX-53, saving money, and overclocking it past what the FX-55 can. Either that, or you can wait for AMD dual cores and get an X2 4800. That'll be insane.

2. GPU looks good. ATi's MVP may hit before you buy the parts, and if it does get it. Dual X850XT PE's will completely own a dual-6800 Ultra. However, that's assuming they have everything go off without a hitch. Your choice, might be safest to stick with SLI.

3. Hard drive, if you want insane speeds and such, get the Raptor...or go with SCSI. I won't go into detail, but the Ultra320 speed is 320MB/s, while a Raptor has about 50MB/s. That's fast. I have two 9GB ones on a server and it loads everything and sends out data like I've never seen. However, it is really expensive, about 4x as expensive per GB, plus you need a PCI controller card, and, well, unless you have a server board with a PCI-X slot, the bandwidth will be hurt by the slow and narrow PCI.


If you want an insane pc, you can get a Tyan PCI-express SLI board, dual- or quad- opteron 250's, and the SCSI hard drives nix the card as server boards have it onboard. Then again, you'd need to gt registered/ecc memory, which is expensive as well.

So yeah, probably the bomb setup right now is:

FX-53
Asus SLI
2GB OCZ
Raptor
2x6800 Ultra

But, by year's end:
X2 4800
[board?]
2GB DDR400
Raptor/Ultra320
2xX850XT PE

  • 05.22.2005 9:35 AM PDT
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This FX55 runs at 90nm

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1681910352 6

Thanks for the info, do you think I will need a liquid cooling system for all of this?

BTW: What does a PCI Controller Card do?

[Edited on 5/22/2005]

  • 05.22.2005 3:11 PM PDT
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Also, can you give me instructions on how to overclock?

  • 05.22.2005 3:31 PM PDT
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sld, youre thinking of the clawhammer core.

theres a new core, that he just showed you, called san diego. it is 90 nm ;)

  • 05.22.2005 3:41 PM PDT
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Ah, so the San Diegos came out with the Venice cores? Had no idea, probably because I don't snoop around at articles about FX's :P

Liquid cooling is never a necessity. And with Venice/SD cores they run cooler than the previous gen, though the San Diegos are hot nevertheless.

I'd say just normal cooling, like an XP-90 heatsink with fan, or something to that effect.

Controller cards go into a pci slot to control an scsi drive...if you don't know much about them just scratch the idea and get a raptor.

Overclocking...I can only give you a synopsis. Go to guru3d.com and other overclocking sites to find articles.

What do you want to OC?

The FX processors have their multiplier unlocked, which means good OC abilities.

FSB: system speed, in this case 200MHz stock
Multiplier: FSB x multiplier = CPU clock
Hypertransport: HT multiplier x FSB x 2 = Hypertransport, and hypertransport must be < about ~2000 to ~2200

Basically, in your BIOS, jack up the FSB 5MHz at a time and run a torture test like Pi or two runs of PC Mark 04. Keep doing that until you get unstable, then add one increment of voltage to the CPU. If that doesn't do anything and it's still unstable, add a bit of voltage to the RAM.

But, since you have an FX...put the multiplier down to like, 6x, and pump the FSB up, slowly, taking into consideration the hypertransport must remain below 2000, ideally, 2200 absolute max. Adjust ram voltages and slowly relax timings and such, until you have your max FSB. For OCZ, PQI, or any TCCD/Brainpower RAM, you can probably reach 280+. I have gotten the FSB on my pc past 290, but at that point I run out of voltage to use on my RAM :(

Once you reach your max FSB, increase the CPU multiplyer by .5x each time and run torture tests.

When you finally have what you think is the absolute max, run an overnight test of Pi or some similar program. If you wake up and see no errors, great. If you do, bring it down 5-10MHz and try again.

That's a short summary. Best for you to go to an overclocking website. I will say that a good CPU copper heatsink and good case cooling are musts for overclocking.

[Edited on 5/22/2005]

  • 05.22.2005 3:55 PM PDT
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Two things:

1. you won't need to OC if you get an FX-55
2. OCing can void your warrenty. People OC to get more out of their older parts most of the time. If you screw up, you may melt or damage your CPU and then you just lost a grand.

  • 05.22.2005 4:47 PM PDT
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Melt your CPU? That'd be about 100+ degrees C for sure, and PC failsafe is at 70C. Most people OC from the get-go. If you're going to do it, why wait? It does give a huge performance increase. Instead of getting a 3800 or 4000, I got a 3200 and Oc'd it. Saves money.

OCing really doesn't effect the lifespan of a CPU much. they're meant to last 20+ years. so maybe they last 10...like you'll be using it then?

  • 05.22.2005 5:17 PM PDT
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Yeah, I don't think I'm going to overclock, I was just kind of interested in it. I probably wont be able to get the FX55 until the middle of July just because I'm basically starting from 0 money and saving up to get 900 from work.

  • 05.22.2005 6:06 PM PDT
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i oc my cpu, but after all, it is a little 1.5 ghz boy aint it ;)

  • 05.22.2005 7:57 PM PDT
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hmm i havent OC'd my pc..
i dont know why.. never
got round to it..
hm actually thinkin of doing it rite now...
wel.. lets see.. ive got a 1.8 Ghz how
faster do ya think itll get?

  • 05.22.2005 8:05 PM PDT
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What core, what socket?

http://www.lavalys.com and download Everest if you don't know.

[Edited on 5/22/2005]

  • 05.22.2005 8:29 PM PDT
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I did put "or damage" in there. If you don't feel comfortable, do OC is all I was trying to say, in my longwinded, can't-tell-what-I-mean kinda way.

  • 05.23.2005 8:44 AM PDT