Good Bare Bones Systems

[Niroth]

Hey there-

I was looking into upgrading the CPU in my system thats a few years old but found out it can only support up to an XP 2100+ (have a 1500+ now) so i decided to look around for some barebones systems (case/power/mobo/cpu). I'm on a tight budget so not looking for the latest and greatest, i usually find the best deals are on the products one generation behind. I'd like to spend around $250 and see quite a few setups on price watch for around $200 on Athlon XP 3200+ boxes. Do you think this is the best bang for the buck? Are there any motherboards that would be recommended?
Finally has anyone ever heard of this shady XP 3200A that some places are trying to sell me that only has a 266FSB and 128kb cache? Suprised AMD would be this misleading

Thanks!

 

[Cybercraig]

ABIT NF7-S and a 2500+ Barton will only eat up about $160.00 US. You can build from there and actually have something when you're done. I wouldn't EVER buy a cheap barebones system because they all use CHEAP components.


Abit IS7 - 2.8C @ 3.4 - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - THAT'S MORE LIKE IT, MSI!

 

[Niroth]

Well what I meant by cheap was a CPU cheaper the the current cream of the crop, IE the 64 chips Right now I'm looking at getting a 3200+ with an asus ASUS A700-X for about $260.
Anyone know of any problems with this board? Is the VIA KT600 chipset OK? It's listed as a recommended board on AMD's website but then again, so are 50 other boards.

On an off note I happen to have been using PC3200 RAM in my old 1500+ simply because a roomate was going to throw out a gig of it so i just let my mobo downclock it... so I'll save big bucks there

 

[Cybercraig]

The current THG favorite is the ABIT NF7-S. The Nforce 2 chipset is better than the Via KT-600. Plus you get SoundStorm Audio and a bullet-proof board. You can put a 333mhz chip in there, raise the FSB to 200mhz, and turn an AXP-2500 into a 3200 easily. Even better with the mobile chip. It's a better board than the ASUS you're pondering.


Abit IS7 - 2.8C @ 3.4 - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!

 

[ChipDeath]

I don't like Asus Boards;
I don't like VIA chipsets;

<b><font color=red>I have an Asus board with a VIA chipset. It's horrible.</font color=red><- This is called my reasoning</b>

Buy the Abit NF7-S, or if you want a cheaper version, just get the plain NF7 (although you miss out on Soundstorm Audio). Also buy a Barton 2500+ (as recommended by Cybercraig), or even better would be the <b>mobile</b> (XP-M) Barton 2500+. With the [normal] barton you have a very good chance of hitting XP3200+ speeds, and with the mobile you're virtually guaranteed to exceed them.

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro @412/740

 

[Johanthegnarler]

My boss at my work bought a barebones from computer builders wearhouse. 250 dollars for a super cheap case AMD 2000 and MSI mobo with onboard graphics sound and lan. 256 ddr ram that is reading like 224 or something. Not too bad of a deal, but i told him practically the same thing.

<A HREF="http://arc.aquamark3.com/arc/arc_view.php?run=277124623" target="_new">http://arc.aquamark3.com/arc/arc_view.php?run=277124623</A>
46,510 , movin on up. 48k new goal. Maybe not.. :/

 

[Cybercraig]

He won't stand much of a chance playing Far Cry on that rig, much less DooM III. If you've got a local shop and you know what's going in it, that's different. The I-Shop guys make a living out of selling you upgrades, not pushing a lot of cheap boxes they make 10 bucks on. A lot of the E-Bay folks complain about deals that are too good to be true. They try and just buy the barebones as advertised and they can't do it without the upgrades. :frown:


Abit IS7 - 2.8C @ 3.4 - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!

 

[Niroth]

Integrated things on the motherboard are not really a concern of mine. That integrated audio may be far better then I realize but i already have a 5.1 SB Live Gold or whatever the heck it is for my 5.1 speakers. I also already have tons of NIC (wireless and wired) cards. I had a friend who had a terrible overclocking experience so I may not even go that route. Is the 600 a bad chipset entirely or just bad for oclocking?

Thanks!

PS: I realize the oclocking nightmare he had was because he was probably pretty clueless. But as far as overclocking goes, I'm also pretty clueless Increase my fsb a couple MHZ at a time with a little vcore if you have good cooling is the extent of my knowledge.

 

[ChipDeath]

When paired with some digital speakers, the nforce APU included on the Nf7-S (and many other boards) is actually <i>superior</i> to your SB 5.1 card.

I've not heard much that bad about the VIA KT600 chipset to be honest, but I've either heard about or personally experienced more than enough horror stories about virtually All the chipsets they produced prior to that one (KT400, KT333, KT266a, KT266, etc etc) to put me off anything made by them. They are also bad overclockers.

Your friend was probably either using badly chosen parts for overclocking, or simply didn't make sure he new what he was doing, and forged ahead blindly. The combo being recommended here - XP 2500+ (mobile) on an Abit NF7 is a really easy overclock, with as much risk as installing a brand new 3200+ anyway, IMHO.

Increase my fsb a couple MHZ at a time with a little vcore if you have good cooling is the extent of my knowledge.

That is, basically all it is . Although you don't even need exceptional cooling for a slight voltage increase.

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro @412/740

 

[Niroth]

Hmmm OK then I am going to look for an nFORCE2 based board. I noticed theres a few different derivatives, would a nForce2-400 give me pretty much the same performance as the nForce2-ST? I assume the S is for the integrated sound but on the nForce2-S but is there anything to the 'T' persay?

EDIT: Is it worth getting a 420W power supply over a 350W? Planning on using a Radeon 9600 PRO 128mb, 1 gig ram along with the either the 2500+ or the 3200+. I have 3 IDE devices and depending on integration on MB a couple of PCI cards.


Thanks

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Niroth on 07/22/04 08:42 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Johanthegnarler]

Basically it's for ERA link at our car dealership and that's about it. They have a few other word type programs as well, but i didn't really make it too clear... the generic msi board and cpu was probably like 100 bucks for them and that case wasn't over 25 bucks either. Still a big profit.

Computer Builders Wearhouse sometimes will have distributors sell in such a crazy bulk of bs computers that they can give great deals. But really people get suckered into buying them.. and honestly i don't know anyone in my area that has ever had a good experience with them.


<A HREF="http://arc.aquamark3.com/arc/arc_view.php?run=277124623" target="_new">http://arc.aquamark3.com/arc/arc_view.php?run=277124623</A>
46,510 , movin on up. 48k new goal. Maybe not.. :/

 

[Cybercraig]

Huh? Memory and labor are free now?

Abit IS7 - 2.8C @ 3.4 - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!

 

[ChipDeath]

Basically, the nforce2 'Ultra' 400 (instead of just plain 'Nforce2 400') boards support something called Dual Channel memory, which gives you a small performance boost when using 2 identical sticks of memory, but the boost is really minimal, and I wouldn't let that be a deciding factor.

The other thing about the non-'ultra' boards is they tend to not have the Soundstorm Audio, just a more 'normal' on-board sound (which would be worse than your SB card). The difference is in the chip called the <i>southbridge</i> chip. if you see a board which has the MCP<b>-T</b> southbridge, that means it has the nforce APU(soundstorm) & gives you the good sound. if it just has MCP (no -T) then it won't have, but will probably be a fair bit cheaper.

What PCI cards did you have in mind?
All these Boards come with on-board LAN ports, USB, etc.
as for more 'exotic' stuff, just checked Newegg.com, and prices range from ~$50 to a bit over $90. You start getting SATA ports at ~$70, and On-board firewire ports at a little over $75, but no Soundstorm until ~$85-$90 unfortunately.

Just weigh up how much you want to spend really. Money no object (within reason) and the Abit NF7-S is still the best Socket A board out there really.

All of the boards should be capable of running a mobile 2500+ at 3200+ speeds, because they all HAVE to be, or they wouldn't be able to run a 3200+ otherwise. It's only when you start wanting to exceed that sort of speed that you need to be concerned about how one manufacturer's boards overclocks compared to another....

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro @412/740

 

[Johanthegnarler]

No sir. ^^

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46,510 , movin on up. 48k new goal. Maybe not.. :/