Compatabillity

[Guest]

'ey, Im building my first PC and decided to go high end (well, fairly...) and was wondering about compatabillity issues and sugestions especially in regards to the motherboard.

This is my system as I'm planning:
Thunderbird 1.2Ghz OEM 266mhz FSB
AOPENAK73PROA Motherboard (sugestions please)
Asus v820 Pure 64mb DDR (Geforce3)
3COM 3C905C 10/100 PCI ethernet (sugestions PLEASE)
Quantum Fireball AS 40Gb 7200rpm ATA/100
256Mb SDRAM w/ SPD PC-133 CAS 3 OEM

Whats nice about this is that I can buy it all at a shop locally, but am willing to order in if need be.


I no longer wish to belong to the kind of club that accepts people like me as members - Groucho Marx

 

[Guest]

Well, since memory is so cheap right now I'd definitely skip on the CAS3 ram. ICK! It's totally worth it to get the CAS2 ram and I'd go namebrand. There's no reason to go generic right now with prices where they are.

As for the mobo, I'd go with the Abit kt7a-raid. It's a great mobo. I'd say it's the best if you're not looking for a DDR solution.

 

[Guest]

You don't need an expensive 3Com NIC.
I bought a 10 dollar no-name NIC that works PERFECTLY FINE--do not see any performance decrease either.

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[Guest]

I definatly do not want DDR RAM, no point at all.

As for CAS2 and 3, whats the difference? What exactly is CAS?

Also, what do you look for in a motherboard other then the standard features (266fsb support, 133mhz SDRAM, UDMA 100, etc. etc.)

Thanks

I no longer wish to belong to the kind of club that accepts people like me as members - Groucho Marx

 

[jlanka]

Why not DDR SDRAM? Didn't Tom assert that of all RAM improvements in the last few years, this one was the most noticeable? Plus, the price is essentially the same as SDR.

Also:

CAS2 vs. CAS3: (from crucial.com FAQ)

Description:

What is the performance difference between CL2 and CL3?

Solution:

CL2 parts process data a little quicker than CL3 parts in that you have to wait one less clock cycle for the initial data. However, after the first piece of data is processed, the rest of the data is processed at equal speeds. Latency only affects the initial burst of data. Once data starts flowing, there is no effect. Bear in mind, a clock cycle for a PC100 module is 10 nanoseconds so you probably won't notice a significant performance difference. Most systems will accept either latency part. However, there are some systems that require either CL2 or CL3 parts.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[lamer_gamer]

Am I just not getting this? One less clock cycle? And if the rest of the data is processed at equal speeds, then how much of a difference can there really be? It sounds negligible to me...

My brain has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by lamer_gamer on 06/19/01 05:34 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[upec]

It will be better to get an IBM 60 GTX 40GB than the Quantum Fireball AS 40Gb. It is faster and quieter.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the CAS info! Great! Im going with the CAS3 for $30 (can) cheaper.

As for DDR, DDR is $140 (can) instead of $60 (can) and the speed difference wont make that much of a hit on my computing experience.

Also, what kind of power supply will I need for this?

I no longer wish to belong to the kind of club that accepts people like me as members - Groucho Marx

 

[jlanka]

Am I just not getting this? One less clock cycle? And if the rest of the data is processed at equal speeds, then how much of a difference can there really be? It sounds negligible to me...

You're absolutely right. The difference between CAS2 and CAS3 is mostly negligable, except under very specific circumstances (the exact nature of which escapes me at this moment, but I seem to remember something about large database searching or some such).

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[jlanka]

As for DDR, DDR is $140 (can) instead of $60 (can) and the speed difference wont make that much of a hit on my computing experience.

Where are you getting those prices? Here's an example from <A HREF="http://www.crucial.com" target="_new">Crucial:</A>

256MB PC133 CAS2 Unbuffered: $62.99 (USD)
256MB PC2100 CAS2.5 Unbuffered: $59.39 (USD)

Plus they ship to Canada for free.

You might want to think about switching your RAM vendor...

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[lamer_gamer]

Thanks for the reply. Holy hell, I've actually learned some stuff (now <i>that's</i> scary!) by hanging around this forum! I came here knowing squat, and now can ask semi-intelligent questions (I hope).

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[igottaknife]

You can see the difference without a problem in games and 3DMark 2000/2001. Remember the RAM is the bottle neck of the whole system (except the HDD). Spending a little cash here justifies buying a GHz+ CPU. An AMD 750 with CAS2 RAM <b>WILL</b> beat an AMD 1100 with CAS3 RAM. I know I did the tests myself.

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[jlanka]

An AMD 750 with CAS2 RAM WILL beat an AMD 1100 with CAS3 RAM. I know I did the tests myself.

Sounds good. But won't DDR vs. SDR be even a bigger gain (for the benefit of the original poster?)

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[igottaknife]

sure he could even go CAS2 DDR (PC-2400) with clockable stability over 300MHz. Man I remember when I was trying to overclock my 233MHz <b>CPU</b> to 300MHz!!

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[igottaknife]

I forgot to mention. 3COM NIC's are top notch I tried to go cheapy $10 NIC one time and ended up corrupting files I needed for work!! Screw it a nice NIC is worth it

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