CPU decision

[Guest]

I am planning to upgrade my system and want to spend around $200(pricewatch) for mainboard and cpu. I use my system for mostly gaming. What do you think my best options are.

Thank you

 

[Matisaro]

200 for the motherboard AND cpu?


If you want to use sdram your best option is the following.

http://www.pricewatch.com/1/306/4210-1.htm

1900+ with an ecsk7s5a.


If you want ddr then you can get the same, OR,

you can grab a 1700+ cpu for 88 bucks and grab a kt266a motherboard for around 120, thus making 200 bucks.

Up to you.



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[dhlucke]

Get a ECS K7S5A and the best AMD XP that will make up the difference in price.

However, what current system do you have and do you have a good powersupply and memory for a new system?

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[eden]

This is why I tell people, in the low cash situations such as these, no Intel system with reasonable performance can be made of, and thus AMD will always succeed here.

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[phsstpok]

What do you have now? mobo? CPU? video card? and the rest?

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[Guest]

I've got an athlon 700, asus k7v, voodoo 5 (please dont laugh, it was a freebie), and 512 of 133 memory. I do realize I will need new memory, I am just alotting 200 for the cpu and motherboard

 

[Guest]

What I am looking at is the ECS K7S5A mobo with an XP 1900. You'll have to excuse me, but I fall off the hardware scene whenever I get a new setup. I don't know what the new XP chip is like and how much better it would be than a 1.4 tbird.

However, I priced out a P4, and with either MSI's 645 Ultra or Soltek's SL-85DRS2 I can drop a P4 1.7. Would this be a better alternative?

Thanks

 

[Guest]

I've got a 300w power supply

 

[Matisaro]

The 1900+ will outperform the 1700 willamette p4 HANDILY.


The 1900+ is the best buy of the two. By far.

The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark

 

[Guest]

Also, what kind of DDR memory should I get with either system

 

[Guest]

I think I answered my own question - ddr 2100, correct?

 

[lhgpoobaa]

yes. DDR2100
just make sure you buy decent brand name stuff, not the generic.
more reliable overall & it should be possible to run it at Cas2 and hard memory timings, giving you more performance.

one of the most respected names around is Crucial.


My tech advice here is not free. Email your credit card detials to mynic@hotmail.com

 

[Guest]

what about samsung or zeus?

 

[FatBurger]

Samsung is pretty decent, but Crucial is better.

How much of an overclocker are you? If you're up for it, the 1.6A is a good buy, but probably still out of your range.

<font color=blue>If you don't buy Windows, then the terrorists have already won!</font color=blue> - Microsoft

 

[Matisaro]

Add the 150 for the 1.6a+ 150 for a good rdram mobo+ 100 for rdram, and you get well out of his range IMO.

The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark

 

[peteb]

You can pickup a P4 1.6A and motherboard combo for $208 listed price on pricewatch. Gives you a choice of Biostar, Gigabyte, ECS or Tyan on a mix of SiS645 and P4X266 chipsets (all PC2100 DDR)

Just throwing in some other options.

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[Matisaro]

You can pickup a P4 1.6A and motherboard combo for $208 listed price on pricewatch. Gives you a choice of Biostar, Gigabyte, ECS or Tyan on a mix of SiS645 and P4X266 chipsets (all PC2100 DDR)

P4+ddr=no so good.

For 208 you can have a 1700+ a motherboard, an alphapal8045 hsf, and 256 megs ddr ram, and with the good hsf you can overclock the cpu to a 2000+, which is a FAR greater deal IMO, than a 1.6a and a ddr mobo.

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[peteb]

Yep, you can - however I'm just trying to give some options. There is also nothing wrong with P4 and DDR, sure it may not be the absolute fastest, but this seemed like a budet solution - so I wanted the person to know there were options.

Sure, the XP1700+ solution is good, but to realise it you need something to compare right?

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To the gentleman in the pink Tutu

 

[FatBurger]

Add the 150 for the 1.6a+ 150 for a good rdram mobo+ 100 for rdram, and you get well out of his range IMO.

I was thinking the same thing, but he mentioned the 1.7, so I wasn't sure.

<font color=blue>If you don't buy Windows, then the terrorists have already won!</font color=blue> - Microsoft

 

[Red_Pepper]

Yep, you can - however I'm just trying to give some options. There is also nothing wrong with P4 and DDR, sure it may not be the absolute fastest, but this seemed like a budet solution - so I wanted the person to know there were options.

Sure, the XP1700+ solution is good, but to realise it you need something to compare right?

Yes, but you can't really compare an XP1700+ to a P4 1.6 at stock w/ DDR. The guy might as well get a 1.2 Celery or Duron. Budget = AMD, unless you're overclocking. If you want the fastest, go Intel, but pay for it (no 2.4 RDRAM for 200 bucks methinks).

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[phsstpok]

Sorry, I thought your total budget for upgrading was $200.

I wanted to know your system because sometimes just a new video card is a good choice for an upgrade. It's usually the best starting point. Sometimes a new CPU is next.

Athlon 700/slotA is couple of years old but it's still good enough to get plenty of benefit from a newer graphics card but it's just a thought.

Normally, I'd worry about power supply issues when adding a modern graphics card to an old rig like yours but if you have a Voodoo5 running now, and it's stable, I doubt you would have problems. Voodoo5's use a huge amount of power.

Moving on, with $200 you have some pretty good options for a CPU and and motherboard. I wouldn't skimp on a motherboard. There a lot of good choices out there. You should decide whether or not you want to overclock.

Many people hate Via chipsets but I think Via got their act together with the KT266A chipset, at least in terms of stability. (PCI bus performance is another issue). The prices of these should be dropping now that the KT333 boards are available. Good KT266A boards include Abit's KR7A, Asus' A7V266-E, and Epox's 8KHA+. The Epox one does have an issue. Some Geforce4 cards don't fit the board. It's only a few and Epox has a list of which ones do not work. All of the above boards are good quality and have great overclocking features. I think the blemish on the 8KHA+ reputation is part of the reason it is a little cheaper than the other boards but it still is an excellent board (and it's only $89 at Newegg.com. It doesn't have RAID).

The Athlon XP 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800 are all about the same price, about $115, for the retail versions. I'd go with the 1800 Retail if not overclocking or the 1800 OEM (about $105, about $90 for the others) if you are overclocking and choose your own heatsink.

An Epox 8KHA+, Athlon XP 1800+, and heatsink would probably run you a little over your budget, maybe $230 including shipping.

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[slvr_phoenix]

I've got an athlon 700, asus k7v, voodoo 5 (please dont laugh, it was a freebie), and 512 of 133 memory. I do realize I will need new memory, I am just alotting 200 for the cpu and motherboard

I'd say just get something like an OEM Tbird-C (133MHz FSB) @ 1.2 or 1.33GHz. (Or if you really want the waranty and want to save money, go for a retail 1.3MHz Duron.) Use the RAM that you have, and take the money that you were going to use for RAM to get a new video card (like a retail Radeon 8500 for $128 + S&H).

I can't find any real data on an Asus k7v, so I can't promise that you will be able to continue using your old motherboard. It would be nice to save money that way, but if you can't, go for something like a KT133A chipset as it supports single-rate SDRAM.

(Or, if you prefer, the Intel Celeron at 1.3GHz and an 815E motherboard both compare to the Duron 1.3GHz and a KT133A motherboard. They are pretty much the same price.)

Basically, I think you would get a lot more out of a new video card than you would out of DDR SDRAM. Plus, going from a 700MHz system, even 1.2GHz is going to be a noticable improvement.

Going for an AXP and DDR SDRAM would be nice, but if you use the system mostly for gaming, the video card will be the major performance and wow factor. (Especially if you play new games which use DX8.)

Of course, these are just my views. Heed them or ignore them as you wish.

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[peteb]

Sure you can compare - that is something you can completely compare to. He has a budget of $200 for mobo and cpu, and this sort of fitted in. The 1.6A gives him a lot of headroom in the future if he chooses to overclock, and is the entry point of choice for most on the Northwood.

The point is that for the same cash, you can buy a motherboard and 1900+.

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To the gentleman in the pink Tutu

 

[Guest]

Here is what I wanna do. I want to overclock. So would the Epox 8KHA+ be a good option with a XP 1800?

What about cooling. Will I need anything special.

Thanks.

Paul

 

[chuck232]

If you're gonna do some serious o/cing, get a ThermalTake Volcano 7+. They are great HSFs and they have a fan speed regulator so if you're not o/cing you can slow it down to lower the noise, and when you o/c, crank her up again!