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xxsk8er101xx   02-14-2003 at 03:20:16 AM

my friend is looking for a cheap upgrade so he can play music, burn cd's and go on the internet. WHat he has is crap.

So this is what i'm thinking of upgrading for him.

-ECS K7S5A, with my old 800mhz duron and cooler.
-SimpleTech (Simple Technologies) 256MB DDR PC2700
-Lite On 52x24x52
-Diamond Supra SST 56K V.92 PCI Modem

he needs a new modem because he has a ISA modem. this one is the cheapest i can find.

Again that's all he will do is music, internet, and burn cd's. He uses his computer maybe 2 hours a day. RIght now he can't do anything but check his email.

I would appreciate some feedback as i don't have any confidence in these parts besides the burner.

thanks!

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

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Spitfire_x86   02-14-2003 at 03:55:50 AM
- 0 +

Since you have no plan of using SDRAM, then why not exclude ECS K7S5A out of list? Epox 8RDA and MSI K7N2-L are both cheap and up-to-date mobo.

If you want to spend less, then get ASUS A7N266-VM. It's IGP can be helpful if your friend has an absolutely crappy graphics card.

<b> "You can put lipstick on a pig, but hey, it's still a pig!" - RobD </b>

Reply to Spitfire_x86
letdown   02-14-2003 at 04:13:38 AM
- 0 +

*edit - Misread, didn't realize you were already supplying a free Duron*

Still though, if he wanted to spend a little more, a 1700 wouldn't hurt.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by letdown on 02/13/03 07:20 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

Reply to letdown
xxsk8er101xx   02-14-2003 at 04:15:56 AM
- 0 +

he is only willing to spend about 200 bucks. burner is 54, cpu is ~60, ram is 45, motherboard is what 80. thats too much. then he needs a modem. this guy is broke he just wants something so he can play music, burn cd's, and go on the internet. He does not play games it's not that important to him.

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Reply to xxsk8er101xx
xxsk8er101xx   02-14-2003 at 04:27:04 AM
- 0 +

holy crap dude, those boards are expensive! Comapred to 60 bucks of this board to 97 and they both do the samething dude. Your looking at someone who doesn't care about upgrading he just wants to use his computer to browse the web, play music, and burn cd's that is it.

I just want to know if you know of these parts and if they work or any known stability problems with these?

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Reply to xxsk8er101xx
Teddray   02-14-2003 at 04:30:38 AM
- 0 +

If thats all he is going to be using it for I don't see any problems.

Reply to Teddray
xxsk8er101xx   02-14-2003 at 04:33:25 AM
- 0 +

alright - i just never heard of any of these parts. I just tried to find the cheapest parts i can find. I know of the burner and thats about it.

but thanks!

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Reply to xxsk8er101xx
xxsk8er101xx   02-14-2003 at 04:37:57 AM
- 0 +

hey ya, this guy is broke so lol i'm trying to make the price as small as possible. Besides 800mhz should be plenty for him with 256MB of ram. that should be plenty to play music, browse the web, and burn cd's.

Picture a spending limit of 200 dollars. the above comes to 184 with shipping. 167 with out shipping. and then i give him my duron and spare fan for the cpu.

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Reply to xxsk8er101xx
Spitfire_x86   02-14-2003 at 04:42:32 AM
- 0 +

I don't own MSI K7N2-L and or Epox 8RDA, but never heard complain aginst them.

I've heard many good things about ASUS A7N266-VM. All nForce (1 and 2) chipset based mobos are known to be stable. I'm using a MSI K7N420 Pro. It's rock stable.

If you don't want any of these boards, then buy MSI 745 Ultra. This board is cheap and known to be stable

<b> "You can put lipstick on a pig, but hey, it's still a pig!" - RobD </b>

Reply to Spitfire_x86
Crashman   02-14-2003 at 07:45:27 AM
- 0 +

I'd recommend the MSI 745 Ultra over the K7S5A, it cost only $5 more, and comes from a respectable manufacturer. Oh, and the board has a better history.

<font color=blue>There are no stupid questions, only stupid people doling out faulty information based upon rumors, myths, and poor logic!</font color=blue>

Reply to Crashman
xxsk8er101xx   02-14-2003 at 06:03:56 PM
- 0 +

unfortunatly, newegg no longer sells that motherboard.

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Reply to xxsk8er101xx
Pettytheft   02-14-2003 at 06:42:42 PM
- 0 +

Why PC2700 for a budget system with a Duron on a chipset that wont support 333FSB anyway?

$53 Lite On 48x24x48 CDRW Model LTR-4824S
$43 CRUCIAL MICRON 256MB 32x64 PC 2100 DDR RAM
$11 ArchTek SmartLink 56K V.92 PCI MODEM- RETAIL - The reviews on this are ok
$72 Asus A7N266-VM
$5 Shipping

This is all prices from Newegg. The total is $182 and it's a much better option than the ECS board. Sure the graphics suck but he'll get decent sound at least. Hopefully you dont live in California then you get to avoid tax as well.



Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

Reply to Pettytheft
tombance   02-14-2003 at 06:53:58 PM
- 0 +

Well in that case cant you buy it from somewhere else?! Its a very good board.

<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=5467618 " target="_new">Almost Breaking 12k!!</A>

Reply to tombance
xxsk8er101xx   02-14-2003 at 06:55:20 PM
- 0 +

hmm alright thanks. this is all i was asking for lol! He doens't care about graphics so. If it has an agp slot and onboard graphics i think would be great.

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Reply to xxsk8er101xx
xxsk8er101xx   02-14-2003 at 07:00:41 PM
- 0 +

ohh that is a nice board! And it has onboard graphics. Trust me geforce2 is like a billion times better then what he has in there. It would be overkill! The only thing i don't like is it only has 3 pci slots. So figure, sound card, and modem - only one slot left. *shrugs* maybe for him it won't matter.

but thanks i'll keep this in mind!

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Reply to xxsk8er101xx
Pettytheft   02-14-2003 at 07:22:17 PM
- 0 +

I'm sure the Nforce integrated Audio is better than what he is using as well. Unless he has something like a Audigy or better then he can leave the sound card out as well.

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

Reply to Pettytheft
MeTaLrOcKeR   02-14-2003 at 07:23:50 PM
- 0 +

I Was just about to say.....if they dont have the MSI 745 Ultra get the ASUS A7S333....I have this board...definently an awesome stable board.......SiS 745 Chipset......as for u not having confidence in the parts u mentioned....what do u need confidence in?? You have the CPU it works therefore its good....Ram...even cheap generic ram would be good enough for this guy i doubt hes gonan be overclocking or anything......

One thing u didnt mention however is Power Supply & Case......does he already have an ATX Case and decent power supply ??

U could get away with a cheap generic oen for a Duron 800....i still have a Duron 750 who runs at 1000Mhz with 133Mhz FSB and all PCI Slots loaded on a KT133A based MB under constant full load and she runs 100% stable with a 250Watt Generic PSU.....heh....

Anyways yea i suggest ASUS A7S333 if u dotn go with the nForce based board.....

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>

Reply to MeTaLrOcKeR
xxsk8er101xx   02-14-2003 at 09:39:26 PM
- 0 +

it needs to be cheap as possible. As for power supply i have a dell case (his case is an AT case to give you an idea of how crappy his computer is) and a dell power supply in it. I heard that dell's power supply is not a standard atx power supply. But i have a 250watt standard power supply i can through in there. If not i have this huge case i can give him. It's old crap that is taking up space. heheh.

The asus board looks sweet because it has onboard geforce 2 graphics where the ecs bard does not and i would be paying 1 dollar more for the ecs. SO with that board the asus nforce1 board with onboard graphics is even better.

as for sound i sold him my old sound blaster live! 5.1 sound card.

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Reply to xxsk8er101xx
MeTaLrOcKeR   02-14-2003 at 11:21:51 PM
- 0 +

LoL...the sound onboard the nForce based ASUS board is prolyl just as good as the SB Live! 5.1..lol ah well its all good...

as for the Dell case that wont be ne good as yes its not a standard ATX Power Supply...as for puttign ina different power supply in that case i think that wont work....aren't dell's power supply's smaller than a regualr ATX ?? i know my dad's gf's Dell P3 933 system has a very tiny power supply in it......actually its the same size as the case i have from an old Celeron 500 E-Machine......so yea......i dont think it'll work but u never know.....

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>

Reply to MeTaLrOcKeR
xxsk8er101xx   02-14-2003 at 11:31:46 PM
- 0 +

it's a dell pentoim pro 200mhz! lol! maybe you're right!

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Reply to xxsk8er101xx
Crashman   02-16-2003 at 02:45:44 AM
- 0 +

Dell Dimension PC's that came in Palo Alto cases were ATX, with Dell proprietary power supplies in ATX size but with different pinouts. Other full sized Dell's (including Optiplex and later Dimension PC's) were proprietary, but still used full sized supplies in their full sized cases. Only mini Dells use mini power supplies.

<font color=blue>There are no stupid questions, only stupid people doling out faulty information based upon rumors, myths, and poor logic!</font color=blue>

Reply to Crashman
Crashman   02-16-2003 at 02:57:25 AM
- 0 +

You said Dell AT? Wow, that would be old! The last AT case Dell I've seen was a 486!

<font color=blue>There are no stupid questions, only stupid people doling out faulty information based upon rumors, myths, and poor logic!</font color=blue>

Reply to Crashman
xxsk8er101xx   02-16-2003 at 04:55:01 AM
- 0 +

oh no you misunderstood me.

The computer this guy has is a "Brinstorm micro system". I personally have an old dell computer. It's a pentium pro 200mhz that i took from work. I was going to use this case and upgrade to the asus motherboard, duron 800mhz, and 256MB ram. I was hoping on switching out the power supply with the one i have sitten around somewhere. But, the power supply does appear to be smaller then a standard ATX power supply.

I swear this guys computer is some brinstar micro system! I've never heard of it before! And this computer is an AT case. My dell case is an ATX.

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Reply to xxsk8er101xx
Crashman   02-16-2003 at 05:09:16 AM
- 0 +

If your case really is ATX, I doubt it uses a non-standard power supply size. All the ATX models I've seen from Dell used full sized supplies (with the wrong pinouts). Is it one of those Dimension tower cases, plastic, with a 92mm cooling fan under the power supply, a release tab at the top and bottom, and a security screw in the middle?

<font color=blue>There are no stupid questions, only stupid people doling out faulty information based upon rumors, myths, and poor logic!</font color=blue>

Reply to Crashman
xxsk8er101xx   02-16-2003 at 06:07:15 AM
- 0 +

actually this one has no fan. It only has a heatsink on it. The fan i think was removed for someone reason. I just realized, the dell LED's and the power switch, dell uses the own version. There is no way i can pop in another motherboard. The LED and power switch cable that dell uses would never fit on a new motherboard.

crap oh well. I really didn't want to use my old case because it is soo fricken huge!

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Reply to xxsk8er101xx
Crashman   02-16-2003 at 07:35:36 AM
- 0 +

Crap, you're not even listening, I was talking about the case, don't give a crap about what's inside. Also rewiring the Dell front panel card with two pin leads from an old AT case is easy, been there, done that.

<font color=blue>There are no stupid questions, only stupid people doling out faulty information based upon rumors, myths, and poor logic!</font color=blue>

Reply to Crashman
xxsk8er101xx   02-16-2003 at 05:21:55 PM
- 0 +

oops my bad

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Reply to xxsk8er101xx
Crashman   02-16-2003 at 09:06:43 PM
- 0 +

Relax, I'm just trying to establish if it's a Palo Alto case or not. Palo Alto made very high quality plastic cases for Dell, Micron, and a few other OEM's (some HP workstations were in Palo Alto cases).

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

Reply to Crashman
xxsk8er101xx   02-18-2003 at 03:42:23 AM
- 0 +

Hey it happend again, this time right after i went to the event viewer and this is what it said:

"The driver ati2dvag for the display device \Device\Video0 got stuck in an infinite loop. This usually indicates a problem with the device itself or with the device driver programming the hardware incorrectly. Please check with your hardware device vendor for any driver updates.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp."

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Reply to xxsk8er101xx
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