Curse

varyag · May 15, 2005, 02:53 AM // 02:53

I am thinking of upgrading my good-old system, while keeping costs to the minimum and without loosing in reliability.

I am interested in Sperific Model Numbers for the components to buy, if possible from people with personal experience with their use.

What I have:
PIII 800MHz
384Mb PC133 Memory
Radeon 9600XT 128mb
Dell Case
(fast HD, working sound and network cards)

Primary question -
I plan to upgrade the processor, motherboard, and as result memory and case + power supply.

Athlon XP 2600+ Barton 333MHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket A
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103417

This seems to be the best value in processors at the moment.
What will be the best value motherboard and memory to use with it?

I have no prior experience of putting a system together, but perhaps an experienced friend will help through the more difficult steps. However, I would like to avoid any oc/mod work.

Secondary question -
Rosewill RV 300W power supply - for some reason it failed to work after installation. The system wouldn't start. I had to switch back to the old 200W one. Correct voltage and no apparent shipment issues from newegg.
Anyone know any other common issues?

The primary question - a recommendation for a motherboard and memory for that processor - is what I'm mainly interested in.

Thank you.

Serafita Kayin · May 15, 2005, 03:01 AM // 03:01

Dell power supplies are proprietary. Amazing you didn't cause an explosion.

As for recommendations-

G.SKILL 2x512 memory kits-www.newegg.com has a few, the 3200 CAS2 kit if you don't overclock, the 4400 TCCD kit if you do. Both are currently clocking in around 100 bucks.

Anything nForce2 Ultra 400 is good, but my personal recommendation is attempting to locate a Chaintech Zenith (have one now) or an Abit AN7. Either is about as good as it gets for Socket A.

Why do I say best of the best? Cause it supports upgrade features that will hold you for a while, like SATA and RAID. You get what you pay for. I would recommend DFI if you have a lot of experience-faster, but very finicky, and can have cold boot issues.

Loviatar · May 15, 2005, 03:02 AM // 03:02

the most common one with good results is the asus board either the deluxe version or the budget line (mine is the x budget version)

memory is easy
get name brand 3200 from corsair, crucial, micron ,kingston
just a good name brand
if using a dual channel motherboard get a pair matched to work together ( mine is corsair 512x2)

http://www.newegg.com/

is the onlyplace with very good prices i have used for years

on the barton- get a good heatsink/fan from an amd approved manufacturer such as thermaktake

power supply i have been very happy with 2 from Antec (a truepower 380 and a true power 430)
i dont know about rosewell but something is ringing a bell

abit edit

i have an abit sitting on a shelf right in front of me with a 2500+ barton that is on its 2nd rma with no time in actual use
that is why i recommended the asus which has given good service

on the other hand maybe it is the luck of the draw

varyag · May 15, 2005, 03:10 AM // 03:10

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813127167

This is the Abit AN7 you are referring to Serafita Kayin?

Question - what is nForce2 Ultra 400? nVidia... is that something related to video card compatability? I plan to keep using the Radeon, should work even better at 8x, and its new.

Also - this is what I was looking at originally before posting here, see any flaws?
ASUS A7V880 Socket A (Socket 462) VIA KT880 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131501

Thank you for the detailed replies. Already have a few things cleared up.

Loviatar · May 15, 2005, 03:17 AM // 03:17

nForce2 Ultra 400
is refering to the chipset not compatability

Edit

i like the ez flash on the asus if you need it along with the crash free bios a well

cat is yelling the i should eat (a well as him)

good nite all

Serafita Kayin · May 15, 2005, 02:38 PM // 14:38

That's the board.

nForce 2 is the chipset, just as VIA KT880 is the ASUS chipset.

I've NEVER had a functioning ASUS board. When I topped #10 RMA, I quit.

The Chaintechs are always my best bet, but I like MSI, and Gigabyte has two BIOSes, so it's hard to kill them both.

Let me link you a few of my favorites...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813123237

Epox 8RDA-PRO, nice board, not too flashy, good on features. Epox has always been solid overclockers as well...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130458

MSI K7N2 Delta2 Platinum, MSI's flagship board, now that AMD64 took over socket A is real cheap, so grap it if you can, it's also one of my favorite boards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128275

Gigabyte GA-7N400S-L, dual BIOS, all the goodies, overclocks like all the above-well.

Any of the above boards would make an excellent system.

I listed my memory choice, let me link it...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231001

No fancy heatspreaders or lights, but you can let any techie on here examine ths choice-TCCD is one of the best memory technologies ever, and with its ability to scale for freaking ever on low volts, it pairs very well with all the boards here. I'll defend this one against any Corsair or Mushkin any day.

termite · May 15, 2005, 09:16 PM // 21:16

For the budget Athlon XP system (and the CPU that you've chosen) I'd recommend the following companies:

Motherboard: Asus or DFI. As of right now these two are probably neck and neck. Make sure it comes with nVidia (nforce) chipset. Others don't usually perform as well.

RAM: Get 2x512 pc3200 RAM by Crucial, KingMax, Corsair or OCZ. This should be in price range of $80-$120.

Power Supply: One that's compatible with P4 & XP. For a low cost go with Thermaltake (around 400-450w), and for higher price look for True series power supplies by Antec (430w+).

P.S. If you have a Sound Blaster series card (Live!, Audigy/Audigy2) - use those. If not, then use the onboard SoundStorm (I think that was the name) card that comes with NForce chipset.