Advice on a mobo

[mattjgalloway]

Hey,

I'm considering using the cash I get for working this christmas to buy myself a nice new amd64 system. Last year I bought a radeon 9600xt and I would rather not make that redundant! But any of the new mobos coming out include PCI-Express without an AGP slot of course! Does anyone know of a good mobo which might have both :-S? I know it's a push, and probably not going to happen, but if anyone has any advice?

Also, if I do end up having to get a new graphics card aswell I'd probably get the new Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe because it has 4 SATA slots, SLI, and used nForce 4 and I found nForce 2 to be fine on my current PC with Linux. But does anyone know of a good graphics card I could put with this? I'm starting to think that I'm not playing games much more, so a low end GeForce maybe? I'd still play Half-Life 2 in windows 2000/xp, so it's got to be able to do that. Any ideas?!

And on a general note, anyone in the UK know of the cheapest place for me to get all this? I'm trying ebuyer, dabs and a local store, the prices seem to vary a lot!
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AMD64 3200+, 1024MB RAM, Gentoo Linux
MacBook Core Duo, 1024MB RAM, Leopard

[flazz]

i got a GeFroceFX 5200 for like $50. it works fine in ut2003 and ET.

[baldass_newbie]

TigerDirect has a nice deal here:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1133509&CatId=1683

It's @ US$300 after rebate, don't know about Euro shipping, etc. [/url]
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Even though they drink, they're still human beings. - Batman

[mattjgalloway]

Thanks for the replies.

Unfortunately that bundle you gave me the link for is the wrong mobo, I'd like to get the A8N, it's got 4 SATA onboard and looks real nice. Also, it's from an american company and I'm in the UK. Doh!

I can't find any GeForce 5200 on PCI-Express - is your card PCI-Express or AGP? The point of me getting a new card is that the A8N mobo has only PCI-Express slots...
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AMD64 3200+, 1024MB RAM, Gentoo Linux
MacBook Core Duo, 1024MB RAM, Leopard

[flazz]

sorry its an agp

[mattjgalloway]

Grrr yeh thought so.

The cheapest PCI-Express I can see is 5750. Although I've noticed a 6600 for under £100, which looks nice!?
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AMD64 3200+, 1024MB RAM, Gentoo Linux
MacBook Core Duo, 1024MB RAM, Leopard

[racoontje]

The good thing about the 6600 is that it is really based on the 6xxx architecture, which doesn't have that stoopid memory controller problem. [no bugs or anything, but the memory controller isn't capable of giving the GPU the data it wants and needs]

Also, in WXP, you can softmod it to a better card. Well, you used to. Nowadays nVidia lasers the extra stuff so we can't mod it anymore. For the best really, remember that some of the chips that go to these cheaper cars have chips that are inferior and aren't capable of handling the high standard of more expensive cards.

[mattjgalloway]

I'm considering going for the Asus version of the 6600, which I guess would be fine as they are a good make!

So, so far my shopping list is:

Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe (when it comes out in the UK!)
AMD Athlon64 3000 boxed for HSF
Asus 6600 PCIe graphics card
160gb Seagate SATA150 drive

Woah my local computer store will be happy with me!
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AMD64 3200+, 1024MB RAM, Gentoo Linux
MacBook Core Duo, 1024MB RAM, Leopard

[leha]

Maybe you should wait a little bit, check this article

AMD projects January Shock'n'Awe

[mattjgalloway]

Presumably that will only affect the CPU, so if I go ahead and get the system now, then when these new cores come out I can just upgrade the CPU - will be a bit annoying, but I really want to get my 64-bit done soon!!!
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AMD64 3200+, 1024MB RAM, Gentoo Linux
MacBook Core Duo, 1024MB RAM, Leopard

[scharkalvin]

TigerDirect has a nice deal here:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1133509&CatId=1683

It's @ US$300 after rebate, don't know about Euro shipping, etc. [/url]
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Nice, I just ordered one (still in stock). The price is actually
about $60 higher thanks to shipping and sales tax though.
That 3400+ cpu is NOT a standard AMD item an was ONLY available as an OEM cpu (guess it's a 3500+ with the FSB speed set a notch lower at 1.6ghz). New Egg has a warning that the bios might need to be flashed, so I hope they are shipping with the latest bios now.
Anybody else tried this package?

[mattjgalloway]

Ooo yet another USA based url link...

Please people - look at the location of the person asking - I can't really use those USA sites for ordering to the UK can I.

But thanks for posting, much appreciated
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AMD64 3200+, 1024MB RAM, Gentoo Linux
MacBook Core Duo, 1024MB RAM, Leopard

[dsb]

bump the mobo thread

Anyone have one of these Asus A8N-SLI's yet and have a review?

Apparently, Falcon Northwest makes a system with one in it for about $7000+

Alienware has a system that uses a MSI board that is not on MSI's webpages yet.

[mattjgalloway]

The A8N-SLI isn't out in the UK yet - I'll be the first to get one from my local supplier. I'm planning on taking photos of my system build and installing Gentoo64 to show people, so you'll be able to see the mobo there and I'll list any good/bad points!
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AMD64 3200+, 1024MB RAM, Gentoo Linux
MacBook Core Duo, 1024MB RAM, Leopard

[trexmaster]

[mattjgalloway]

Yeh I'll keep you all posted.

I'm planning on taking photos and screenshots of my new system and posting a website about my pc build for people to see how it works!

Same back to you - merry christmas!
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AMD64 3200+, 1024MB RAM, Gentoo Linux
MacBook Core Duo, 1024MB RAM, Leopard

[dsb]

I've been testing some shopping carts, one at www.atacom.com now has this board.

asus A8N-SLI - $289.95
corsair TWINX1024-3200LLPT 2x512 - $311.95
amd64 athlon 3000+ socket939 - $169.95

(processor easy to upgrade later as soon as those fx's prices come down)

What kind of power supply (preferrably quiet) would you recommend for this board, if eventually going to a bigger processor and sli setup? I like the reviews of the seasonic super tornado's but doesn't look like they make one more than 400w.

If I go with this rig, I would get the lower end processor and one vid card for now, upgrade as I go

[malloc]

Depending on wich gfx you're gonna use i'd say at least a 450W psu.
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--> Linux ### 2.6.11-ck2 #1 Sat Mar 12 20:21:30 WET 2005 i686 GNU/Linux <--

[mattjgalloway]

I'm getting a Nexus 400W power supply on recommendation from people here and a guy who works at Nexus

Basically you need to remember that this will be 400W true power, whereas most quote a very bad number which is almost made up.
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AMD64 3200+, 1024MB RAM, Gentoo Linux
MacBook Core Duo, 1024MB RAM, Leopard

[dsb]

newegg.com finally has the board in inventory, so I'm about ready to start my shopping spree

I was just wondering, mattjgalloway, what other components are you considering?

My list:
asus A8N-SLI

Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series, Low Latency (Twin Pack) 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200

AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512KB L2 Cache, Socket 939 64-bit Processor - Retail

ASUS nVIDIA GeForce 6600 Video Card, 256MB DDR, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, PCI-Express, Model "EN6600/TD/256"

SeaSonic Super Silencer 460W ATX Power Supply, Model "Super Silencer 460W"

ANTEC Silver Aluminum Performance 1 Series ATX Mid-Tower Case with Side Window Panel, Swiveling Front Control Panel features LED Display, Model "P-160WF"

undecided about a HD since I have a relatively new sata 120, but I may as well go all the way and get fresh one/two+ (raid) for this!

[mattjgalloway]