new motherboard

[chr158]

Sorry this isn't the most exciting post ever, but i need some advice from anyone willing to give it. My aged 1G pIII (don't laugh) setup is slowly dying and i'm looking to upgrade most parts within a week or so. I'm still studying, so am on a bit of a budget and am almost certainly going to go for an amdXP - around the 3G mark. My real concern is the choice of main board to use; i want to spend roughly £80 (about $145 i think) and have a few in mind:

1. Abit Motherboard NF7-S nForce2 Socket A
2. ASUS MOTHERBOARD A7N8X Deluxe nForce2 chipset S
3. Gigabyte Motherboard GA-7N400 Pro nForce2 Ultra

Are any of these markedly better than the others, just slightly better, or are they all rubbish and should i go for something else? I don't know whether it'll make any difference, but i use my pc mainly for audio editing and 2/3d animation - just incase that sways it at all.

Any comments will be gratefully recieved.

 

[chr158]

Oh, and one more thing. I've got 640MB pc133 right now - with any of the new boards, what would be the best ram to get? I'm not into overclocking, now or in the future, i want speed and reliability (i know, who doesn't) but i've got a budget of about $150 +/-.

Thanx in advance

 

[rox]

If you are looking at AMD and want a solution right now, forst consider how may drives you want - if you wanr raid (or the capability to run raid)- if you want deluxe sound (if you don't have a soundcard that you like already). Having said that. If you only want PATA (parallel ATA) and basic sound, the I would point you to either a Shuttle AN35N NForce2, and Biostar M7NCDP, or M7NCD (non-pro). I would pair that with an XP3000 400FSB chip. I left off the XP2500 because you said you did not want to overclock. You could also get an XP2500 333 FSB for a better price and it's still fast. Those boards have basic AC97 sound, and Parallel ATA only. They run extremely well. MSI KT6 Delta KT600 would also be a good choice and has "native" serial ATA raid with the VT8237 southbridge and you can even format on the Fly within windows.

_If you think you might run a SATA (serial ata) drive, and or "raid", then I would get either the Abit NF7-S, or the Asus Deluxe nforce2. In your case I would get the Asus because you said you didn't really care for overclocking, abd the Asus has the SPDIF right on the board--no need for a bracket to get digital out with soundstorm.


_There is also another option that put's you in a speedy board that is mATX, and nforce2, AND has onboard video (IGP) that you can use to get yourself up and running until you can get a better vid card - that would be the Biostar M7NCG400, it's a smaller motherboard, but it's ultra 400 rated (for 400 FSB officially) and you can stuff that motherboard in a LanBoy case that has the included 350 Watt Tru Blue power supply. The Asus deluxe and Abit NF7-S also have IGP.

*Bottom line - in your case, I would just go with the Asus A7N8X deluxe and get a new case with PSU included. For ram I would suggest 1 Stick of PC3200 {512 MB}-(Kingston) or Giel Value (since you will not overclock. And you don't really need dual channel as it is of very little benefit in most benchamarks (mostly when running IGP). You could always add another 512 stick later for dual channel of the same exact type and rating (best to do that for dual channel).


I would hold off on the 64 Bit hardware until better stuff comes out and it's more fine tuned and revised.

 

[chr158]

Sorry, i probably should have mentioned i'm going to stick with the sb audigy i've already got, so sound + SPDIF isn't really an issue. As far as raid goes, i'll more than likely get another hard drive for video editing, so i guess the Asus does make sense. I'm just a bit unsure because a friend had some trouble with an asus board recently. And i wanted a board with 8xagp, just for future-proofing - i'm sure i'll upgrade my video card soon too.

As far as overclocking goes, maybe i'm misinformed, or just ignorant - but i assumed it was a risky process. If i were to go for a 2800+ or as you suggest a 2500+, with overclocking would it effectively be the same processor as whatever i had clocked it up to?

E.g. if i were to oc a 2500+ up to the equivalent of a 2700+, just for arguments sake, would it be the same or similar to a 2700+ that i could buy over the counter, that had its speed left alone?

At least i know what memory i'm getting now!

 

[rox]

Well, overclocking is not really risky of you stick to moderate guidelines. Yes, and XP2500 (in this case) even though they are locked past week #39 from AMD will still overclock to XP3200 levels - and yes - you get the exact same performance, sometimes more. If you did decide to overclock, you would want the XP2500 "because" it is on a default mutliplier of 11x (as is the XP3200) so all you have to do is raise your FSB to 200, then usually raise vcore a tad until you achieve total stability under Prime95 and 3Dmark, and memtest86. Rasing vcore brings with it more heat, however you can offset that buy using a good heat sink fan, and have several good case fans.

Your friend that had the Asus may have had revision 1.2 (the older one) and additionally, his problems may have been stuttering audio or jerkiness in games easily fixed "if" you know what your doing or know someone who does). also earlier Asus 1.2 versions, and even 2.0 had bios issues (corruption) just as the earlier Abit's did. both the Abit and Asus run much better with newer Bios releases and better revised boards (2.0).

One thing you can do is get it locally if you can, that way if it's bad, or you dont like it you don't have the hassle of online RMA. I would go for the Asus locally, and make sure you get revision 2.0, and...if it doesn't pan out for you return it and get the Abit. Fry's has the Shuttle AN35N for about $55.00 now too.

if you had the Asus (for example) You would set optimized defaults first, then right away go to intergrated devices and turn off onboard sound and MAC addy, then go to advanced chipset, and first use optimal settings, load your OS and away you go, but if you have PC3200 ram you would need to manaully set the DRAM speed to 166 because you nwat the ram to be in "sync" with your FSB (166/166).

Later if and when you overclock you would raise the FSB slowly and keep the mem in sync at 1:1 ratio @ 100% sync, and raise vcore to about 1.675 - you may need 1.725-1.775 vcore to run at 200/200 (XP3200 levels). Then finally you would be taking advantage of the PC3200 Mem you bought.You would also lock AGP/PCI @ 66/33, and turn off CPU throttle, and fast writes.


An expert overclocker would test with P95, memtest 86, and 3Dmark, CPUz, and SiSoft Sandra beween each raising of the FSB until you get where you want to be. But with the Asus and good ram you could go from 166-176-186-195, then finally 200/200. I run at 235 x 9.5 ..but I have multiplier control because my AMD is unlocked. Yours won't be unless you buy in a tech forum, or E-bay. So you would only be able to OC with your front side bus. but you can still pay about $90.00 for an XP2500 and run it as an XP3200. Be advised though with Value ram your "timings" won't be that tight, and cas latency would only be @ 2.5, but that's ok. Good luck-

 

[piasabird]

It is hard to find a Motherboard, a Processor and new RAM for $150.00. I am thinking of these motherboards

Asus A7N8X-X $73.99 No Dual DDR, Ultra Low Budget

Asus A7N8X $89.99 Standard Retail No Gigabit Ethernet

Asus A7N8X-VM $91.99 MATX w/AGP 8X Dual DDR at DDR333, but not at DDR400.

Asus A7N8X-Deluxe $112.00 + Firewire + Gigabit Ethernet (3com)

Abit probably has comparable motherboards that run just as well. Some people prefer Abit for overclocking.

I really like the Deluxe for its 3Com Gigabit Ethernet Nic. As far as a new processor goes, even a new XP2500+ Barton core runs at $90.00 right now. Speeze makes a fairly cheap but good CPU Cooler, the FalconRock for around $10.00.

The Ram has to be DDR Ram. I really recommend PC3200 which is DDR400 Ram. You could drop that down to DDR333 PC2700 or DDR266 PC2100. Be careful about DDR RAM and motherobards. There are some incompatibility issues. I have used Crucial DDR2100 and found it to be qood quality when you go to the Crucial site and let Crucial decide what will work with the motherboard. Some people have also been using Corsair which is excellent for overclocking. Some people have good luck with Kingston as well. You need about 512 Megs of RAM for any serious work in Windows XP.

I also recommend using winXP on any new build. Win98 will not cut it. These Nvida Nforce2 chipset boards are the best out there and the most popular. However, some of them do not do well with win98 as an operating system. XP can be had for about $89.00. Ram may run around $85 - $150 for 512 Megs.

You can probably tell this is blowing your budget. You might get 256 Meg of Ram and buy a second Stick of RAM later. I would suggest an upgrade in the price range of around $400.00.

Prices based on the prices at:

www.newegg.com


when you see smoke is that a good sign?

 

[chr158]

Ok, you've convinced me that overclocking can be quite a good thing, i'm afraid a lot of that was lost on me though - i've never even approached the subject before today. Fortunately most of what you said does appear somewhat familiar, even if only slightly, so i'd be willing to give it a try.

The most adventurous pc-based thing i've ever done is install a few different cards and a new cd drive, so are there any fool-proof, idiots guide to, overclocking for dummies-type info out there? Also, the software you mentioned for overclocking - is it easy to get hold of, expensive, or are there simple ways of obtaining it? I have broadband, so net downloads or p2p are plausible if need be. And does the software automatically detect things like stability levels or real performance increases etc, in order to make it very safe for a novice like me? Sorry, if this is all a bit kindergarden to you, but i really am quite new to this.

Thanks for the help, by the way.

 

[chr158]

Also, just realised i may have mislead in my 2nd post - the $150 (which may have been a bit high) budget is on ram only. I can spend nearer $400 on processor + board. Yet another question - what kind of psu would i need?

 

[Crashman]

You'd be very happy with an Abit NF7-S, an XP2500+ at 3200+ speed, and 512MB or more of PC3200.

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