Components for a new 64-bit system ???

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike
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Mike

I just purchased an Athlon 64 3400+ Socket-939 and an MSI Neo2 Platinum
motherboard. I have a couple of questions since I'm relatively new to the
64-bit world.

I'm considering a PowerChill Copper Cooler ( MD-TTC-1744-OPT) heatsink and
would like to know if this will do for a moderate amount of overclocking?

Also, I plan to use my existing Samsung PC3200 (400Mhz) RAM (2x512) and my
420W power supply which I pulled from my now retired Athlon XP 3200+ system.
Will these components present any problems on the new board?

I'm looking for a moderate to high-end gaming and video system (my goal is
60fps on DOOM3 at 1280x1024). I also bought two Maxtor SATA150 160G drives
and an nVidia 6800 video card to top off the new system.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can share.

Mike
 
Mike said:
I just purchased an Athlon 64 3400+ Socket-939 and an MSI Neo2 Platinum
motherboard. I have a couple of questions since I'm relatively new to the
64-bit world.
Click to expand...

Are you sure you got a 3400+? I didn't think they made those in a socket-939
package, but I'm not sure.

http://www.amd.com/us-
en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_9485_9487%5E10248,00.html
 
John Smithe said:
Are you sure you got a 3400+? I didn't think they made those in a socket-939
package, but I'm not sure.
Click to expand...


I believe there is a Newcastle core
 
Mike said:
Also, I plan to use my existing Samsung PC3200 (400Mhz) RAM (2x512)
Click to expand...

is it TCCD ram? If so, then what timings is it rated for and how fast can
you push it?
420W power supply which I pulled from my now retired Athlon XP 3200+
system. Will these components present any problems on the new board?
Click to expand...

420 should be enough. most importantly how many amps on the +3, +5 and +12
volt rails?
 
Okay. I did find an OEM 3400+ at NewEgg for $269, but they have the
retail 3500+ for $272. You have to buy a fan for the OEM. You get an
AMD 3-year warranty, and fan, with the retail version for only $3.00 more.
 
Dee said:
Apparently it isn't a mistake. Checkout the following article:

http://www.overclockers.com/articles1116/

Although they are of the opinion it's a 130 nm chip and not a 90 nm.
Click to expand...

I found this on the AMD Processor Forum site:

From: (e-mail address removed) Block Sender | Add to Address Book
To: (e-mail address removed)
Subject: Re: AMD Athlon 64 3400 socket939 (KMM819889V12717L0KM)
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 10:47:13 -0700

Hello Maurice,

Thank you for contacting AMD's Technical Service Center.

Yes, the Athlon XP 3400+ CPU exists from AMD. However, this processor
is a limited production
item at this time and is only sold as an OEM processor. There are no
specifications available
for this chip at this time. Please consult with the vendor selling it
for information they may
have.

Hope this helps. If you have any other questions, please feel free to
contact me.

Sincerely,
Jeff
Customer Support Analyst
AMD TSC
 
Mike said:
I just purchased an Athlon 64 3400+ Socket-939 and an MSI Neo2 Platinum
motherboard. I have a couple of questions since I'm relatively new to the
64-bit world.

I'm considering a PowerChill Copper Cooler ( MD-TTC-1744-OPT) heatsink and
would like to know if this will do for a moderate amount of overclocking?

Also, I plan to use my existing Samsung PC3200 (400Mhz) RAM (2x512) and my
420W power supply which I pulled from my now retired Athlon XP 3200+ system.
Will these components present any problems on the new board?

I'm looking for a moderate to high-end gaming and video system (my goal is
60fps on DOOM3 at 1280x1024). I also bought two Maxtor SATA150 160G drives
and an nVidia 6800 video card to top off the new system.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can share.

Mike
Click to expand...
According to a thread on AMD's Processor forum, you may be in for some
disappointment. There are posts stating the 3400+ won't work in one or
more MBs and supposedly it's because the 3400+ has a 800 MHz HT and is
seen as an "underclock" condition since 939 pin CPU are supposed to have
a 1000 MHz HT.

http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=28311&st=0&#entry240794
 
Dee said:
According to a thread on AMD's Processor forum, you may be in for some
disappointment. There are posts stating the 3400+ won't work in one or
more MBs and supposedly it's because the 3400+ has a 800 MHz HT and is
seen as an "underclock" condition since 939 pin CPU are supposed to have
a 1000 MHz HT.

http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=28311&st=0&#entry240794
Click to expand...

That would explain why newegg's listing contains this:

THIS ITEM MUST BE PURCHASED WITH A QUALIFYING CPU AND MOTHERBOARD, IT
CANNOT BE PURCHASED BY ITSELF.
 
I wonder what this thing really is. All of the specs on the Newegg site
are the same for the 3400+ and the 3500+. Is it possible that these parts
have crippled DDR interfaces that can only run at 333MHz?, or maybe a
piece of their cache is missing, I doubt that it's a clock speed
difference.
 
I wonder what this thing really is. All of the specs on the Newegg site
are the same for the 3400+ and the 3500+. Is it possible that these parts
have crippled DDR interfaces that can only run at 333MHz?, or maybe a
piece of their cache is missing, I doubt that it's a clock speed
difference.
Click to expand...

I think we've established that the 3400+ has a maximum 800HTT.
 
General said:
I wonder what this thing really is. All of the specs on the Newegg site
are the same for the 3400+ and the 3500+. Is it possible that these parts
have crippled DDR interfaces that can only run at 333MHz?, or maybe a
piece of their cache is missing, I doubt that it's a clock speed
difference.
Click to expand...

The best I can figure out is simply the HT runs at 800 in the 3400+ and
at 1000 in the 3500+

Several of the posts on AMD verify their DDR400 does run correctly, just
have 800 HT. They did have to get BIOS updates because of the lower HT.
 
I think we've established that the 3400+ has a maximum 800HTT.
Click to expand...

The slower hypertransport bus should have almost no impact on performance,
it will have a minimal effect on graphics and none at all on disk IO or
CPU performance. The NForce 4 is limited to 800MHz HT at the moment so in
Nforce 4 systems there will be no difference between a 3500+ and a 3400+.
However the existance of the part indicates that AMD must be having some
sort of process problem and the 3400s are fallout parts so don't expect to
be able to overclock them.
 
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