Need to know if this is a good setup...

[storyoftheweek]

I already bought an opteron 144 but i was wandering what else I should buy to get it to its potential. I was thinking about getting a dfi lanparty ut nf4 sli dr expert, 1 gig of corsair xms 4400 and a water cooling system to cool it all down. I want to get the opteron to around 2.8 and just want to know if this would be the best way to go. Any response would be helpful. Thanks.

[Amd_Lover2004]

Re: Need to know if this is a good setup...

I have the Expert board, it is not that easy to get going. There are a few issues you have to figure out before you can do certain things, for example you cant use any program that scans the SMBUS or the system crashes on the spot. Easy enough to fix though. If you are going to be using SLI then by all means get the SLI-DR Expert, if you dont plan on using SLI get the Ultra-D, and it can even be modded to a SLI configuration later if you change your mind. Other than that I dont see any problem.... Oh what power supply are you planning on usung?

[storyoftheweek]

Re: Need to know if this is a good setup...

I'm building a completely new system. I was going to get the seasonic s12 600 watt.

[casecutter]

Re: Need to know if this is a good setup...

Excellent PSU for the money. Get's alot of great reviews too. Should work well with that board. I would skip the Expert board and get the ULTRA-D if I were you. They are extremely tough to work with and seem to be filled with glitches. SLI is really only worth it if you have a large monitor running high resolutions anyways.

[storyoftheweek]

Re: Need to know if this is a good setup...

will the ultra d give me the option to change the ram multiplier so i can get the fsb up to around 300 or so?

[casecutter]

Re: Need to know if this is a good setup...

The ULTRA-D has the most options in BIOS for adjusting ram than any other board (except other DFI boards of course). You will be amazed at what you can do. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

[storyoftheweek]

Re: Need to know if this is a good setup...

If I wanted to run it in sli, would the sli-d be just as good as the ultra d in terms of overclocking options?

[[email protected]]

Re: Need to know if this is a good setup...

Wow, your system looks to be a definate winner. Since you're using some fantastic components, why don't you just get 2 gigs of corsair xms? That would really benefit your processor and would help with SLI.

[casecutter]

Re: Need to know if this is a good setup...

The SLI-D is basically the same board as the Ultra-D except it is SLI ready. Yes it has the same options for overclocking as the ULTRA-D. I prefer OCZ ram as it tends to be more universally compatible.

[storyoftheweek]

Re: Need to know if this is a good setup...

Which ocz ram would you recommend for a massive overclock like this? Is there a certain overclockers type?

[[email protected]]

Re: Need to know if this is a good setup...

I would get this. It overclocks extremely well.

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Platinum


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227210

[storyoftheweek]

Re: Need to know if this is a good setup...

If I got pc3200 though wouldn't it only let me increase the fsb to 200mhz or so. To overclock the opteron to what I want i suspect I would need to get the fsb to around 320 or so. Am I missing something her?

[casecutter]

Re: Need to know if this is a good setup...

Well, that 2GB kit will not overclock that well. What you need to do is run a divider on your ram to get it running where it likes. THat PC3200 kit tends to overclock around 220-230MHz. So you would set a divider in bios on the ram and keep the ram speed low while increasing the HTT on the CPU. It sounds complicated, but it is simple once you learn how.

[casecutter]

Re: Need to know if this is a good setup...

With the right timings this ram :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146890

will give you an incredible 1:1 overclock. 2GB kits are for gaming, 1GB kits are for overclocking and will perform well for just about every game available.

[storyoftheweek]

Re: Need to know if this is a good setup...

So you would recommend getting 1 gig of pc3200 and just set a ram divider. Would there be any improvement in overclocking if i got pc4400 without a ram divider instead of the pc3200 with a ram divider? Also, what do you mean that its good with the right timings?