PC upgrade

Rikk Wolvenkin · Post by **Rikk Wolvenkin** » February 27, 2004, 1:25 pm

I'm ready to replace my athalon 1Ghz thunderbird. I'm planning on getting an athalon XP 2500 - 3200 depending on prices. What I need help with is the mobo to use. I'm thinking about either MSI or ASUS but what confuses me are the different chipsets to choose from. Anyone able to give me some guidance towards or away from any particular chipset for an AMD based machine?

I don't want an integrated GPU, and I'll probably switch to DDR.

Pahreyia · Post by **Pahreyia** » February 27, 2004, 1:30 pm

I really like the ASUS boards. I have an A7V 333 DDR board, which may or may not still be available, but it's been a great board for me.

I would offer a suggestion that going with a P4 would be worth your while right now. For the advantages you can get through hyperthreading and not having the inherent heating problems that comes with AMD, you'll probably be very satisfied.

Shaerra · Post by **Shaerra** » February 27, 2004, 2:18 pm

Two weeks ago, I bought the Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro for the 64 Bit Athlon 3000. It supports:

HyperTransport
DDR RAM at 400+ MHz
8X AGP
Up to 1000MB/s LAN on-board
IEEE 1394
ATA 133 with Raid controller on-board.

Main Board and Processor were $400, and worth every penny IMO. The features of the board and the performance of the processor are blowing me away daily.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » February 27, 2004, 2:37 pm

Holy crap, stop geeking out on us Miss Uhura!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » February 27, 2004, 2:59 pm

I have a Asus P4C800-E Deluxe but that's the P4 board. They make a AMD version but not sure of the model. AV8X-E or something. I haven't had any problems with it. I don't overclock or anything. A bit on the pricey side though at around $200.

Ajran · Post by **Ajran** » February 27, 2004, 5:07 pm

rofl i just use the el-cheapo ecs k7s5a's you can get at fry's electronics for like $40. I've had less problems with thse boards then when i was running $200 asus boards.

but that coul also be the chipset.. everything i used prior was VIA based.. the ecs is SiS based and seems to be much much more stable..

If i can avoid it i will never use a via based motherboard again.

Vetiria · Post by **Vetiria** » February 27, 2004, 5:55 pm

Asus A7N8X if you're going AMD.

Tenuvil · Post by **Tenuvil** » February 27, 2004, 6:21 pm

Ajran wrote:rofl i just use the el-cheapo ecs k7s5a's you can get at fry's electronics for like $40. I've had less problems with thse boards then when i was running $200 asus boards.

but that coul also be the chipset.. everything i used prior was VIA based.. the ecs is SiS based and seems to be much much more stable..

If i can avoid it i will never use a via based motherboard again.

I hate those boards, there's a reason why they are $40 at Fry's. I had disk controller failures on 3 of these in a year.

I use Epox boards now and find them much more reliable than any others.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 27, 2004, 6:25 pm

Mmmmm...I can't wait for my Women and their Motherboards special edition of Techno Babes : )

Avestan · Post by **Avestan** » February 27, 2004, 6:55 pm

I just bought a dell dimension 2400 for my wife. . .she didnt need much and if you register as a small business, you can buy them without an operating system (I already had XP pro). With 1 Gig of Ram and a $20 upgrade for sound blaster, I paid $409 including shipping.

Not bad methinks.

Given, there is no graphics card, but it does have integrated 10/100 and a 2.4 GHz Celeron. Was all she needed and that was cheap as shit.

Drolgin Steingrinder · February 28, 2004, 12:09 am

So far, I've been more than happy with myMSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR. Affordable (although a bit of a power hog) and has a bunch of nice features if you're into o/c'ing.

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » February 28, 2004, 12:53 pm

Ok I got an issue on my new system

mb-as-p4p800/deluxe Motherboard, Asus, P4P800 Deluxe, 865PE
Chipset, 800/533/400 FSB, Serial ATA, 8x AGP,p4-3.0 CPU, Intel 3.0Ghz, 512k Cache, 800FSB

I installed a Leadtek A350 XT (geforce 5900) and it is claiming on startup that I don't have enough power going to my video card....

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » February 28, 2004, 1:27 pm

Pherr the Dorf wrote:Ok I got an issue on my new system

mb-as-p4p800/deluxe Motherboard, Asus, P4P800 Deluxe, 865PE
Chipset, 800/533/400 FSB, Serial ATA, 8x AGP,p4-3.0 CPU, Intel 3.0Ghz, 512k Cache, 800FSB

I installed a Leadtek A350 XT (geforce 5900) and it is claiming on startup that I don't have enough power going to my video card....

Dumb question... But does that card have an extra power plug that takes power from the power supply? My ATI has that and wont work if it's not plugged in but I don't know anything about the nVidia ones.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » February 28, 2004, 4:03 pm

you need at least a 350 watt power supply for a geforce 5900. the standard you get in most cases are 300. if you have a 300 watt power supply the most common error you are going to see is not enough power to the video card.

the next generation of nvidia cards are going to need their own hydroelectric dam.

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » February 28, 2004, 9:08 pm

Just a warning guys, do NOT buy ECS motherboards. I did that at first, and due to defective motherboard (appearantly several shipments got some stupid little connector wired wrong, so the comp get unstable if you use more than 1 RAM slot) and incompetent tech guys at the store i bought it in it costed me 2 months without a decent PC because i didnt buy Asus right away.

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » February 29, 2004, 5:21 am

kyoukan wrote:you need at least a 350 watt power supply for a geforce 5900. the standard you get in most cases are 300. if you have a 300 watt power supply the most common error you are going to see is not enough power to the video card.

the next generation of nvidia cards are going to need their own hydroelectric dam.

Heh well I figured it out and thanks, I am running a 400w power supply, but apparetnly when I was p[utting the side back on the case my side fan wire got snagged and pulled the extra power cable loose.. or simply put, I am a fucking dumbass