Question on MB for low cost system (+ misc. Qs)

[Tirian]

I'm building a low-cost system and wanted to get a few opinions before I pull the trigger and order the parts. (Probably from NewEgg.) I've settled on the Athlon XP 2500+ because it's the least-expensive 333MHz FSB chip, and am leaning towards Shuttle's AN35N-Ultra nForce2 Ultra 400 motherboard. Any reason I should consider another board in that price range instead? The Shuttle seemed to have good things said about it.

Also, I have a few questions on the memory: I've always used Kingston and have had no problems, so I'm leaning towards that as well. I want to buy a single 512MB PC3200 chip for now, and then add a 2nd later on when I can afford to spend a little more. Kingston's site recommends the KVR400X64C25/512 for use with the Shuttle motherboard, but I wasn't sure of the difference between that and their KVR400X64C3A/512, which is about $30 cheaper. The difference seems to be the latency (2.5 vs. 3-3-3), but I'm unsure if that will make a big difference or not. (Would it make a difference if I were to use this memory later on in a Socket 739 motherboard?) I'm also assuming that I can in fact use a single chip for now, and add a 2nd later on.

Finally, I had found a few cheap cases at NewEgg from Powmax and Dynapower. Any preferences there? All of my choices have at least a 400W power supply which should be more than adequate.

Thanks in advance for any advice and/or answers you can provide!

Rob

 

[Cybercraig]

The ABIT NF7-S is a class favorite over the Shuttle. With a 2500XP and Mushkin Basic Green you'll do well. The Kingston has the better warranty and tech support. Get the mobile chip if you're aiming for greater than 2.2 O'C. Of those two cases the Dynapower Silver case is the best. It'll come with the 430 watt Award PS. This is a better PS than the @Power they used to come with. Turn the side fan around so it blows on the MB and add a front and a rear fan. Put the front temp sensor anywhere you want as the leads are plenty long enough. There, now you have my last socket A build. We stopped at 195mhz FSB because the CPU temp was 50C idle with stock cooling. That gave him a CPU speed of 2.16ghz or XP3000+. Runs like a clock and has the pretty good Soundstorm audio

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!

 

[smitbret]

The ABit NF-7 is the better board, but if you are on a really tight budget, then the Shuttle will work great for you. I've used it to build several systems in the last year and no one has had a problem with it, yet.
-Brett

 

[Coyote]

Yeah, I'd suggest the mobile barton. My desktop barton won't reach 3200 speeds (nor will many other new ones w/o alot of vcore) If you need alot of vcore you'll need a dang good heatsink fan combo. Why spend a lot for that when you can pay a little more for the mobile chip and use a less expensive HS+F and be pretty much guarnteed to hit 3200 speeds and better.

I just got the shuttle mobo you listed, seems ok but it's still new, so the jury's out on reliability. also don't OC the desktop barton in it (chip's not a good OCer) so can;t say how the mobo does at that either.

I got a powmax case too. The 400 watt psu is faulty. Half of the I2v. 4pin molex connectors were doa. Caused me to waste a bunch of time troubleshooting. So beware there.

Mobile XP 2600+ (11X200)
Abit NF7-S v 2.0
Maxtor 60GB ATA 133 7200RPM
512MB Corsair Twinx 3200LL
BBA 9800 Pro
Enermax Noisetaker 420 watts
Win98SE

 

[Crashman]

I keep telling people how badly built PowMax power supplies are, they are simply the cheapest, most poorly built supplies on the market, bar none. They're so crappy I even used one as an example of how crappy cheap supplies can be built in my power supply overview at Sysopt.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Tirian]

Thanks for the advice, my budget is really low on this one, so I think I'll have to stick with the Shuttle MB, especially since I'm now considering going to the Moblie 2500. Can anyone recommend a specific heatsink/fan? (Hopefully one I can get at NewEgg.) I'll go with the Dynapower case per the advice to avoid Powmax.

Finally, any comments on the two different types of Kingston memory? Do I really need to go to the 2.5 vs. the 3-3-3, and can I get by with just one chip for a month or two?

 

[Coyote]

Given that ur on a tight budget, check out the vantec aeroflow, got mine for $25 a few months ago. If you look around you might find one for sale. It's a pretty good step up from the stock amd HS+F (about $I0). But even the stock HSF will work for 3200 speeds.

Yeah, one ram chip will be fine, there ain't much boost to the dual channel thingy for amd's anyway.

Crash, I'll be looking at the sparkle psu's when I get some spare change. Luckily, I was only buying the powmax because I needed a cheap case. I figured the psu was just a bonus. Bah, the p.o.s. psu took up a bunch of my time, til I swapped it out with a spare and realised what was going on.

Mobile XP 2600+ (11X200)
Abit NF7-S v 2.0
Maxtor 60GB ATA 133 7200RPM
512MB Corsair Twinx 3200LL
BBA 9800 Pro
Enermax Noisetaker 420 watts
Win98SE

 

[Frintin]

Check out the Speeze Falconrock for a pretty good and quiet HSF. Great price too at newegg...I think like $12.99USD.

Frintin Rocks!

 

[Spitfire_x86]

If you can't afford NF7-S, then buy NF7

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[TheRod]

Finally, any comments on the two different types of Kingston memory? Do I really need to go to the 2.5 vs. the 3-3-3, and can I get by with just one chip for a month or two?

The CL2.5 will be faster than the CL3, but the difference will be negligable, I mean a few percentage in some apps. not much. It's not that much slower. You money will be wise spent with the Mobile Athlon XP 2500+ if you match it with a good overclocker motherboard (read ABIT NF7/NF7-S).

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