GA-P35-DS4 and Gigabyte's "memory support list"

[JestaGeek]

I'm planning to build a system around Gigabyte's GA-P35-DS4 mainboard. I'll probably opt for the Rev 2.1, since it looks like it might be a bit more future-proof (a few small, but perhaps significant differences) -- which will mean paying about 10 euros more for the board. Differences between DS4 board versions is not what I wanted to discuss here, (though there are some differences in the recommended memory, I guess) but if any of you strongly recommend going with the Rev 2.0 for the purposes of simple Hackintosh building for a N00b like me, I'll pay attention; it looks like there are still reasonable sources for both board versions in Germany (where I'm living).

 

Anyway, I'm hoping someone here can clarify the issue of RAM compatibility. According to the "memory support list" for the GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2.1, the RAM I thought I would use is not supported. Or at least it's not on their list. I'd really like to just stick in a paired 4 GB kit ( 2 x 2GB), leaving 4GB room for future expansion when/if that ever seems necessary. If this is not a bad idea (I only see two brands of RAM available in 2GB sticks that they recommend -- and those are both DDR2 667; and the Nanya brand isn't even available here).

 

Could anyone please tell me what's working for them with the board, memory-wise? I'm guessing that Gigabyte's list is overly limited and may not even be all that valid, but it'd be good to have confirmation from someone a lot more knowledgeable than I am. Any recommendations for RAM to buy from someone using a similar board would be great -- I'd just look in everyone's signatures, but so many people either have issues they are trying to resolve or don't list much about their system specs. I really need to know what to get, down to the speed and class of RAM, voltage, etc... I'm working on it, but I just don't quite understand the rules of the game yet.

 

Anyway, I was going to go with a 4GB kit of G.Skill DDR800 4-4-4-12 (2 x 2GB sticks), but first I really need to know if that'll be an issue. I was planning on running a Core2Duo E4600 (I'll probably start by running it at its nominal 2.4Gz, but I might like to try the "simple" moderate overclocking everyone seems to agree can yield 3GHz without any real tweaking).

 

BTW, I know I can get a Q6600 for not all that much more, or one of the Conroe models with 4MB of L2 cache, but according to my typical uses I probably wouldn't notice much difference, so I thought I'd instead save that money for putting a bit more quality into other parts (no gaming, video editing or heavy processing for the most part; really just looking for an upgrade from a first-gen 1.25GHz G4 Mac Mini... so almost anything will be a huge improvement.) I'd still like to make sure I get whatever's necessary to make sure my moderate overclocking doesn't damage things, so I was planning on adding at least a second 120mm fan to the system and using a better-than-stock cooler, though I won't go more than 40euros on that.

 

If anyone can provide a bit of helpful input, it'd be greatly appreciated. Cheers in advance for any and all advice!

[MacUser2525]

I'm planning to build a system around Gigabyte's GA-P35-DS4 mainboard. I'll probably opt for the Rev 2.1, since it looks like it might be a bit more future-proof (a few small, but perhaps significant differences) -- which will mean paying about 10 euros more for the board. Differences between DS4 board versions is not what I wanted to discuss here, (though there are some differences in the recommended memory, I guess) but if any of you strongly recommend going with the Rev 2.0 for the purposes of simple Hackintosh building for a N00b like me, I'll pay attention; it looks like there are still reasonable sources for both board versions in Germany (where I'm living).

 

I use the DS3 rev 2.0 version of that board and it works well also have used a couple of P965 Gigabyte boards that had no issues so I doubt that one would.

Anyway, I'm hoping someone here can clarify the issue of RAM compatibility. According to the "memory support list" for the GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2.1, the RAM I thought I would use is not supported. Or at least it's not on their list. I'd really like to just stick in a paired 4 GB kit ( 2 x 2GB), leaving 4GB room for future expansion when/if that ever seems necessary. If this is not a bad idea (I only see two brands of RAM available in 2GB sticks that they recommend -- and those are both DDR2 667; and the Nanya brand isn't even available here).

 

My memory compatibility list does not even show 2gb modules and only list about half a dozen different 1066 and 800 modules, so don't pay attention to yours you should be fine with pretty much anything you put in there.

 

Could anyone please tell me what's working for them with the board, memory-wise? I'm guessing that Gigabyte's list is overly limited and may not even be all that valid, but it'd be good to have confirmation from someone a lot more knowledgeable than I am. Any recommendations for RAM to buy from someone using a similar board would be great -- I'd just look in everyone's signatures, but so many people either have issues they are trying to resolve or don't list much about their system specs. I really need to know what to get, down to the speed and class of RAM, voltage, etc... I'm working on it, but I just don't quite understand the rules of the game yet.

 

Just get yourself some quality brand name ddr2 800mhz modules one thing to watch out for is the voltage settings of your memory modules, all Core motherboards I have used from Gigabyte have a funny way of setting the voltage whereby what you would think it is set at using the Normal voltage setting would default to your modules voltage of say for example 1.9v but it does not it defaults to the 1.8v and if your modules specify the 1.9 you have to put the setting manually up a +.1v to make it use the module default of the 1.9v.

Anyway, I was going to go with a 4GB kit of G.Skill DDR800 4-4-4-12 (2 x 2GB sticks), but first I really need to know if that'll be an issue. I was planning on running a Core2Duo E4600 (I'll probably start by running it at its nominal 2.4Gz, but I might like to try the "simple" moderate overclocking everyone seems to agree can yield 3GHz without any real tweaking).

 

Thats a quality brand can't see why you would have any problems. I have owned four Core 2 Duo chips two e6300 and two q6600 all of them hit 3ghz using the stock voltages while still having the C1E, TM2 enabled in the BIOS so still getting the benefit of having the power saving enabled to lower the temperatures the Speedstep is always disabled as it tends to screw things up.

 

BTW, I know I can get a Q6600 for not all that much more, or one of the Conroe models with 4MB of L2 cache, but according to my typical uses I probably wouldn't notice much difference, so I thought I'd instead save that money for putting a bit more quality into other parts (no gaming, video editing or heavy processing for the most part; really just looking for an upgrade from a first-gen 1.25GHz G4 Mac Mini... so almost anything will be a huge improvement.) I'd still like to make sure I get whatever's necessary to make sure my moderate overclocking doesn't damage things, so I was planning on adding at least a second 120mm fan to the system and using a better-than-stock cooler, though I won't go more than 40euros on that.

 

Probably a sensible move I pretty much just waste the four cores in my machine most of the time it does come in handy though for the few times a week I re-encode some video, audio ... You can always upgrade latter when the newer chips are out and the q6600 has crashed in price. For the cooling I use a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme if it will fit in your case it is one hell of a nice cooler to use keeps the chip nice and cool.

 

If anyone can provide a bit of helpful input, it'd be greatly appreciated. Cheers in advance for any and all advice!

 

Hopefully it has helped and good luck on the new build.

[dakine]

I don't have much to add that MacUser2525 hasn't already address, except;

 

I would agree that putting a better CPU cooler would be a good thing. I'm using a Zalman Ultra Quiet CNPS9700 CPU cooler, and my CPU is running at about 30 Degrees Celsius at Idle and about 38 Degrees Celsius at full load, and it's pretty quiet. One thing about this cooler though, it is big, and might not fit your desired case I have a Antec P180 case and it does fit nicely in my case. The best way to install the Zalman fan is to install the CPU and fan before you put the MB in the Case.

[JestaGeek]

Thank you, thank you, dakine and MacUser2525! Your words of wisdom are most reassuring right now. I've honestly been putting waaay too much energy into planning how to do this; so much so that I really couldn't even justify the loss of time, except that I'm learning so much! It's just that every time I think I've answered one question and figured one thing out, a whole host of new questions arise -- kind of one of those "the more you learn, the more you realize how much you don't know" kinds of things.

 

My memory compatibility list does not even show 2gb modules and only list about half a dozen different 1066 and 800 modules, so don't pay attention to yours you should be fine with pretty much anything you put in there.

That is really helpful for me right now, cheers for that! I guess I'll go with either a matched pair of 2GB Corsair or G.Skill DDR800 4-4-4-12... I'm only just really learning a bit about latency/timings, but from my searches, I'm inclined to think I can't do much better (especially for the price) than the G.Skill kit. (It'll run me about 90euros right now, including shipping and (rather high) local taxes... which might be a bit higher than the prices stateside, but still just a tiny fraction of what decent RAM cost last time I bought, so I won't even bother whining about that.

 

Just get yourself some quality brand name ddr2 800mhz modules one thing to watch out for is the voltage settings of your memory modules, all Core motherboards I have used from Gigabyte have a funny way of setting the voltage whereby what you would think it is set at using the Normal voltage setting would default to your modules voltage of say for example 1.9v but it does not it defaults to the 1.8v and if your modules specify the 1.9 you have to put the setting manually up a +.1v to make it use the module default of the 1.9v.

Thanks for the tip. These modules are rated 2.0-2.1v... I read somewhere that the standard should support 1.8v at the rated latencies, but that when manufacturers advertise a higher number that means they are indicating it can handle a bit of "abuse". I guess we'll see what I have to do with these... maybe that's why (not 1.8v standard) the G.Skill kits didn't make the QVL (Qualified Vendors List).

 

Thats a quality brand can't see why you would have any problems. I have owned four Core 2 Duo chips two e6300 and two q6600 all of them hit 3ghz using the stock voltages while still having the C1E, TM2 enabled in the BIOS so still getting the benefit of having the power saving enabled to lower the temperatures the Speedstep is always disabled as it tends to screw things up.

Half of that went over my head, but it'll come in handy when I "cross that bridge", I'm sure! ... I guess it's time to read that Bios for N00bs guide I bookmarked just a bit ago. As a Mac-owner the past 10 years, it's just been sooo long since I've had anything to do with BIOS -- it was almost another ten years before my first Mac that I bought my first (and only) PC... and that really was a "PC". Well, it's a good thing my old G4 Mini is still running well enough to get most of my answers on the 'net. And you folks here are truly tops!

BTW, for other people perusing the forums here, trying to figure out what to get if/when they might want to overclock (i.e. newbies like me ) I've found these overclocking guides at TomsHardware.com to be a real treasure-trove of information. When I've not been perusing threads here, the past week, I've been there!

 

Probably a sensible move I pretty much just waste the four cores in my machine most of the time it does come in handy though for the few times a week I re-encode some video, audio ... You can always upgrade latter when the newer chips are out and the q6600 has crashed in price. For the cooling I use a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme if it will fit in your case it is one hell of a nice cooler to use keeps the chip nice and cool.

Yeah, if I were doing video editing at all, or 3D rendering, etc, I'd certainly buy a quad-core, but for the run-of-the-mill image editing I do on occasion, I doubt I'd notice much time savings, overall.

 

I'm planning to use the Antec Sonata III as my case, so I don't think that's too small. Thanks for your tip about the Thermalright Ultra 120. It looks like it's no longer on the NewEgg available list, though I have found it available in Germany. Actually, I'm hoping that the Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 cooler, which is a similar unit, with similar ratings on NewEgg to the Zalman CNPS9700 dakine is using. It's a few millimeters larger in each dimension than the Zalman, though, so I'm just hoping it will fit on the board without issue (might be a bit tight around the "SilentPipe"). Has anyone tried the NV120 with this board? Personally I'm less worried about the case than the area around the CPU on the board... I think the case is deep enough.

 

BTW, I was considering the lovely, butterfly-form, all copper, fanless Zerotherm BTF95 cooler (or one of their similar models with a fan, such as the BTF90)... but I finally decided the NV120 makes most sense since it's rated for the newer, hotter chips, whereas the 92mm fan-based units (and the BTF95, which is fanless) are only recommended up to the C2D Extreme. I'd rather not have to replace the cooler whenever I finally upgrade the CPU.

 

I would agree that putting a better CPU cooler would be a good thing. I'm using a Zalman Ultra Quiet CNPS9700 CPU cooler, and my CPU is running at about 30 Degrees Celsius at Idle and about 38 Degrees Celsius at full load, and it's pretty quiet. One thing about this cooler though, it is big, and might not fit your desired case I have a Antec P180 case and it does fit nicely in my case. The best way to install the Zalman fan is to install the CPU and fan before you put the MB in the Case.

Cheers for that tip, dakine. I think I will need to follow that advice when installing my chosen cooler as it's quite similar to the Zalman model you have (actually a few mm bigger in every dimension). It looks like you are in the majority, too, in liking that cooler, based on its NewEgg ratings. Unfortunately, it's not available here in Germany, though some similar models are available here. What put me off of those models was this negative review on TomsHardware.com, stating that the base mounts on certain new models weren't designed well, among other things.

 

Many thanks to both of you for taking the time to help out and give some peace-of-mind to this total n00b.

 

--JestaN00b

[chuckeroo]

I have your same board and exact same ram, and everything works great. I was worried about their list too when i saw it originally...

[MacUser2525]

Thank you, thank you, dakine and MacUser2525! Your words of wisdom are most reassuring right now. I've honestly been putting waaay too much energy into planning how to do this; so much so that I really couldn't even justify the loss of time, except that I'm learning so much! It's just that every time I think I've answered one question and figured one thing out, a whole host of new questions arise -- kind of one of those "the more you learn, the more you realize how much you don't know" kinds of things.

 

Yeah thats the way it usually is the best experience is the hands on kind working with the parts.

That is really helpful for me right now, cheers for that! I guess I'll go with either a matched pair of 2GB Corsair or G.Skill DDR800 4-4-4-12... I'm only just really learning a bit about latency/timings, but from my searches, I'm inclined to think I can't do much better (especially for the price) than the G.Skill kit. (It'll run me about 90euros right now, including shipping and (rather high) local taxes... which might be a bit higher than the prices stateside, but still just a tiny fraction of what decent RAM cost last time I bought, so I won't even bother whining about that.

 

 

Damn that is expensive the 8gb I have in my machine only cost me in your terms 120 Euro taxes in delivered to my door here in Canada and that was around Christmas time/early New Year I could probably shave another 15-20 Euro off that now. As too the latency the lower the better you don't really want to mess around with the settings that much unless you end up running it at lower rated speed like around 700mhz or so.

 

Thanks for the tip. These modules are rated 2.0-2.1v... I read somewhere that the standard should support 1.8v at the rated latencies, but that when manufacturers advertise a higher number that means they are indicating it can handle a bit of "abuse". I guess we'll see what I have to do with these... maybe that's why (not 1.8v standard) the G.Skill kits didn't make the QVL (Qualified Vendors List).

 

The ratings like that are usually the recommended at the rated speed of the modules so you would want to add at least the +.2v or +.3v in the BIOS to make sure it runs correctly.

 

Half of that went over my head, but it'll come in handy when I "cross that bridge", I'm sure! ... I guess it's time to read that Bios for N00bs guide I bookmarked just a bit ago. As a Mac-owner the past 10 years, it's just been sooo long since I've had anything to do with BIOS -- it was almost another ten years before my first Mac that I bought my first (and only) PC... and that really was a "PC". Well, it's a good thing my old G4 Mini is still running well enough to get most of my answers on the 'net. And you folks here are truly tops!

BTW, for other people perusing the forums here, trying to figure out what to get if/when they might want to overclock (i.e. newbies like me ) I've found these overclocking guides at TomsHardware.com to be a real treasure-trove of information. When I've not been perusing threads here, the past week, I've been there!

 

 

It is not really that complicated there is only a couple of spots you need to change the settings in Power Management enable the C1E which reduces the voltage and multiplier to the chip when under load (it will increase once a load is put on the chip automatically), the TM2 is the built-in thermal management which stops the chip from over heating it will either throttle it back or even shutdown the machine in extreme cases, the speedstep is another voltage/multiplier reducing option I never use becasue it screws up my overclock. Then in the M.I.T you just have to set the multiplier for the chip to manual with the one you want I usually go for the default of the chip as this does not mess with the C1E power/multiplier reduction otherwise you may as well disable the C1E as it will not be working same applies if you put more voltage to the chip in the setting below this so you want stock (Normal setting) voltage. Now you would set the FSB frequency to get your final clock speed (multiplier x FSB = final clock speed) with most time leaving the timings of the ram to its default settings. Plus you want to keep an eye on the memory multiplier it should show what the default of your memory is for its rated speed then have what it is actually set to once you determine your FSB speed you can depending how high the FSB is set to want to go with the auto setting or set it to 2 so it is running a 1:1 ratio with the FSB or you can use the odd multipliers to get it as close to the 800mhz as you can some say the 1:1 is the best and this is what I use but your mileage may vary as they say try different settings along with the free download of Geekbench to see what it gives you for a rating with the various settings.

 

You will want to check to make sure that the overclock is stable so get the mprime255 at the URL below and run it to put a load on the processors if it will run the smallfft test for at least a few hours without any failures then you have a stable overclock you would most likely want to have gotten the Temperature Monitor program to keep an eye on these if you get a revision B chip like you mention above then the temps will be off by ~15C higher than they actually are as this program is calibrated for the revision G chips like are in a real Mac and some models you can buy for a PC.

 

http://www.mersenne.org/gimps/

 

Yeah, if I were doing video editing at all, or 3D rendering, etc, I'd certainly buy a quad-core, but for the run-of-the-mill image editing I do on occasion, I doubt I'd notice much time savings, overall.

 

No probably not the only thing that will load my cores a 100% for all of them is the mprime for normal encoding I usually get a load of 280% according to top so each core is loaded at around 70% or if I encode multiple files at the same time then I can get to 100% on all.

 

I'm planning to use the Antec Sonata III as my case, so I don't think that's too small. Thanks for your tip about the Thermalright Ultra 120. It looks like it's no longer on the NewEgg available list, though I have found it available in Germany. Actually, I'm hoping that the Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 cooler, which is a similar unit, with similar ratings on NewEgg to the Zalman CNPS9700 dakine is using. It's a few millimeters larger in each dimension than the Zalman, though, so I'm just hoping it will fit on the board without issue (might be a bit tight around the "SilentPipe"). Has anyone tried the NV120 with this board? Personally I'm less worried about the case than the area around the CPU on the board... I think the case is deep enough.

 

BTW, I was considering the lovely, butterfly-form, all copper, fanless Zerotherm BTF95 cooler (or one of their similar models with a fan, such as the BTF90)... but I finally decided the NV120 makes most sense since it's rated for the newer, hotter chips, whereas the 92mm fan-based units (and the BTF95, which is fanless) are only recommended up to the C2D Extreme. I'd rather not have to replace the cooler whenever I finally upgrade the CPU.

 

You would probably be good with any of them coolers even the last you mention that says Core Exterme would most likely be acceptable with a Quad as the way the chips work is on their thermal design with the Quads being if memory serves me around 100w for the B revision and slightly lower for the G variety which fits into the same range you get for the Dual Core Extreme processors so it is six of one half dozen of the other when making the comparison of heat sink and fan needed.

 

 

Many thanks to both of you for taking the time to help out and give some peace-of-mind to this total n00b.

 

--JestaN00b

 

Your welcome.

[JestaGeek]

I apologize for the delay in my response. Something very serious came up in my personal life, so this project had to be shelved for a while, but I'll be back working on the build before long. I'm sure (or at least I hope) that what you said about "having the parts" sometimes helps the learning. I just need to make sure I have all the parts I need and that they are all compatible with each other. With that in mind, I think I've worked out my full order list and will post a new thread for feedback about the compatibility and/or appropriateness of the items on my wishlist. (Funny, someone's already rated it "5-egg" on NewEgg, though I hadn't posted links to it anywhere, so they must have just been browsing the public lists. I won't be buying this there, but the other sites where I'll be making my orders don't support a public wishlist.)

 

Once again, many thanks, MacUser2525 for all the tips and "hand-holding"... I did need the reassurance and realize I should probably find a friend here with a bit more hardware knowledge than I have to help oversee my build process. And, you're right... things electronic are much pricier here than in North America. That said, it's even more extreme when you look at the exchange rates for what I'd have to pay for an "entry-level" Intel-based iMac. Even for the lowest model, I'd pay more than this system will end up costing. And that's with only a single 1GB stick of RAM, and no Windows, VMWare Fusion, extra drives, and other goodies that the system I'm designing should include. Plus I think most of my hardware has more than a one-year warranty (unlike the iMac without Applecare) and it comes with another great thing the iMacs miss: relatively simple future upgradability.

 

Oh, btw... I'm including a license for OS X in my price calculation, too. Of course my build does not include WLAN, bluetooth or an video camera... and it does include a lot of extra hassle. But it should be a good learning experience.

 

Thanks for everything!

[MacUser2525]

I apologize for the delay in my response. Something very serious came up in my personal life, so this project had to be shelved for a while, but I'll be back working on the build before long. I'm sure (or at least I hope) that what you said about "having the parts" sometimes helps the learning. I just need to make sure I have all the parts I need and that they are all compatible with each other. With that in mind, I think I've worked out my full order list and will post a new thread for feedback about the compatibility and/or appropriateness of the items on my wishlist. (Funny, someone's already rated it "5-egg" on NewEgg, though I hadn't posted links to it anywhere, so they must have just been browsing the public lists. I won't be buying this there, but the other sites where I'll be making my orders don't support a public wishlist.)

 

List looks good as far as I can tell the 2600 is used in a real mac so should be easy enough to get going. A couple of things though the SATA cables are not needed all the 775 gigabyte boards I have bought in the last year come with four of those cables, the anti static cable is really not required what I usually do is make sure the power supply is connected to the board with it turned off in the back plugged into the wall that way it is grounded so you just to touch the case itself when putting the parts of course making sure you are not on carpet when putting together the machine as well been doing it this way for gotta be 20+ years now and never fried a part yet. Looking at the monitor you should be able to get at least a 22" for that price on Newegg I got a 22" Dell on Ebay a couple of months ago for $245 brand new and just recently upgraded to a 24" Soyo Topaz S for $329 that was on sale though from a regular ~$400.

 

Once again, many thanks, MacUser2525 for all the tips and "hand-holding"... I did need the reassurance and realize I should probably find a friend here with a bit more hardware knowledge than I have to help oversee my build process. And, you're right... things electronic are much pricier here than in North America. That said, it's even more extreme when you look at the exchange rates for what I'd have to pay for an "entry-level" Intel-based iMac. Even for the lowest model, I'd pay more than this system will end up costing. And that's with only a single 1GB stick of RAM, and no Windows, VMWare Fusion, extra drives, and other goodies that the system I'm designing should include. Plus I think most of my hardware has more than a one-year warranty (unlike the iMac without Applecare) and it comes with another great thing the iMacs miss: relatively simple future upgradability.

 

Definitely that is one of the things that always amazes me when reading Mac forums how people say they are good value for the money but somehow forget the idea that if you upgrade (the limited options they are there) anything using Apple branded parts you pay a fortune for them compared to PC parts and the flexibility you get using it as a platform just can't be equaled.

 

 

Oh, btw... I'm including a license for OS X in my price calculation, too. Of course my build does not include WLAN, bluetooth or an video camera... and it does include a lot of extra hassle. But it should be a good learning experience.

 

Thanks for everything!

 

For sure it will be a learning experience now whether it is good or bad depends sometimes a build just goes perfectly others it goes all to hell for some reason like one brand of ram not liking the board its in or something else just as stupid..

[JestaGeek]

I should have said, thanks again, and linked this page back to a thread about my planned system specs, where I'm inviting comments on my NewEgg wishlist (which has changed a bit since I last posted in this thread; of course I'll actually be buying from various stores in Germany using a price search engine to shop around).

 

List looks good as far as I can tell the 2600 is used in a real mac so should be easy enough to get going. A couple of things though the SATA cables are not needed all the 775 gigabyte boards I have bought in the last year come with four of those cables, the anti static cable is really not required what I usually do is make sure the power supply is connected to the board with it turned off in the back plugged into the wall that way it is grounded so you just to touch the case itself when putting the parts of course making sure you are not on carpet when putting together the machine as well been doing it this way for gotta be 20+ years now and never fried a part yet.

My feelings, exactly, on the 2600 graphics card. It looks like this card has also been running well for others (according to the hardware compatibility lists). Thanks for your tip about the SATA cables. I think the specs and photos I've seen only show 2 SATA cables, so I think I'll still play it safe and order extra... they're cheap enough. Maybe I'll find out that I like them a bit longer (depending on how the cables have to route) or with an angle fitting. In any case, if I have an extra cable or two in a drawer, I'll be set if I ever end up with a faulty cable or something. While I've never undertaken a project of this kind, I've always done just as you describe to make sure I was grounded of any static electricity before handling sensitive cards and such. But I've only ever done system upgrades, so I thought it couldn't hurt to play it safe and at least have a bit more guarantee that I'm not damaging my goods before I even have them assembled. That said, I have an "IT friend" here who has a wrist strap I can use and who's said he'd watch over my build process and give me some pointers as I go. I've always had to make my best guess when it came to jumper settings on components in past upgrades, etc... and it's always worked out, but with so many more things that could go wrong, I'm sure that his assistance will be helpful.

 

Looking at the monitor you should be able to get at least a 22" for that price on Newegg I got a 22" Dell on Ebay a couple of months ago for $245 brand new and just recently upgraded to a 24" Soyo Topaz S for $329 that was on sale though from a regular ~$400.

I've read good things about these Samsung models when it comes to price/value, but may look around a bit more before I buy. The 200 euro price I was getting was the best when you take into account that it was from Amazon and included free shipping. Buying from Amazon has always been a good experience for me... it's hard to beat their customer service policies, especially here in Germany where "customer service" is kind of an oxymoron. I looked at the 22" model, but it appears that it's the exact same pixel-count, just stretched out a bit more... I'll be happy just to have a bigger monitor (than my current 19" standard-format) and even happier if I can get dual monitors running with "extended desktop" the way I always used to. I think my first 20" monitor was something like US$2000 -- more than I'm spending on this whole system, so any of the prices I might pay for a monitor sounds cheap by comparison.

 

Definitely that is one of the things that always amazes me when reading Mac forums how people say they are good value for the money but somehow forget the idea that if you upgrade (the limited options they are there) anything using Apple branded parts you pay a fortune for them compared to PC parts and the flexibility you get using it as a platform just can't be equaled.

For sure it will be a learning experience now whether it is good or bad depends sometimes a build just goes perfectly others it goes all to hell for some reason like one brand of ram not liking the board its in or something else just as stupid..

Well, I've never actually upgraded my Apple systems with components bought from Apple... But even my relatively minor upgrades to the 3-year-old Mac Mini I'm using were a real pain to install. I've seen the service manual for the new iMacs and it looks even more fiddly to do anything more than a simple RAM upgrade. (Soon after buying the Mini, I upgraded the RAM to the max 1GB and installed a larger, faster HDD and it definitely made a big difference... for a fraction of what it would have cost to have it built that way).

 

Anyway, I hope I've done my homework well enough to ensure that I don't end up with issues with incompatible parts, thanks in no small part to the experience of members here! I'm not going to miss the joy of having to take everything apart just to get access to the hard drive or memory slot. And it will be a nice change to have a system that I can actually upgrade (memory/drives, etc) without just replacing the old parts. So if everything runs without too much headache, I'll be very happy with my system... something almost as customizable as the Mac Pro for a fraction of the EU price of same, with more RAM and HDD storage and without needing to get CPUs that are way overkill for my needs.

 

If you, MacUser2525, or others with a bit of experience with my parts have any insights or suggestions you'd like to offer regarding my "final" build list, this n00b welcomes them wholeheartedly. Of course the appropriate place would be the other thread since we've already drifted well of original topic of this one (memory compatibility).

[MacUser2525]

I should have said, thanks again, and linked this page back to a thread about my planned system specs, where I'm inviting comments on my NewEgg wishlist (which has changed a bit since I last posted in this thread; of course I'll actually be buying from various stores in Germany using a price search engine to shop around).

 

I agree with the other poster there it still looks good.

My feelings, exactly, on the 2600 graphics card. It looks like this card has also been running well for others (according to the hardware compatibility lists). Thanks for your tip about the SATA cables. I think the specs and photos I've seen only show 2 SATA cables, so I think I'll still play it safe and order extra... they're cheap enough. Maybe I'll find out that I like them a bit longer (depending on how the cables have to route) or with an angle fitting. In any case, if I have an extra cable or two in a drawer, I'll be set if I ever end up with a faulty cable or something.

 

Good point always nice to have the extra if needed.

 

While I've never undertaken a project of this kind, I've always done just as you describe to make sure I was grounded of any static electricity before handling sensitive cards and such. But I've only ever done system upgrades, so I thought it couldn't hurt to play it safe and at least have a bit more guarantee that I'm not damaging my goods before I even have them assembled. That said, I have an "IT friend" here who has a wrist strap I can use and who's said he'd watch over my build process and give me some pointers as I go. I've always had to make my best guess when it came to jumper settings on components in past upgrades, etc... and it's always worked out, but with so many more things that could go wrong, I'm sure that his assistance will be helpful.

 

Sounds like your set then for the build the static should not really be a problem and you seem to know the method to prevent it anyways of course the strap can't hurt to be using it as well.

 

I've read good things about these Samsung models when it comes to price/value, but may look around a bit more before I buy. The 200 euro price I was getting was the best when you take into account that it was from Amazon and included free shipping. Buying from Amazon has always been a good experience for me... it's hard to beat their customer service policies, especially here in Germany where "customer service" is kind of an oxymoron. I looked at the 22" model, but it appears that it's the exact same pixel-count, just stretched out a bit more... I'll be happy just to have a bigger monitor (than my current 19" standard-format) and even happier if I can get dual monitors running with "extended desktop" the way I always used to. I think my first 20" monitor was something like US$2000 -- more than I'm spending on this whole system, so any of the prices I might pay for a monitor sounds cheap by comparison.

 

That is the idea make sure to shop around brand name really means nothing there are only 3 or 4 panel makers so all the brands are using the same panels it really is a matter of getting the best bang for the buck with the connectors you want on the display. For the 20" vs 22" yes the 22" is a "stretched" version but those extra two inches really do make a difference and if you can get one as cheap as a 20" you may as well go for it. Especially if you don't like small default fonts the 22" is much better with this as the DPI is larger than a 20".

 

Well, I've never actually upgraded my Apple systems with components bought from Apple... But even my relatively minor upgrades to the 3-year-old Mac Mini I'm using were a real pain to install. I've seen the service manual for the new iMacs and it looks even more fiddly to do anything more than a simple RAM upgrade. (Soon after buying the Mini, I upgraded the RAM to the max 1GB and installed a larger, faster HDD and it definitely made a big difference... for a fraction of what it would have cost to have it built that way).

 

Yeah they certainly don't make it simple do they when I owned my iMac G4 last year I was thinking about upgrading the hard drive then seen what I had to go through and said screw that.

Anyway, I hope I've done my homework well enough to ensure that I don't end up with issues with incompatible parts, thanks in no small part to the experience of members here! I'm not going to miss the joy of having to take everything apart just to get access to the hard drive or memory slot. And it will be a nice change to have a system that I can actually upgrade (memory/drives, etc) without just replacing the old parts. So if everything runs without too much headache, I'll be very happy with my system... something almost as customizable as the Mac Pro for a fraction of the EU price of same, with more RAM and HDD storage and without needing to get CPUs that are way overkill for my needs.

 

I think you have as well plus your going to have a friend there to help so your good to go you just need the parts to get to it and as you say the price & expandability just can't be beat you can always upgrade to a more powerful CPU if your needs change, more ram... the list is endless

[JestaGeek]

UPDATE:

Unfortunately I don't have time, now, for more complete testing nor to add an entry to the 10.5.2 HCL (which I should do after a bit more testing) but I can say that the tips about the RAM were most certainly helpful. I bumped the voltage up 0.25v from the start (I saw a G.Skill rep suggested that in the forum thread on the NewEgg page for the product)... and I'm not sure why the mobo wants to auto-rate them as 5-5-5-18 when they are labeled 4-4-4-12, but with the voltage set to 2.05v and the timings manually set to 4-4-4-12 in BIOS, I've had no problems yet and the machine is just FLYING compared to my old G4-based Mac mini which this system replaces. You can see my signature for the rest of my details, but for now, let me just say that thanks to Kalyway, Netkas and the others who've contributed to the OSx86 project, my whole system seems to be completely supported out-of-the-box with just running the Kalyway 10.5.2 installer. I may yet use my retail Leopard disks, the 10.5.2 combo updater, etc, to try that out, but I'm really not sure what I could possibly gain, since the languages I use are on the Kalyway disk and everything just seems to work fine. That's more than I can say for Windows XP, which was a major PIA to install and took a ton of extra downloaded drivers and stuff to get working.

 

With Leopard, so far everything is fine. I imported my settings from my old Mac and that went well (first I made a back-up, in case it didn't... SuperDuper is great!)... The only thing I really needed to add was to download the Leopard-compatible software/driver installer for my old HP LaserJet printer. I recommend doing the import of old settings right away because if you don't, you'll be asked to set up a new user and then you'll have to delete that new user if it happens to have the same first and last name as your old new user... that was a bit of an irritation that it couldn't just meld the two since the OS does say you can always import your old data later... and I wasn't quite ready to go into "target mode" and bring my old system within firewire distance of the new one.

 

I did waste some time trying to figure out why my system profiler said "no built-in audio"... I thought that meant that I needed another kext or something. Then I tried plugging in some basic speakers into the standard "headphone" jack and found that it works just fine, so I'm not sure why the profiler doesn't "see" my audio support... no big deal. I also ran the Leopard Graphics update from Apple, but I think it might have already been included, because I certainly could tell no difference after running it.

 

I'll create a new post when I get back from abroad (leaving tomorrow a.m. and have much to do between now and then) with details about my set-up, exact configuration, build photos, BIOS settings, etc, but for now, I just wanted to say that my build, as described in my signature, works as near perfectly as I could possibly hope. I am very happy with this system.

 

Thank you to everyone who helped make this process as headache-free as it could be. I couldn't be happier with this machine. I'd become so accustomed to waiting for that spinning beachball after each change, window close, program launch, etc, that this is just a real breath of fresh air.

 

--Jesta(very stoked)N00b

 

18 May update:

Everything running fine after coming back from abroad. I'm still getting to know Leopard and discovering the minor quirks of this system, but would definitely still recommend my configuration to anyone planning a new build. This system really kicks a$$! I'm totally lovin' it! Thanks again, to (in no particular order) Kalyway, netkas, JaS, ~pcwiz, dakine, chuckeroo, MacUser2525, and all the others who've enabled the OSx86 project to be what it is today and who've offered n00bs like me the kind of support I needed!