Components for Asus A8N32/Opteron 175 based system

[CpuDesigner]

Seeking advice and comments on final component selection for a Windows PC for general purpose use (home office use ? various office/sw tools/cad, occasional gaming) for which I need 24/7 stability (machine will be powered up 24/7). I have tried to pick overall quiet components (such as using 120mm fans). Not looking to over clock much, as stability is an absolute requirement.


Ordered:
Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe
Opteron 175
1 x WD WD4000KD 400GB ? System Drive
2 x WD4000KD 400GB (Raid 1) ? Data Store
Antec P180 Case
SeaSonic S12-600 600W PSU

Considering:
2x1Gbyte DRAM: Corsair Twinx2048-3200c2 (on Asus? qualified vendor list) or ???

VGA: eVGA 7800GT 256MB CO (256-P2-N517-AX) [470 Mhz]

DVD/CD Writer: Plextor 740 or BenQ DW1655 or ???
DVD/CD ROM: Sony 16X DVD / 48X CD ROM Model DDU1615 or ???

Floppy: Samsung 1.44MB 3.5" FD (apparently quieter than Sony)
Or Mitsumi FA404 Floppy/Flash Reader
- Any issues with the Mitsumi as it is a USB based device (such as Bios updates, other issues) ?

Thermalright SI-120 w/ 120mm Panaflo (quiet/good airflow over A8N32 motherboard heat sinks)

Another question, will Lian-Li WB-01 Wheel Stand fit (not much wider than) a P180 ? so I don?t have to crawl under my desk to get to the back connectors.

 

[Ike0069]

No need for that expensive RAM. Just go with Corsair VS. 2x1GB is ~$165.

You don't need anywhere near that big of a PSU, (S12 430W would have been sufficient), but it appears you've already ordered that.

Plextor drive are great, but I'd go with the BenQ or an NEC.

 

[eXx08]

Originally posted by: Ike0069
No need for that expensive RAM. Just go with Corsair VS. 2x1GB is ~$165.

You don't need anywhere near that big of a PSU, (S12 430W would have been sufficient), but it appears you've already ordered that.

Plextor drive are great, but I'd go with the BenQ or an NEC.

600watt is good he picked right I would try to get a 7800GTX with the extra money you save on the VS RAM.

 

[mwmorph]

get any value 2x 1gb kit or even 2 sticks of 1gb ram same model. it will all work and the expensive ram does not increase performance noticiably. get 1 optical drive 2 isnt really useful. I have 2 and to tell yuo the truth, it's not really all that. With the money saved(should be about $160 for ram, and saving $40 on not buying 2nd optical drive) you can get a 7800gtx or x1800xt(there's a sale somewhere for a $450 x1800xt which will be much faster than the 7800gt and even faster than a more expensive 7800gtx.). also, for dvd burning, go NEC 3550.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: Opteron Guy
600watt is good he picked right I would try to get a 7800GTX with the extra money you save on the VS RAM.

Didn't say it was wrong, but he could have saved money by getting a smaller PSU.

Now if he was planning on running an extreme OC, with SLI'd 7800 GTX's, then maybe 600W would be called for. But for his hardware, it's definitely overkill.

 

[CpuDesigner]

I purchased the seasonic 600w supply due to its high reliability/voltage stability (from reviews which actually tested PSUs using appropriate test equipment), low noise and relatively small size (due the high efficiency design) which fits the P180 case well ? I know its overkill for what I am using.

In reading through memory performance reviews, I noticed in Anandtech's Athlon X2 overclocking article their factory overclocked XFX 7800GTX card crashed at advertised speeds (but worked at a reduced clock speed). Has this problem occurred with the overclocked eVGA 7800GT cards ?
Less likelihood of issues with the non-overclocked card ?
- I probably will limit my VGA expenditure to $300.00.

The NEC DVD/CD writers appear to be very popular among users on this forum, with the latest available drive the ND-3550A. The Plextor 740A appears to be a private labeled (mfr by BenQ) DW1640. Perhaps BenQ agreed to stop selling the 1640, as it is not in stock anywhere, in a deal with Plextor? Can?t find any test results (from reviews) on the BenQ DW1655 (lightscribe capable). Not sure which of these have the most reliable results with DL media ?

I have found a second ROM drive to be pretty useful when copying CD/DVDs?

Any comments on using a Mitsumi FA404 Floppy/Flash Reader ?

There appears to be many users not satisfied with their mother-board based audio, due to noise (perhaps the PCB design does not sufficiently isolate the analog audio section from digital switching or power/gnd noise in general). Is this a problem with the A8N32 motherboard audio as well ?

 

[rgrea]

Hey CpuDesigner,

Just wondering what you finally came up with, and how the Rig is running. R U having any problems??
I don't have any problems with my on board sound, but that is because I have an old set of creative Speakers (7 years old)FPS2000 and they still sell them out on the net. They rock out.

My system is not OCed at the moment. I get to many crashes so I've stayed in AUTO until I figure out the OC completely. The Auto runs the ram at DDR500. The Rig I have now is close to 20 times faster in real world, Photoshop CS2, and AutoFX programs. When I would load 140 X 6MB RAW pics and convert them to DNG or Jpeg, my old rig would choke. The X1800XT with 2 monitors is real useful for so many things I'll never go back.

The Power supply you have sounds to me to be a good choice. I went for the PC P&C 510 because I've had one for 5 years now and they are the best I've ever touched.
I run 2 optical drives a Sony DRU810A WH & and Litton SHW-160P6S. For copying and ripping in every combination - flawless.
I do have the FA404M Floppy 7 in 1. It is awesome and works like lightening downloading 1 gig cards full of pictures.
For me the Raid 0 with Raptors is the real performance booster, in Photoshop CS2.

Please, let me know

Robert

EDIT: just did a 12 hour SP2004 Dual core prime torture test. I've OC'ed about 10% used the settings for my Ram and MB @:

http://www.bleedinedge.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16511

and this rig is running strong and only about 47C of 100% load on the CPU and RAM.
normal is 37C

 

[One43637]

i have some similar components as the OP and rgrea. i have no problems with my system up and running. it's running a little hot, but that's because i've been F@H since last week.

 

[Yeormom]

Originally posted by: Ike0069Plextor drive are great, but I'd go with the BenQ or an NEC.

Never sacrafice for a cheap cd burner if you make many cds. Quality is a must!

 

[Bobthelost]

The BenQ 1640 is a top notch drive, it's the one i recomend and BenQ are the current favourites at cdfreaks.com