[loydchristmas]

The Opteron sounds like an overclocking beast. Do i need a bette video card than the 7600gt to take advantage of the 20 inch widescreen monitor? Can i get an SLI motherboard and get the 7600gt and just add another 7600 down the road and run them SLI if the one isnt enough for me?

What OS do you suggest I run? Can i use the same Media Center disk that came with my Laptop?

Do i need to buy extra cables in order to hook all this up or does it all come with the proper cables?

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Ok here is what I have peiced together from everyones advice. I am just going to leave the Opteron at stock speeds and OC it if its not enough for me. How does ervything look? What OS do you reccomend? Thanks.


AMD-compatible Motherboards
DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultr
$112.99
ATX Computer Cases
RAIDMAX RX-9 SE ATX-911SEB Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
$89.99 $89.99
CD/DVD Burners (RW Drives)
PLEXTOR 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Beige IDE Model PX-716A/SW - Retail
Model #: PX-716A/SW
$125.00 $125.00
Internal Hard Drives
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: WD3200KS
$130.00 $130.00
Keyboards
Microsoft Natural 4000 B2M-00012 Black USB Wired Ergonomics Keyboard - Retail
Model #: B2M-00012
$49.98 $49.98
Memory - System
OCZ Gold GX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model OCZ4002048ELGEGXT-K - Retail
Model #: OCZ4002048ELGEGXT-K
$192.99 $192.99
Monitors - LCD
BenQ FP202W Black 20.1" 8ms Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail
Model #: FP202W
$339.99
Mouse
Logitech MX518 931352-0403 2-Tone 8 Buttons 1x Wheel USB + PS/2 Optical Mouse - Retail
Model #: 931352-0403
$36.89 $36.89
Power Supplies
Rosewill RP550-2 ATX 2.01 550W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: RP550-2
$64.99 $64.99
Processors
AMD Opteron 165 Denmark 1000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model OSA165CDBOX - Retail
Model #: OSA165CDBOX
$327.00 $327.00
Video Cards
eVGA 256-P2-N553-AX Geforce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: 256-P2-N553-AX
$179.00 $179.00

[loydchristmas]

Ok here is what I have peiced together from everyones advice. I am just going to leave the Opteron at stock speeds and OC it if its not enough for me. How does ervything look? What OS do you reccomend? Thanks.


AMD-compatible Motherboards
DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultr
$112.99
ATX Computer Cases
RAIDMAX RX-9 SE ATX-911SEB Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
$89.99 $89.99
CD/DVD Burners (RW Drives)
PLEXTOR 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Beige IDE Model PX-716A/SW - Retail
Model #: PX-716A/SW
$125.00 $125.00
Internal Hard Drives
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: WD3200KS
$130.00 $130.00
Keyboards
Microsoft Natural 4000 B2M-00012 Black USB Wired Ergonomics Keyboard - Retail
Model #: B2M-00012
$49.98 $49.98
Memory - System
OCZ Gold GX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model OCZ4002048ELGEGXT-K - Retail
Model #: OCZ4002048ELGEGXT-K
$192.99 $192.99
Monitors - LCD
BenQ FP202W Black 20.1" 8ms Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail
Model #: FP202W
$339.99
Mouse
Logitech MX518 931352-0403 2-Tone 8 Buttons 1x Wheel USB + PS/2 Optical Mouse - Retail
Model #: 931352-0403
$36.89 $36.89
Power Supplies
Rosewill RP550-2 ATX 2.01 550W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: RP550-2
$64.99 $64.99
Processors
AMD Opteron 165 Denmark 1000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model OSA165CDBOX - Retail
Model #: OSA165CDBOX
$327.00 $327.00
Video Cards
eVGA 256-P2-N553-AX Geforce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: 256-P2-N553-AX
$179.00 $179.00

[warriorscot]

Looks fine, just get XP home for now or media center, you can get Vista when it comes out at the end of this year/start of next.

You wont need SLI and its not a reccomendable upgrade path best way to upgrade is just sell or chuck the old one and then get a new faster card and that way you benefit from newer technology. The 7600GT is also plenty if you arent gaming even if you are its a half decent gaming card as well.

If you want an option to ovreclock try maybe getting ram faster than ddr400 it will be clocked back down to ddr400 normally but it will be guarantees to overclock to at least its normal speed which is good because you dont just overclock the cpu you overclock the ram and motherboard as well.

[jrm20]

What do i need to buy if i decide to get the opteron and overclock it? Xms ram, better power supply, what else?

A 500watt powersupply is fine. Corsair xms series ram for overclocking, generally you would want over pc3200 memory for overclocking but pc3200 would be fine though. The stock cpu cooler is fine for now as you can always upgrade the cpu fan later if you want it to run cooler..

[loydchristmas]

I put in OCZ gold series instead of the Corsair XMS. I had heard that DFI and OCZ work well together.

What ddr speed would i want to go with for ram if i want to overclock?

[warriorscot]

RAM is ram corsair is the best overclocking ram and DFI the best board, some people say OCZ because they market the memory as overclocking memory and its pretty good but its not any better than corsair and it usually costs more so OCZ isnt something thats as popular for those in the know.

anything over DDR400 the more over that the faster it is and the more it will easily overclock yo have to balance speed/price usually.

[loydchristmas]

Thanks for all the help by the way yall.

The reason i went with the OCZ is because i found the Gold series for $30 less than the Corsair XMS with a mail in rebate.

Is DDR 500 enough for overclockng the Opteron if i choose to?

So can i use my Media center cd from my laptop on this new system or is it one per PC?

Do i need to buy cables for all of this hardware or will they be included. If i need to get al the cabels can someone help me out with what i ned to get.

Once again I appreciate all the help. This is all very interesting to me.

[p-zero]

DDR 500 should be just fine. I cant answer the second question........ And the cables will be included with the items you buy.
-P.

[warriorscot]

If you get a retail mobo then you get all the cables with it, If its cheaper go for that DDR500 of OCZ gold will be more than enough to overclock with.

Technically the liscences are one PC youll get away with it if you arent going to use the laptop anymore otherwise youll need to purchase a new copy of windows or get a linux distro if you are strapped for cash.

[jrm20]

I put in OCZ gold series instead of the Corsair XMS. I had heard that DFI and OCZ work well together.

What ddr speed would i want to go with for ram if i want to overclock?

DFI and Corsair XMS works well together... I have it, my friend has it they work perfect together..

Thanks for all the help by the way yall.

The reason i went with the OCZ is because i found the Gold series for $30 less than the Corsair XMS with a mail in rebate.

Is DDR 500 enough for overclockng the Opteron if i choose to?

So can i use my Media center cd from my laptop on this new system or is it one per PC?

Do i need to buy cables for all of this hardware or will they be included. If i need to get al the cabels can someone help me out with what i ned to get.

Once again I appreciate all the help. This is all very interesting to me.

DDR 500 is plenty for overclocking.

You could use your media center cd to install the os but it depends which version of the Operating system you have because on some operating systems you can only use the cd key once and be able to activate windows after you go into windows for the first time.

Some win xp cd's lets you install it 2 times with the activation process.

Well anyway you can install your mediacenter os onto the pc but it may or may not get activated due to you having a limited number of activation processes.. If your cd key is already used too many times you cannot activate windows and you will have 30 days to buy a cd key..

[warriorscot]

Thats never happened to me, last time i checked you got 7 online activations and then you had to phone up, you could activate as many times as you wanted as long as you phoned up after and they reset it so you can register online as well sometimes. It depends on your initial liscense maybe they are different here but ive never seen one with only two activations.

[jrm20]

Thats never happened to me, last time i checked you got 7 online activations and then you had to phone up, you could activate as many times as you wanted as long as you phoned up after and they reset it so you can register online as well sometimes. It depends on your initial liscense maybe they are different here but ive never seen one with only two activations.

The windows xp home edition that my school uses after they reformat a harddrive if someone messes up the system, they get the win xp home edition oem version. Its for 1-2 computers it says on the cd cases. The OEM version is the cheapest version usually for the do it yourselfer system builders. I dont know about all but some OEM has 1-2 computers max..

[warriorscot]

Yeah but you can activate is as many times as you want as long as you dont run the same key simultaneously on more than one or two systems. The OEM liscenses are limited to the number of computers you can have them on but you can activate them as many times as you need to . And the multiple computer checks arent great either really you can get away with more sometimes.

[jrm20]

Yeah but you can activate is as many times as you want as long as you dont run the same key simultaneously on more than one or two systems. The OEM liscenses are limited to the number of computers you can have them on but you can activate them as many times as you need to . And the multiple computer checks arent great either really you can get away with more sometimes.

Ya, hopefully his os will let him have two systems simultaneously up with the activation. Thats what I was getting at his laptop and (soon to be gaming desktop).

And the multiple computer checks arent great either really you can get away with more sometimes.

You are right about this.

I use one of my dads dell win xp home edition cd keys and when I goto reformat my harddrive and reload windows it wont let me activate windows and says this key has been in use too many times. So I then use another of his cd keys and it then lets me activate windows lol.

Then if I goto reformat the harddrive again lets say down the road in 6 months and install windows then get to the activation page it then lets me use the cd key that was said to be used to many times 6 months ago.

Pretty weird stuff..

[jrm20]

You know what else, every time I build a pc I go ahead and include a brand spanking new operating system from the store. I dont pirate customers pc's and I always use a brand new copy of windows so I have never had a chance to call in to microsofts tech support for reactivating a cd key..

I have never needed to lol..