hi.. need some advice, motherboard/etc suggestions for AMD 64 x2 6400

[sam sarrha]

what is the difference in the AMD black and blue box..

i am trying to keep the cost down with a 6000 3GHz, but the 6400 3.3GHz isnt that much more, and 4G of RAM isnt that much more and is really suductive after using this piece of crap with 256.. seems to use only about 168..:boring:

sugestions for a powerscourse for that..?? type of ram.?

thanks for any help..

[RoyGBiv]

1. Black Box ...

Well, the difference between the Black Box and the normal box for the 6400 is basically that the Black Box doesn't have a hit sink/fan included, at least at NewEgg. In earlier versions, the black box had a smaller core, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. There are likely certain differences in the CPU that make it more attractive to people who like to tweak things. The black box is marketed to overclockers who wouldn't use the stock cooling solution in any case.

PSU selection should be made after you know what all you're going to have in the machine. Don't go really cheap regardless, but if you're gonna do something like have four drives, a bunch of fans, and run a SLI configuration, you're gonna need something a might bit heftier than if you don't.

Pick out your motherboard before you start choosing RAM.

[hobbit709]

2. Black box is unlocked

both on frequency and multipliers. And if you crank it up, I certainly would put the big mamou heat sink on it.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Motherboard:

Presently, AMD support is not healthy amongst the mb makers. EVGA and XFX no longer make AMD motherboards. Right now, your best bet is anything by either Gigabyte or Asus.

4 gigs of RAM is nice with a 64 bit operating system. 32 bit operating systems only address about 3.2-3.5 gigs of RAM.

I recommend the Nvidia 8800 GT if you are gaming. You do not need that much graphics horsepower if you don't game.

Power supply? At least 600w. Perhaps more. Power supply service headroom is a good thing to have.

Look at heatsink/fans, make a list and come back.

Samsung drives are well-priced and tough as nails.

Anything else?