My A64 setup

[Reterminator]

Hi everybody out there, I'm building a new system and thought about posting it here so maybe you could help me on it with a few comments... here it goes:

Soltek SL-K890PRO-939 KT890
Athlon 64 3000+ sck939
Twinmos 2x512MB PC3200 DDR
80GB Samsung
FDD black
NEC ND-3520A black
Gigabyte 6600GT Turbo passive
Zalman 7000B-AlCu
Antec SLK3000B
Nexus NX-4090

Wondering how hot and noisy this would get if I installed another HDD, swapped the CPU for an FX, the GPU for some high 6800 and added another 1GB RAM.

Another one is airflow in that case - I can't figure out whence all the air comes from if there are only exhausts (one 120mm and a PSU on the top), so do I have to mount another 120mm fan in the front or am I better (and quieter) off without the front fan? What about the better setup in this context?

Feel free to post, looking forward to your replies.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hello:

Unless you have fairly high ambient temps, you should be fine with the Antec case fan on low and the Zalman lowered to a minimum. You can probably undervolt the CPU -- and that'll likely keep your 100% load temps to no more than 45C or so.

Good stuff, and it should run cool and quiet.

[ckolivas]

Another one is airflow in that case - I can't figure out whence all the air comes from if there are only exhausts (one 120mm and a PSU on the top), so do I have to mount another 120mm fan in the front or am I better (and quieter) off without the front fan? What about the better setup in this context?

Air comes from all the gaps and little openings wherever it can, usually a hidden opening at the front bottom is a standard one too.

[Tzupy]

If you change the spec to FX and 6800 GT or U, you can expect upto 100W of extra power / heat. If I were you and had the money for the FX, I would get a 2.2 GHz Winnie and spend the rest on better memory. Maybe the Nexus PSU can cope with the power, but you should get a Silencer for the 6800, to get the GPU heat out of the case (well, most of it). Since this is a VIA equipped mobo, I have no idea about the 'FSB' overclocking capabilities, and if that Twinmos memory is perfectly compatible. Adding another 2 memory sticks would definitely result in lower memory performance. The fan in the front would help cool the hard disks and graphics card, you can install a lower rpm / noise than the one in the back.

[Reterminator]

Thanks for all feedback, I really appreciate it.

[burcakb]

Twinmos memory usually performs well at spec and is cheap but you can forget about exceeding specs. It just wont do it.

[Reterminator]

[burcakb]

Over here in Turkey, we have a limited selection for memory: noname, Twinmos, Kingston, OCZ, Adata & Corsair.

Twinmos is regularly used for cheap performance and except for some past bad press with twinmos memory not getting along with Epox boards, I've heard no complaints. Corsair Value is good quality memory but they're usually normal spec (PC3200 - AFAIK) and expensive for what they do (at least in Turkey)

I myself have some Twinmos Twister PC3500 (got them for the same price as Kingston PC3200) they perform well.

Anyway, any brand memory is supposed to atleast perform to specs advertised and if you buy them from a reputable merchant who'll replace them if they're not up to spec, you should be fine with any of them.

I've yet to notice the difference between CL2.5 and CL3 RAM. Yeah, there's a small difference in benchies but nothing I can FEEL actually.

[Reterminator]

Thanks. I see something bad happened to my message (I wanted to edit it but ended up deleting everything) but at least you were able to read it. I'll stick with the Twinmoses then as they're a lot cheaper. (We also here have reports about them not working very well with Abit boards, for example the famous NF7-S.) Thanks for all your time.