BF2S Forums Comp I'm building. Suggestions? Will it be good for BF2?

keep it in the fridge

Nice job on the processor and Mobo, but you just screwed yourself on the ram

AMDs memory controller will limit 4x512 to run at DDR333 (PC2700) and at 2T, instead of the normal DDR400 (PC3200) at 1T. The only way to over come this is to buy 2x1gb sticks. So if you JUST bought the RAM, return it and upgrade to 2x1gb. And yes, you'll need 2gb to get BF2 to the silky smooth performance and an enjoyable experience.

ASPIRE power supply . . .  Let me just say this; Buying a no named brand PSU is like buying POS tires for your car. You should get a Fortran, ernemax, or Seasonic. They are more money, but they're QUALITY. Remeber, if your PSU overloads, it can take components with it, such as RAM, Video Card . . . I've seen it happen.

Cooling - If you're not oc'ing, then the Zalman 700B, 7700, or the 9500CNPS will do just fine.

Dual Core processor will make your PC experience MUSH smoother. It isn't really beneficial for games right now, with the exception of being able to rip cds, listen to music, and game BF2 at the same time. You'll be able to do HEAVY multi-tasking, but you won't see a dramatic FPS increase . . . hell, you may even see an FPS drop compared to the 3700. Unless you overclock, then it's a different story. Though, Nvidia does have dual core drivers out which is said to actually give a 15%+ boost in FPS on dual cores. Haven't checked it out yet though.

If you have any other questions, just ask. Do me a favor though, next time, ASK before you buy stuff, not the other way around. It'll save your ass, trust me.

Last edited by jnick (2005-11-03 11:38:28)

Search around for DDR2 and DDR2 compatable motherboards. They're not that expensive. As for your videocard, the 7800GTX will outperform anything, even two 6800GTs. It too is not much more then the 6800GT. I would definitly suggest the 7800GTX.

Your RAM is fine. While you may be better off getting 1 gig sticks, AMD will run what you have at DDR 400 speeds. The cooler that I posted a link to works good with overclocking, but if you do heavier overclocking you may want to get the next model or 2 up. I agree with tank whore, Antec does make good power supplies. Many people get cheap on the psu, that is a bad idea.

First - He can't find a DDR2 motherboard and memory as AMD doesn't support it yet. He would have to wait for the M2.

Goose - Yes it will run his at DDR400 right now as I said. But with BF2, if you don't have 2gb, you will lag, guaranteed. Face the facts, gaming is now moving to 2gb. Same can be seen with cod2.

jnick wrote:

First - He can't find a DDR2 motherboard and memory as AMD doesn't support it yet. He would have to wait for the M2.

Goose - Yes it will run his at DDR400 right now as I said. But with BF2, if you don't have 2gb, you will lag, guaranteed. Face the facts, gaming is now moving to 2gb. Same can be seen with cod2.

No, you won't find a mobo for AMD and DDR2.  I also agree that if possible you should get 2gb of RAM. I think we have seen the end of the times when we can sit back with a Gig of RAM and be perfect. That being said, he did purchase some good memory, and it will run BF2 fine with that CPU and vid card.

M2 a chipset or a motherboard?

Hey, lots of great advice guys, thanks a ton for all the help. Just a few questions/comments:

I'm not huge on multitasking. I just don't do it much at all, unless you call surfing the web while using AIM multitasking, heh. When I play a game, I pretty much just play the game, unless it's a game like EVE or something where playing the game kind of requires you to do other things that don't involve playing the game... which is why I cancelled my subscription and play BF2 now. At anyrate, that's why I didn't go with the dual core processor or more than one hard drive. I'm thinking that when I get some spare cash I'll purchase an external drive just to store documents and stuff on.

If I store games on an external hard drive is that going to slow things down?

As for the RAM... well, crap. I didn't know that. When I was looking on Newegg.com I read someone's comment that having the RAM broken up over several chips was somehow better than having it all in one stick. Not being a computer master I kind of just took the guy at his word, figuring that if I wanted to upgrade to 2 Gigs I could just purchase another gig of 512x2 RAM.... So like, if I buy 512x4 chips of RAM, how fast is that going to run, if not 2 Gigs? Does everyone agree that I should send the 512x2 back and change it up for a single stick of 1 GB RAM? I don't really have the money to get 2 gigs just yet, though I might in another week or so.

What if in like, a week or so I buy another gig? Like, then I'd have one chip that runs 1GB and then I'd have another two chips of 512x2, is that gonna run all right, or will it not run at all?

Also, I did ask around. I asked around a LOT, I just didn't know these forums existed while I was asking around. I even asked those dudecomputer.com guys and they said it looked great.

Thanks for the advice on the power supply. I'll put some extra cash into that purchase and buy a higher quality one.

Is an eVga card bad? It got all 5 stars and a lot of reviews on Newegg......

Tyshalle83 wrote:

If I store games on an external hard drive is that going to slow things down?

This will probably slow things down because the transfer rate of a USB/Firewire cable is slower than a SATA RAID 0 (correct me if I'm wrong).

Tyshalle83 wrote:

As for the RAM... well, crap. I didn't know that. When I was looking on Newegg.com I read someone's comment that having the RAM broken up over several chips was somehow better than having it all in one stick. Not being a computer master I kind of just took the guy at his word, figuring that if I wanted to upgrade to 2 Gigs I could just purchase another gig of 512x2 RAM.... So like, if I buy 512x4 chips of RAM, how fast is that going to run, if not 2 Gigs? Does everyone agree that I should send the 512x2 back and change it up for a single stick of 1 GB RAM? I don't really have the money to get 2 gigs just yet, though I might in another week or so.

The RAM should be dual-channeled-->that's why you get two sticks of the same exact latency/size/etc
Dual-channeled RAM will go much faster than non-dual-channeled RAM (but not exactly twice as fast)

Tyshalle83 wrote:

Is an eVga card bad? It got all 5 stars and a lot of reviews on Newegg......

I haven't had an eVGA card before but I haven't really heard too many bad reviews of them but I don't know if they're really good or not. I've used a few XFX cards and I have had excellent success with them. My most recent card is an Apollo GeForce 6800, which I've enjoyed so far.

If you look at the ram specs, you'll see that the OCZ memory takes 2.6 volts. That corsair doesn't need that much. The OCZ really shines once you start pushing the voltage. I DO NOT suggest mixing the ram. Especially OCZ and Corsair. Two seperate animals. Stick with one brand.

Tyshalle83 wrote:

Is different brand memory compatable with each other?

Here's what I was thinking about doing, mainly because of budget constraints right now. Instead of returning the RAM I got, what if I were to keep it, and it's 512x2 sticks of Corsair memory. Now in a month or so, when I get some extra cash I was thinking about buying this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6820227210

It's OCZ brand, 1 GBx2 sticks of RAM. I have 4 slots, so I'd be able to plug the two sticks of OCZ and the 512x2 sticks of Corsair into the motherboard at the same time.

Now, I realize it won't move as fast as it would if I were to have 3 sticks of OCZ 1GBx3 or whatever, but all I really want to know is 1. If the brands are compatable and won't short anything out. 2. If having 3 GB of RAM mixed between two 1GB chips and two 512MB chips will make my computer faster than 2 GB. Assuming it'll all run smooth, I figure I might as well get 3 gigs in there instead of going through all this switcheroo crap which'll delay when I get to build my computer and in the end I'll have less memory anyway.

I'm running the same mobo with the Athlon 4000+ and 1G of the Corsair XMS dual channel and DO experience long "verifying client" times at start up.  I have jacked it up to 2G (2 more 512 sticks of same RAM) and get into the game instantly BUT get locked up in game every time.  I then removed the original RAM and went to 2G with 1Gx2 sticks of Corsair XMS dual channel and same thing happens with initial speed then lock-up.  I am now very familiar with what a re-stocking charge is as I return the RAM each time.  Apparently Corsair and this mobo do not play well beyond 1G!

Go straight away with getting 2G (1G x 2) OCZ Dual Channel RAM.  This should give you a hassle free, fast beautiful experience.

P.S. I am running the 6800GT, and the game looks great with it and runs with no FPS issues.  But if you can afford better...

First, the hard drives. I wouldn't recommend the external drive unless you are needing it to store lots of documents to transfer between machines. Externals are more expensive, and transfer slower. I don't know if you are familiar with RAID 0 so I will run over it quickly. RAID 0 takes 2 identical hard drives and basically combines them to 1. It will read and write off both drives simultaneously which increases the transfer speed of data. The links I posted in my first response are for a Western Digital SATA II 120 GB drive. If you were to convert these to a RAID 0 your system would read it as 1 240 GB drive. (the size may vary slightly) That would make accessing virtual memory and hard drive cache faster which would help gameplay. It would also help BF2 run a little smoother with only 2 X 512 RAM, but it should not be used as a replacement for 2 GB of RAM. It would also give you plenty of space for storing documents, music and other things.

Second, the RAM. Whatever you do now, I will recommend that you buy 2 identical sticks of RAM regardless if it is 2 x 512 or 2 x 1GB. Dual channel will not run if your RAM is even very slightly different from each other. If you were to buy a 1GB stick right now and then try to get another two weeks later, you may not be able to get the exact same thing. That is why they sell dual channel RAM in packages of 2 sticks. If you have to get 2 x 512 now, then resell it to get 2 x 1GB, do it. It is better than the potential headache of trying to resell a single 1GB stick. I want to reassure you, that the RAM you have will run BF2 fine. It will not be utterly perfect, but it will be better than you are now. I have a friend that has an Epox board, AMD 3000 64, and a vanilla 6800, and he runs the game fine with 2 x 512 GB RAM. Your system will be much better than his. Don't make yourself too sick over it. Also if you are wanting to fill up all four slots down the road, it is best to make all the RAM match, especially with the voltages and timings.

If you have any other questions, please ask. It is better to ask a lot of questions than buy the wrong thing and be unhappy.

Last edited by Goose1123 (2005-11-04 07:05:23)