Athlon XP Mobo?

[Faceman]

Hi. I'm thinking of upgrading from a Celeron 300A to an Athlon XP 1600. In doing this it seems I'll also need a new motherboard; can anyone recommend a good quality/stable yet inexpensive one for this CPU? I'd also like to replace my 128mb PC100 SDRAM with 256mb PC2100 DDR RAM (266MHz) however, I was wondering if I could use my current PC100 SDRAM and upgrade to DDR at a later date (when I have the money).

Thank you.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Faceman on 01/23/02 02:50 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[scamtrOn]

i think you should go with an abit kr7a with pc3000 ram, an ata133 7200 rpm 60gb hdd from newegg.com, ati 8500 or ti500 from nvidia, audigy sound card from creative, an xp1700 since its the best for the money right now, and a nice case with very good air flow with a psu of 300w or better.

<font color=purple><b>Let us respect each other, so we can all be friends.</b> </font color=purple>

 

[Faceman]

Hmm, that setup is a bit too expensive. I was considering going with the following:

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 1600
MOBO: Epox EP-8KHA+ or at the most an Abit KG7 (I was told I should go with Gigabyte though)
RAM: 256mb PC2100 DDR 266MHz
GRAPHICS: Hercules 3D Profit III Titanium 200 64mb
SOUND: Sound Blaster Live! DE 5.1
CASE: Don't know?

 

[Faceman]

Anyone?

 

[scamtrOn]

well i think you should try to get the xp1700+. the difference is only $3.

<font color=purple><b>Let us respect each other, so we can all be friends.</b> </font color=purple>

 

[tilepusher]

Hey F,
When do you need this system by? With all this new technology just around the corner, it seem to my like a waste to get something at this point in time. Also, what will you be using this system for? If you don't mind working out some of the bugs you may or may not encounter, you might look into the ECS K7S5A with the SiS 735 chipset, it is a no frills mobo with 2 SD-Ram slots & 2 DDR slots. Some people have had problems with this mobo though. I personally would not buy a dual Ram mobo, it is, most of the time a big compromise in system performance. A better cheap mobo is the Shuttle AK 31 ver. 3.1 with the Via KT266A chipset, it is about $20 USD more than the ECS mobo($80 vs. $60). It does not have SD-Ram slots, only 4 DDR slots. I have built systems with this mobo, and everyone is happy with it, no problems.

Still if I were you, I would hold out a little longer until more mobo's with PC2700 support come out, and if the new AMD "Throughbred" can use this added Memory Bandwidth. Good Luck.

Peace Out.............tile

WHAT????? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE ROAR OF MY CASE FANS! YOU'LL HAVE TO SCREAM!

 

[Faceman]

SCAMTRON "well i think you should try to get the xp1700+. the difference is only $3."

Hmm, over here the difference is more like $50 (1600 = $330 / 1700 = $380).

TILEPUSHER: I am mainly going to be using it for games and a little video editing. I don't really *need* the system by any time, but I'd like it pretty soon (I've got all these games that currently run like [-peep-] and want to play them the way they were meant to be played). That said however, I probably wont be buying for another month or two. Will there be much price difference and benefit from the PC2700 RAM over the PC2100, as well what's the AMD Throughbred? Is it worth waiting, or for what I want, should I just go for what I was going to go with (BTW, are those motherboards no good)?

 

[Guest]

wait about a month or so till the ECS K7S6A SiS745 chipset 3DDR slots comes out too see where they price that mobo i dunno how good the ECS K7S5A is yet so i might hold off till new board is out im going to use a xp1600+ with either board depending on how they price things plus i saw the 5A has a 1.0Gb ram limit and the (6A has 3.0Gb limit 3ddrpc2100 or 2ddrpc333).
i was thinking even for a asus kt266 is still moderate price above $200CDN plus i herd reviews about ALi chipset ther not so ok but who knows no matter what im waiting for the ECS K7S6A since i have a asusA7V kt133 <.
im not buy i850 chipset mainboards since 512RDRAM is like $400 here im going AMD all the way its cheap and fast.
K7S6A review: http://k7jo.de/k7s6a/4_benchmarks.htm

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Asus A7V kt133
Duron700@997Mhz
288SDRAMpc133
20GB Fujitsu
GeForce 2 32Mb mx/mx 400

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THE LOWBANDWIDTH PIMP

 

[tilepusher]

Hey F,
About the PC2700 vs. PC2100, it all depends on the chipset and if the CPU can handle/utilize the extra memory bandwidth. Right now, running the FSB @ 333/166mhz does not give you that much gains for the Athlons/ memory bandwidth benchmarks. This includes running the Iwill mobo with PC2700 support against any Via KT266A mobo. The Key is will the new Thoughbred(AMD Athlon w/ 0.13 Micron manufactuering, for higher speed & better cooling and larger L2, still Socket A, running @ 2.0ghz labeled as 2500+) be able to take advantage of the higher memory bandwidth, or will the new chipsets be able to deliver & utilize that memory bandwith. A good cpu can only run as fast as the chipset will allow, and vice versa. They work together, the rumour is the next generation AMD cpu's( code name: Hammer) will have a intergrated memory controller built on the chip to bypass any poor performing chipset problems. Is it worth waiting for? I don't know, a lot of new technologys turn out to be just marketing hype...........but AMD has been on a roll for over a 2 years now. The answer is yes, if it comes out before you need a new PC. I really don't know if it will come out on time. My guess is they will release the Thoughbred 2500+, sometime after May. Please check better sources, I read a lot of rumuor driven websites, and I have not checked any Official AMD sources. About your mobo picks, yes they are good, and I would be happy with any of your picks.

The one thing I did learn, get a Huge power supply, like a 430 watt Enermax. Read the HSF reviews, and get the best & loudest Heatsink Fan that you can stand for everyday use(do not get something so loud that it wakes the whole house up or drowns out the vacuum cleaner). Lastly get the biggest stick of Fast DDR, that you can afford, like Crucial 512mb & try not to use more than 2 slots, no matter how many DDR slots that you have on the mobo. Again Good Luck!

Peace Out.............tile

WHAT????? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE ROAR OF MY CASE FANS! YOU'LL HAVE TO SCREAM!

 

[scamtrOn]

woaahhh where are you. in Europ?

<font color=purple><b>Let us respect each other, so we can all be friends.</b> </font color=purple>

 

[scamtrOn]

e

<font color=purple><b>Let us respect each other, so we can all be friends.</b> </font color=purple>

 

[jiffy]

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 1600
MOBO: Epox EP-8KHA+ or at the most an Abit KG7 (I was told I should go with Gigabyte though)
RAM: 256mb PC2100 DDR 266MHz
GRAPHICS: Hercules 3D Profit III Titanium 200 64mb
SOUND: Sound Blaster Live! DE 5.1
CASE: Don't know?

CPU: looks good
MOBO: Abit looks good, Epox might be too, not sure on Gig
RAM: looks good
Graphics: I'd have to read up, but looks ok
Sound: looks good
Case: At least one fan in the front. At least 300watts quilty P/S

Sounds like your on the right track, just keep reading and get as much info. on what you want to get and you should be OK.