[CallmeSeuss]

First post on the forum!

I am looking forward to gutting my current build and putting together a sweet new rig. First, however, I thought I might seek some advice from this forum. The new build is as follows: EDIT -- I already have an ATX case that I'm sticking with, as well as a sound system, monitor, and mouse/keyboard.

Motherboard - ASUS M3N72-D AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

CPU - AMD Phenom 9850 2.5GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Processor - Retail

Video - XFX PVT98GYDLU GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

RAM - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retai

Audio (Carry over from old system) - Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value SB0400 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail

HD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM and Seagate ST3640323AS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Power - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

Questions:
- Is the 750W power supply going to be sufficient?
- Do you have any suggestions for hardware that would be more compatible with each other (i.e. better performance due to the hardware working together more efficiently)
- Advice on overclocking this rig
- Might seem like a stupid question, but how much difference am I going to see with this rig compared to my old one: AMD 3000+ (2.2Ghz), 2GB DDR RAM, same sound card, 7300GT 512mb video, 3x IDE Hard Drives
- Any other general suggestions?

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Hey there CallmeSeuss (or should I just call you Seuss? ), welcome to Geeks To Go!

First of all, what are your intended uses for this computer and your budget? Knowing this, we'll be better able to help you with this build. I'll still try my best to answer you questions now, though.

• The PSU you chose is more than enough for this build.
• I don't know if there is such thing as "more compatible". Either it is compatible (works together) or it isn't.
• I'm not familiar with overclocking AMD CPUs, so I can't be of much help here.
• You will definitely see a big increase in things such as gaming or photo/audio/video editing. For basic things such as web surfing or word processing, the performance difference won't be as noticeable.
• Any particular reason you went with AMD? An Intel build would offer better performance, for less. Also, Intel CPUs are terrific overclockers. The new E8xxx Core 2 Duos with E0 stepping are reaching 4.6ghz-4.8ghz on air! (Of course, as with all overclocking, results may vary.) Are you planning on using SLI in the near future? If not, then the motherboard you selected is not what you want. Also, why the two hard drives? The second one you picked is superior in every way to the first one.

Edited by stettybet0, 13 October 2008 - 02:42 PM.

[stettybet0]

Hey there CallmeSeuss (or should I just call you Seuss? ), welcome to Geeks To Go!

First of all, what are your intended uses for this computer and your budget? Knowing this, we'll be better able to help you with this build. I'll still try my best to answer you questions now, though.

• The PSU you chose is more than enough for this build.
• I don't know if there is such thing as "more compatible". Either it is compatible (works together) or it isn't.
• I'm not familiar with overclocking AMD CPUs, so I can't be of much help here.
• You will definitely see a big increase in things such as gaming or photo/audio/video editing. For basic things such as web surfing or word processing, the performance difference won't be as noticeable.
• Any particular reason you went with AMD? An Intel build would offer better performance, for less. Also, Intel CPUs are terrific overclockers. The new E8xxx Core 2 Duos with E0 stepping are reaching 4.6ghz-4.8ghz on air! (Of course, as with all overclocking, results may vary.) Are you planning on using SLI in the near future? If not, then the motherboard you selected is not what you want. Also, why the two hard drives? The second one you picked is superior in every way to the first one.

Edited by stettybet0, 13 October 2008 - 02:42 PM.

[wannabe1]

I use AMD a lot....and I like ASUS boards, so I'll put my nickel's worth in, too.

I reviewed the Corsair TX750W power supply a while back. It's an exceptionally stable PSU and, as Stettybet0 stated, will provide plenty of stable power for your build.

AMD processors overclock quite nicely, though with the quad core there is really no need for it. As a true quad core processor, the calculations per second are amazing when compared to a dual core. The quads do tend to run a little warm, though. With an aftermarket cooler and installed in an Antec Nine Hundred case, my 9950 idles at about 45*C on a 3% overclock. I'll be installing a 110mm Zalman cooler to try and bring that down a little.

As Stettybet0 mentioned, the Intel processors will clock to higher speeds than the AMD offerings, but the performance I'm seeing with the 9950 (2.6GHz) compared to what I was seeing running a 3.2GHz dual core clocked to 3.8GHz is pretty amazing. The quad core at stock settings will outperform a dual core even under a pretty high clock.

The M3N series ASUS boards have Ai technology which makes overclocking a breeze...memory timings can be adjusted from the Ai interface, as well. Your board should also use EZ flash...that will make updating your BIOS a relatively easy and pain free experience. You should update the BIOS to the most recent version (1401 at this writing) or it won't support any processors newer than your 9850.

The video card you've chosen is a pretty fair card, but it's know to run pretty hot...and it's pretty large.

This thing is going to generate a lot of heat...I hope your case is up to it.

Looks like a pretty solid build to me.