Hardware Stupid and Know It

[Guest]

I am looking to get a 800- 1 GigHz Motherboard and Processor.. I am running Pc100 Ram.. Right now I am running a Gateway 500 Intel Slot. I am thinking about getting a AMD Athlon - Socket and not sure about Duron (like I said hardware stupid)I would appricate anything that people can help me out with. I am looking for websites (not from Pricewatch).. I am looking for a good motherboard and processor.. I am not really looking to over clock, but I am looking for a faster system.. As for my Ram if I change from Pc100 to Pc133 that is fine for my sound card I have SBLive, & Voodoo3. Since it is Tax return time w/ about $400 coming back I would like to see what I can do about upgrading...if anyone can help me for then that it would greatly appriciated.

Warmheart12001@yahoo.com

 

[ledzepp98]

i'll try to break down your questions and answer them one at a time...

as far as websites...i only really know pricewatch, don't be affraid of it. you will likely find the best deals there.

as far as processor/mobo, there are a bunch of things to consider. when i first bought a t-bird, i thought i wouldn't want to try to overclock. within a week, i was mad i bought a board that didn't offer it...so don't limit yourself. although prices are a bit higher, i would suggest buying a board with the kt133A chipset (instead of one with the regular kt133) for future upgrades (so it can handle the 266mhz fsb t-birds). the general consensus is that abit and asus are the top (obviously opinions vary). i personally have no complaints about my epox mobo so to save some money you might want to look to epox or msi which both make good boards. now for the cpu...it seems that the 600/650 durons are the best overclockers but out of the box the 700 seems to be the best bang for the buck. the t-birds do have a performance advantage of roughly 100mhz (maybe 150mhz, i.e. a 700mhz t-bird = 800-850mhz duron, but only with programs that need the extra cache, some programs, such as those that only need raw fpu power will see no gain since the chips are virtually the same aside from the cache). that being said, it's up to you. if you want a t-bird, i would either get a 750mhz or a 900mhz chip depending on how much you want to spend. those speeds seem like the best bang for the buck for their price.

now for ram...definately get pc133 with current prices so low. the thing with the kt133 (and kt133a) chipsets is that you can run the ram asynchronously. the regular t-bird (and duron) has a 100mhz fsb (ddr makes it an effective 200mhz). it therefore uses a 1/3 pci divider so that the pci slots run that the correct 33mhz. the way it uses pc133 ram is it adds the pci clock to the host clock (fsb) without changing the pci clock (meaning the pci slots run at 100mhz/3=33mhz and the ram could run at, if you choose, the pci clock of 100mhz/3 + the host clock of 100mhz = 133mhz. it's not as complicated as it might sound, i'm just not the greatest teacher. the point is that by using pc133 ram you are not "overclocking" the sound or video cards.

an overall rough estimate (on the high side, with shipping) with good parts would be as follows:

mobo = $150 (for abit/asus)
ram (256 megs pc133 cas2) = $100 (crucial)
cpu + good heatsink/fan = $90-$150 depending on speed/type choice

this would put you in your $350-$400 price range. if you shop around and go for different name brands i'm sure you can find this upgrade will cost closer to $300.

i hope this ranting and raving helps.....

 

[Guest]

well that was pretty comprehensive, however on the duron vs t-bird issue, a t-bird will give you about 5-7 more fps than a similarly clocked duron in games. there actually isnt too much diff. between the performance of a duron and the performance of a t-bird, but as i understand theres not much price diff. between the 2 in america right now, and like ledzepp said, dont limit yourself. so it might be best to go for the t-bird. its really up to you. good luck!

___________________________________________

AMD. It gets you chicks.

 

[Foolscap]

I have to agree with the others, T-bird for processor is good with a KT133 chipset mobo. I just ordered the components for my new pc from pricewatch sites and i picked up an Iwill KK266 motherboard from www.essencom.com for about $135, got the T-bird 850 from www.upgradeplanet.com for about $100, and of course you can get a stick of 256MB @ PC1333 for $80-$90 bucks at many companies on the net (i like to find companies who are on Pricewatch and check their websites for sale items not listed on Pricewatch.. )
Any way you want to go, you can get a nice upgrade for the $400 your getting back from Uncle Sam..

Just make sure you are using a 300 Watt power supply to run your mobo/cpu, especially if you ever are going to consider overclocking it at a later point.

Hope that helps a bit

<font color=blue>Reality lies in the parameters of knowledge.</font color=blue>

 

[Guest]

I would like to say thanks to all of you who replied. I am going to check the websites and I am going to do a lot of looking. A friend told me to look at axiontech.com as well... I am going to check out as much as I can. I wanted to do this early enough and have time to see what i can learn I just don't want to get screwed ordering on the web. Someone to watchout for Price Watch there are some shady dealers on there... which is why they suggested Axiontech.com said he order his parts from there and everythign worked out wonderful and got a good price too. I am just looking for ideas I have a month...

Thanks again

Warmheart12001