[Pau11y]

Athlon64 3700+ 1mb L2 (San Diego core) $320.00
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum $90.00
1gb Corsair PC3200 at 2-2-2-5 $190.00
Dual Seagate 120 GB RAID 0 $180.00
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb $160.00
NEC 3520 DVD+/-RW $44.00
LiteOn 52x24x52 CDRW $25.00 (had it already)
All in a LanBoy mini tower aluminum case mod’d w/ extra 120mm case fan blowing directly on the CPU fan and RAM sticks $95.00
Powered by Rosewill 550W PSU (friggin' thing weighs more than a cinder block) $55.00

Total in at around $1160.00.

This thing is friggin' off the charts on PCPitStop.com for a 2.2 ghz processor, coming in at a score of 2081. The only thing I can get better is the HDD - a pair of 10K Raptors in RAID 0. Based on Everst diag software, the CPU hovers around 33 degrees idle and can crank up to 50 degrees encoding DivX (at around 20 frames/sec at 576x384 to 24 fps). **Note, a 1/32" copper plate was added between the CPU and HS/fan to disperse heat better** I'm pretty damn psyched that under $1200.00 can match up so close to Alienwares $4000.00+ boxes...and I haven't even started push the limits by O/Cing anything. And, the sucker glows blue

 

[Changleen]

Is DDR 3200 RAM the fastest still? I'm kinda out now of it a bit but I thought there was a bunch of DDR2 **** now?
More importantly, what monitor are you using?

 

[binary visions]

Nice spec. Would (and did) go with a different video card myself, since ATI can't write a good driver to save their lives.

My spec was:

Athlon64 3000+ (1.8ghz, Winchester core), overclocked to about 2.2ghz
Gigabyte K8NF-9, nForce4 chipset
Leadtek GeForce 6600GT 128mb, PCI-e x16
pqi Turbo PC3200 at 2.5-3-3-7
Western Digital 160gb SATA150
Big Antec midtower case
Powered by a Thermaltake TR2 430W power supply

Not quite up to your system spec, of course, but I did spend less than half of what you did - I couldn't spend a lot so I went with a bunch of mediocre components for a bunch of new standards (PCIe, SATA, Socket 939) to ensure upgradability.

I'll have to see how it ranks on that site. I score almost 9500 on 3Dmark03.

Next investment is a good heatsink, but as it is, I can't believe I've pushed it up 400mhz and it still doesn't top 43 degrees under full load for hours using Prime95.

I did hit the limit of my OC, though. Windows won't boot if I push it up any higher. I think it might be my RAM, but the 2 512mb chips only cost me $80.

 

[binary visions]

Is DDR 3200 RAM the fastest still? I'm kinda out now of it a bit but I thought there was a bunch of DDR2 **** now?
More importantly, what monitor are you using?

DDR2 is faster but it's outrageously expensive right now.

 

[Pau11y]

Is DDR 3200 RAM the fastest still? I'm kinda out now of it a bit but I thought there was a bunch of DDR2 **** now?
More importantly, what monitor are you using?

I've got a Dell 20" LCD, the standard one. I also have a 21" CRT sitting there. I guess I could hook 'em both up - work on one and watch TV on the other w/ a turner ehy Better yet, sell the CRT, get another 20" LCD and have more real estate than Trump

I have a gig (2x512) of DDR2, an ATI FireGL 300 (I think that's what it is...) 128mb PCI-E, and another ATI 9800 Pro AGP 8x 128mb sitting around if anyone wants 'em for a deal.
I need to figure out the Neo2 more for overclocking...something about dropping down the multiplier and pump the CPUs FSB... I'm questioning the effectiveness of that copper plate if you're (BV) only getting 48 degrees under full load whilst I'm pegging 50 using Flask encoding DivX (altho I'm pretty sure that's full load too).
What I need to do now is get my grubby li'll hands on a copy of HL2 and see how schmoove it runs on this setup

Edit: I stayed away from PCI-E. My feeling is it still needs to mature a bit as well as drop in price. I started in that direction, but then calculated some $$ and backed away. As for SLI, I was doing that w/ the old Voodoo II cards back in the day. It was nice when it was just about the only game in town. But w/ the current cost of $300.00+ per one good card...GOOD greif!

 

[binary visions]

The copper plate likely isn't doing anything worthwhile. As a matter of fact, all it's doing is keeping more heat right down next to the processor instead of allowing it to hit the fins and be dispersed properly.

The stock cooling device is likely nickel plated copper anyway, so the positive heat transfer characteristics of copper are being retained without your additional plate.

I find the PCIe card to be extrodinary. My Leadtek 6600GT was only $170 which is certainly on par with any equivalent AGP card (and it'll beat the pants off your 9800 Pro ), and holy crap is it fast, not to mention it came with full versions of Thief 2 and Prince of Persia. I have Doom 3 cranked up to its max settings and 1280x960 resolution and get super smooth framerates - pretty great for a card and a system that's not even close to the cutting edge. A 9500 score on 3dmark03 is damn good, too.

I was a little leery of the PCIe but I don't see any maturity problems at all, and it's not significantly more expensive than the AGP counterparts.

 

[Pau11y]

I might have to check out the 3dmark thing. It's a free d/l right?

 

[binary visions]

I might have to check out the 3dmark thing. It's a free d/l right?

Yeah, http://www.futuremark.com

I think they've hidden the free 3dmark03 one a little bit, but it's there if you look. The 3dmark05 works too, but I didn't have good benchmark numbers for it so I don't know if my scores were any good. I deleted it - 3dmark03 is the mainstream one, your card may or may not even run 05, it has some specific requirements.

 

[Pau11y]

Tanx maing. Pulling now. I'll run it tonight and post some numbers. Oh hey BV, got any good sites on the basics of AMD OCing. I don't want to melt my new build doing something w/o knowing it

 

[binary visions]

Tanx maing. Pulling now. I'll run it tonight and post some numbers. Oh hey BV, got any good sites on the basics of AMD OCing. I don't want to melt my new build doing something w/o knowing it

Yeah, I've got an excellent little tutorial bookmarked as this was my first overclocking experience as well. I don't have it at work but I'll post it up when I get home tonight.

It's easy if you've got a little patience. I just followed the tutorial step by step until Windows quit booting, then went back to the last successful settings.

My motherboard isn't great for overclocking, as all you can control is the voltage and core speed. On some boards, RAM, PCIe and SATA speeds are controlled independantly so that you can back off the RAM speed (it goes up as you overclock, so the base speed needs to be set lower) and lock up the PCIe and SATA speeds to prevent problems. Hence, I only got about a 350-400mhz overclock. Considering the CPU temperature, I'm sure I could get a 700mhz overclock with a different board.

 

[Pau11y]

Yeah, I've got an excellent little tutorial bookmarked as this was my first overclocking experience as well. I don't have it at work but I'll post it up when I get home tonight.

It's easy if you've got a little patience. I just followed the tutorial step by step until Windows quit booting, then went back to the last successful settings.

My motherboard isn't great for overclocking, as all you can control is the voltage and core speed. On some boards, RAM, PCIe and SATA speeds are controlled independantly so that you can back off the RAM speed (it goes up as you overclock, so the base speed needs to be set lower) and lock up the PCIe and SATA speeds to prevent problems. Hence, I only got about a 350-400mhz overclock. Considering the CPU temperature, I'm sure I could get a 700mhz overclock with a different board.

Nice! I've read the San Diego core CPUs are supposed to be WAAAY overclockable. I'l remove the plate and have a go at it w/ your tutorial. This is all new to me anymore. My days of OCing was w/ the PII 300 or 450s and Celery 333 to 550 where the only tweak was FSB and voltage. Now, CPU multipliers, CPU FSB, CPU voltage, RAM FSB, RAM voltage, AGP FSB, AGP voltage... and I think I missed a couple...
Thanx for your guide in advance maing.

 

[Connundrum1]

i remember overclocking my P2 by like 150 mhz and i thought myself to be the ultimate cool, then i got my p4 2.0 to run at 2.4 and was just as happy, that was 2 years ago and i still have that 2.0

 

[Pau11y]

i remember overclocking my P2 by like 150 mhz and i thought myself to be the ultimate cool, then i got my p4 2.0 to run at 2.4 and was just as happy, that was 2 years ago and i still have that 2.0

Hehehe.. you friggin' geek

 

[Ciaran]

DDR2 is faster but it's outrageously expensive right now.

I can get DDR2 fairly cheap in 512 sticks. it's coming in our desktop workstations here at work. I have one for sale on e-bay right now that I'll likely let go for 20 - 40$

Your systems blow mine away. But then I think you guys are way more geeky than me. Athlon 64 next year... right after I buy a new DH bike...

 

[chicodude]

Dorks.

 

[ioscope]

 

[Pau11y]

I can get DDR2 fairly cheap in 512 sticks. it's coming in our desktop workstations here at work. I have one for sale on e-bay right now that I'll likely let go for 20 - 40$

Your systems blow mine away. But then I think you guys are way more geeky than me. Athlon 64 next year... right after I buy a new DH bike...

I'll sell you mine so I can build something else next year, 'puter and DH bike

 

[binary visions]

http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?showtopic=5881

That's the guide I used to O/C mine.

 

[binary visions]

I don't know what it is, but I've been obsessing over heatsinks lately. Specifically, the Thermalright XP-90 and XP-120.

I don't really need a heatsink (except to reduce the noise of the stock one), but damn, I want that XP-120.

WTF am I doing, thinking about spending fifty bucks on a heatsink, that doesn't even come with a fan? Someone slap me.

But I want it...

 

[Ciaran]

I don't know what it is, but I've been obsessing over heatsinks lately. Specifically, the Thermalright XP-90 and XP-120.

I don't really need a heatsink (except to reduce the noise of the stock one), but damn, I want that XP-120.

WTF am I doing, thinking about spending fifty bucks on a heatsink, that doesn't even come with a fan? Someone slap me.

But I want it...

What you really want is water cooling. C'mon, you know you wanna geek out on it.

 

[binary visions]

What you really want is water cooling. C'mon, you know you wanna geek out on it.

Don't get me started. I just read this and drooled over all the blue anodization. Very, very sweet, but I'm not dumping $250 into the cooling of a computer that already runs very cool and could use so many other upgrades first.

The Thermalrights are a little more accessible. For $60 you can have the best air cooling around. Have you freakin' seen the size of these things?

 

[spincrazy]

kinda geeky?

 

[binary visions]

Uh oh, Pau11y hasn't been back in the thread, wonder if he fried his machine overclocking it?

Let us know how you made out, pau11y. I squeezed another 50mhz out of mine last night by turning down the multiplier (from 9x to 8.5x) and bumping up the FSB speed!

 

[Pau11y]

Uh oh, Pau11y hasn't been back in the thread, wonder if he fried his machine overclocking it?

Let us know how you made out, pau11y. I squeezed another 50mhz out of mine last night by turning down the multiplier (from 9x to 8.5x) and bumping up the FSB speed!

Nope, still here. I'll have to admit tho the RAID 0 config corrupted on me and I had to re-install XP again. No big there. As of this moment, I'm back on my old machine typing this
It seems my CPU/Ram combo doesn't like to be OC'd I got up to 216mhz x 11 multiplier at 1.45v on the CPU and she started acting funny. Temp was still super low (idle at 35 degrees) so I'm thinking I needed to bump the voltage some more. I was thinking there's sweet spots w/ multiple of 66 as we were doing it w/ the PII 450s but that was wrong. I need to read that article in more detail.
Oh BTW, BV, that big blue thing...put it down and walk away. I've heard about guys getting a smokers caugh w/ that fissil nuclear green coolant they use in that system. "It doens't leak, but I've noticed the level dropping..." quoted to a kid from Anandtech.com's forum, "...and now my buddies tell me I've developed a smokers caugh/hack."

 

[binary visions]

Heh, it's just water cooled, there's no radiator fluid or anything. Though, that might work well. Hmm...

I don't do RAID 0, no matter how fast it is, because I just can't get my mind around the fact that I've just doubled my chance of disk failure. If either drive goes, both are lost.

I got it up to 255 with an 8.5x multiplier which puts me 367mhz above stock. With a 9x multiplier (stock), I could only get it up to 235, which was 315mhz above stock.

I have the CPU running at 1.425 but that was only because I wanted it running super stable and had so much leeway on the temperatures. With the extra 52mhz and the multiplier down to 8.5, it actually runs cooler than the other way. Go figure

It's pretty crazy. I torture tested it for 24 hours running Prime95, and it never got above 41 degrees C. I don't understand why this system runs so cool.

System scored a 1954 on that PCpitstop website. Didn't look at any other scores to see how good that is. I should run it again and see if the extra 50mhz makes any difference.

 

[Ciaran]

Heh, it's just water cooled, there's no radiator fluid or anything. Though, that might work well. Hmm...

I don't do RAID 0, no matter how fast it is, because I just can't get my mind around the fact that I've just doubled my chance of disk failure. If either drive goes, both are lost.

I agree on the RAID 0. I perfer fault tolerance over a bit of improved performance. Though I run 1 HDD for the OS and apps, one disk for some additional swap file space and for things like Photo Shops scratch file and such. All data is on a server on a RAID 1 array. Data isn't stored on the systems disks so if they fail I don't lose any data. I just have to reload all the apps and OS.

I'm learning from you all... I am new to the overclocking thing. Still learning before I actually try it.

 

[Pau11y]

Dropping system back to normal w/ some motherboard specific "dynamic" overclocking. I'm going after stability instead. Voltage pumps and multiplier drops isn't stablizing this system. I'm thinking high 1900s on pcpitstop full diag is plenty. This is gonna be my coding machine at school. With everthing set to spec, idling at 32 degrees, 50 degrees at full bore running Prime95 at +7% "dynamic" overclock (specific to the Neo2 mobo) and 1.425 vcore. I'm leaving it at that except I may pump the AGP clock a bit. Ram is back to standard too at 2-2-2-5 2.70v.
BTW, about the RAID, I run 4 machines at home. My other 3 are older. 2 of the three each have 400gb RAID 5 (6x80gb, 5+1 parity), mainly for archiving music and some warez. The one was my workstation/work station (the one I use to hook HDDs to when I do consulting work). So, data is secure as I don't store anything important on the RAID 0 machine. I've just removed all RAID and just running individual drives now (seems faster and noticed less cpu hit).

 

[binary visions]

I'm learning from you all... I am new to the overclocking thing. Still learning before I actually try it.

It's easier and safer than you think if you're just patient and thorough. For the most part, you don't even have to worry about multipliers and such if you just want to experiment with a couple/few hundred mhz overclock. I squeezed an extra 50mhz out when I played with the multipliers, but that's certainly not significant.

That tutorial I posted walks you though the basics even if it's not for an AMD64 processor. Just make sure you monitor your CPU temperatures and run a memory testing utility, and take it in small increments. You'll get high temps, memory errors or Prime95 crashes long before you do anything that will actually screw up your hardware. If you get any errors, high temps or crashes, just back it off to the last stable overclock speed and stick with that.

 

[binary visions]

More geek-dom:

I overclocked my video card last night. nVidia drivers come with a built in overclocker that you need to make a small registry modification in order to access - search google for "Coolbits" if you have an nVidia card.

The card is a Leadtek Geforce 6600GT. PCI Express x16, with 128mb of GDDR3 memory. It runs stock at a 500mhz core clock and a 1000mhz memory clock.

The nVidia tool has a "detect optimal overclock" button, and will test the settings for you to make sure that the card will still perform properly. I ran this detection and it gave me a recommended setting of 555mhz core and 1120mhz memory. This gave me an immediate and apparent improvement in Doom 3 performance, and I went from 1024x768 to 1280x960 with no noticable drop in frames per second. I'm sure there was a small drop, but it wasn't very apparent.

Things would slow up a tad every once in a while, but not dramatically.

I then proceeded to tweak it out a little more, and kept testing. I finally ended up at 570mhz core and 1150mhz memory, an overclock of a little more than 12%. Not to shabby! When all was said and done, the further tweaking didn't improve Doom 3 performance noticably, but it did smooth out the sections where things were slowing down before.

 

[Pau11y]

More geek-dom:

I overclocked my video card last night. nVidia drivers come with a built in overclocker that you need to make a small registry modification in order to access - search google for "Coolbits" if you have an nVidia card.

The card is a Leadtek Geforce 6600GT. PCI Express x16, with 128mb of GDDR3 memory. It runs stock at a 500mhz core clock and a 1000mhz memory clock.

The nVidia tool has a "detect optimal overclock" button, and will test the settings for you to make sure that the card will still perform properly. I ran this detection and it gave me a recommended setting of 555mhz core and 1120mhz memory. This gave me an immediate and apparent improvement in Doom 3 performance, and I went from 1024x768 to 1280x960 with no noticable drop in frames per second. I'm sure there was a small drop, but it wasn't very apparent.

Things would slow up a tad every once in a while, but not dramatically.

I then proceeded to tweak it out a little more, and kept testing. I finally ended up at 570mhz core and 1150mhz memory, an overclock of a little more than 12%. Not to shabby! When all was said and done, the further tweaking didn't improve Doom 3 performance noticably, but it did smooth out the sections where things were slowing down before.

Nicely done! Now, go and get a can of spray foam and hose down your side panels and top. Then get a cooling system that brings the entire internal temp of the system to about 32F/0C and then see how fast you can make your CPU/RAM and vid card
Did you ever see the article about the guys who built a machine in a water-tight case, dumped super-cooled Fluinnert (spelling?) and got a PII 450 to go over 1ghz...it was friggin' ultra geekdom! This was some time ago, I think on HardOCP...?

Edit: actually, come to remember, I think they dunked a computer in a tub of that Fluinnert (Fluid Inert?) that's been cooled to below 0C.

 

[binary visions]

Well, unfortunately, I'm not limited by temperatures right now. If I overclock the CPU any more, I begin getting memory errors, and if I overclock the GPU anymore, I start getting funny textures and polygon tearing.

The CPU runs friggin' ridiculously cool for a stock heatsink. I ran Prime95 for another 48 hours and it still won't top 41 degrees C. The video card doesn't hit its temperature limits, either.

I could dump a couple hundred bucks into some more expensive memory, and another few hundred into a higher end video card, and I could probably push the processor much higher and overclock the video card until it hits its temperature limits, but that would double the cost of my system.

I really shouldn't have built the new system, though. Before, I was fine not spending any money on computer stuff. Now, not a day goes by that I'm not examining NewEgg for deals

I think the only other upgrade I'll get real soon is a 74gb 10k Raptor drive.

 

[Pau11y]

YEAH BABY! I run a 18gb Seagate 15K U320 in one of my bigger boxes for OS. You should hear that sucker spin up. I don't care what bearings you use, at 15K, you'll hear something. That was a silly upgrade as my controller was only good for U160. I need to get a U320 controller for my new workstation and move these SATAs to the other box.
Ya know, the speed of ALL 'puters is limited by HDDs, not CPUs. I wonder if I get another U320, I can RAID 0 them...humm......and get a dual core 64 and another gig of ram.... That would be a pretty sweet Maya machine

Edit: I think I'm w/ you on the limited OC-ability of my system due to ram (altho my onboard L2 might also have something to do w/ it at 1024 instead of the standard 512). The Corsair is rated at 2-2-2-5 PC3200. I think that's the ceiling for that ram. A kid told me about Mushkin Redline ($219 for 2x215) which is rated at 2-2-2-1! Oh, I managed to get my system to + 226 mhz FSB x 11 multiplier (13% gain from 2200 to 2485) w/ 2.5-3-3-8 at 1.425v. Prime runs at 50 degrees and idles between 29-32 degrees. This was only a very minor increase on PCPitStop (70+ points) so I'm going back to 5% and full 2-2-2-5 speeds. I really think the larger L2 on mine makes the difference on speed and OC-ability.

 

[binary visions]

Kill me.

I just found this and now I want one.

It's a sickness. It really is.

 

[Pau11y]

Dood, you are correct. It's a 12 page writeup on a CASE, man!

Oh, BTW, TdF Coverage is on cycling.tv

 

[binary visions]

Dood, you are correct. It's a 12 page writeup on a CASE, man!

Oh, BTW, TdF Coverage is on cycling.tv

Can't stream video or audio, here, the admins take notice

Thanks for the heads up, though. I've been following the Velonews live coverage, Discovery finished 2 seconds ahead of CSC. Lance has the yellow

 

[binary visions]

Anyone who overclocks their GPU, I highly recommend this utility:

http://www.daionet.gr.jp/~masa/rthdribl/

It allows you to run in windowed mode which means you can monitor your GPU temperatures at the same time. Once my GPU hit 79 degrees, I started getting some texture artifacts, so I'm back down to 565mhz core and that seems to work fine with no artifacts. Temps never rise above 79 degrees and the max temperature that the GPU will allow before it starts to throttle down is 127 - I think I'm pretty safe

Anyhow, like I said, great utility for GPU overclocking. Load it up, bump it up to 16x multisampling, scroll through the objects until you hit the skull, and scroll through the materials until you hit "Crown Glass" for maximum benchmarking. At least, that's what I found, not to say someone doesn't have a combo that makes the GPU work harder than that.

 

[binary visions]

Pau11y, check MSI for a BIOS update. Anandtech reports that a recent BIOS update improved the Neo4's overclocking with San Diego cores. I know you have a Neo2 but it's worth a shot.

 

[Pau11y]

Pau11y, check MSI for a BIOS update. Anandtech reports that a recent BIOS update improved the Neo4's overclocking with San Diego cores. I know you have a Neo2 but it's worth a shot.

I did it already and went from a v1.3b2 to v1.8. What I'm REALLY waiting for is the BIOS update to make my board capable of taking a Athlon64 Dual Core chip. I saw a magnified image of the core and it's litterally 2 physical core, 2 L2, but a shared memory controller. So, it'll prob. be not exactly like two physical processors, more like HT in the Intels. I've been using multi-processor machines now for the past 5 years and you CAN tell a difference. If my board doesn't go, then I'll get a Neo4 next which I already have 1 gig of DDR2 ram and an ATI X300 PCI-E for.

 

[binary visions]

Ahh, Gigabyte already has an update for my BIOS for dual cores

I will be waiting until they come way, way down in price, though. I'm not spending more on the processor than I did on the entire build, start to finish. Cool concept, though, and the expensive ones actually have 2x 1mb L2 cache. Sweet

What I'd like to see is a dual processor board, with two dual-core processors. 4x the processing fun! Woo hoo!

 

[Pau11y]

Ahh, Gigabyte already has an update for my BIOS for dual cores

I will be waiting until they come way, way down in price, though. I'm not spending more on the processor than I did on the entire build, start to finish. Cool concept, though, and the expensive ones actually have 2x 1mb L2 cache. Sweet

What I'd like to see is a dual processor board, with two dual-core processors. 4x the processing fun! Woo hoo!

I had a machine at work I bought for a server show up like that. It was a dual Xeon 3.2 w/ HT. 4 showed up in Systems Hardware display. That machine can pump w/ 2mb of L2 each, altho I'm thinking w/ seperate L2s of the A64, it'll smoke the Xeons. The only thing I'm not sure about is the memory controller and how it works w/ the chipset. I noticed the single memory controller shared on the dual core. If the chipset can't deal w/ dual memory controllers like you'd have to have w/ 2 physical processors, then no SMP.

Edit: oh yeah, w/ Intels HT, everything is shared, float point/math co-processor, memory controller (I believe the key thing there is the L2 is also shared). So, it's not really like 2 physical processors. More like 1.5 on a single chip cause there's a bandwidth bottleneck designed into the Xeon. But it's still an interesting thought when you get into those huge 8 processor servers...16 listed processors in System Hardware.....ahhhhh