Spend my money (for me, not you!)

[bobapunk]

Ok, I will preface this by saying that I have not kept up with MoBo tech since I knew all that was to be known about the BX chipset in the late 1990's...

Here goes. I need to get a decent PC on a tight budget. What I mean is that I want to play CS: Source and HL:2 but don't have a ton of cash to spend.

My current PC is a DELL DIMENSION with an 866MHz P3. It also has 512 MBs of RD-RAM, a 120GB Deskstar HDD and a seagate or maxtor or something 60GB HDD. Sound Blaster Live, 3Com network card blah blah. I just recently put an MSI ATi Radeon 9800 PRO (128MB 256 bit)in it.

I would like to move up to around a 3GHz P4 and all of the MoBo choices have my head spining. I don't want/need onboard sound, video, or network. I don't need an SATA controller (Will they even work with my ATA 100 drives?)

From what I know, Asus, Abit, and Soyo are good brands to stick to (is that still true). I am also aware that my RD-RAM will be usless on any new MoBo (what a shame!).

I am asking you guys straight up, what should I get? I was looking on Pricewatch and it seems that most MoBos want to come with everything on them... I don't need that, and certainly don't want to pay for it. All I want is a MoBo that I can stick my AGP card in, my ATA100/133 HDDs, a few PCI cards, and 512-1024MBs of whatever RAM (another thing that I am not up to date on...)

Thanks!

 

[bobapunk]

What about this board:

ASUS P4P800SE - mainboard - ATX - i865PE

Or this one:

ASUS P4C800 Deluxe - mainboard - ATX - i875P


Tell me the good, the bad, whatever else I should know...

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by bobapunk on 10/13/04 07:27 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[ChipDeath]

If you want to stick with Intel, then an Abit IS7, a P4 2.8C, and 512Mb - 1Gb of DDR400 (PC3200) RAM would be a good bunch.

There aren't really any boards around that don't have on-board sound these days. You can always turn it off in the BIOS, but you're not really paying any extra for it these days.

Since you want to play games, and you're having to buy new Mobo, CPU & RAM, have you considered getting an AMD system? A64-based systems are better for gaming.

What exactly is your budget anyway? Would help in making suggestions.

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
Sapphire 9800Pro (VGA Silencer Rev3) @418/742

 

[xeenrecoil]

I agree with chipdeaths core recommendation.

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[wschuerm]

P4P800 or P4C800 DON'T buy the P4P800S-X it doesn't overclock (or at least mine doesn't and it's not the cpu or ram that's not cooperating). Also get one with integrated sound most likely it'll be better than your SB. If you want to game buy an A64 3200+ with a DFI lanparty UT3 (if im not mistaken)

ASUS P4P800S-X
P IV 2,4 @ nothing caus this board doesn't OC for [-peep-]
2x512MB Corsair pc4000
120 maxtor SATA
Sapphire Radeon 9800pro 128mb
Watercooled

 

[bobapunk]

Budget... I would love to stay under $500. I am seeing the MoBos and P4 3.0's for around $200 ea. Toss in RAM and shipping and I think that $500 is a good target.

I thought that getting into an AMD 64bit would cost a decent amount more...yes? no?

So you guys like the Abit MoBos better than the Ausu boards??

 

[endyen]

The Abit, because it's a great board for $100. The Asus board is almost as good, if you aren't OCing, but why pay more for almost as good?
An A64 system comperable to the setup you are looking at, would be about the same price. There's a nice example at <A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=191180#191180" target="_new">http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=191180#191180</A>