Mobo/processor combination?

[Russ]

I'm looking to but a new mobo/processor combination for a second pc I have which currently can only be upgraded to a P3 667. As it's going to be my spare pc I'm not looking to spend much and I already have a Soundblaster card and a Rage graphics card so these kinds of on-board features wouldn't be required.

I'm been looking at the P4 combinations on www.scan.co.uk and was wondering if you wonderful people could recommend a dirt cheap yet efficient set up? :)

[TigaSefi]

U want an amd/amd-mobo or a wintel/wintel mobo set up ? the difference is bout £50-60 .

[Russ]

Doesn't really bother me, whatever the cheapest is :) but around the 2 gig speed mark though.

[TigaSefi]

Asus A7V8X-X (DDR M/Board) LAN Ref: MBASUSA7V8XL
6 Chn Audio / DDR266 / USB 2.0 / 8X AGP / 333 FSB / LAN

In Stock (Last Updated - 31st July 17:30)

more details

Online Price £43.70à ƒÆ’ƒâ€šÃ‚£51.35 Including VAT at 17.5%


AMD AthlonXP PR2700+ (RTL) Thoroughbred Ref: CPUAMDTHB27R
333FSB - 2167 Mhz - RTL - Includes Cooler

In Stock (Last Updated - 31st July 17:30)

more details

Online Price £90.70à ƒÆ’ƒâ€šÃ‚£106.57 Including VAT at 17.5%

That your best bet....... for a 2Ghz machine.

[timewarrior2001]

SocketA nVidia 420-D AGP4x microATX Motherboard
Asus A7N266-VM/SE £36.15 £42.48


Athlon XP2400+ Socket A CPU OEM
AMD AXDA2400KV3C £49.10 £57.69
(this is a 2ghz clockspeed chip)

256Mb PC2100 Memory
£25.00
exc VAT
£29.38
inc. VAT


All available from www.watford.com

[TigaSefi]

if 2700 just 2.1ghz then 2400 can't be 2ghz

[homealone]

Russ, does your existing spare PC use SDR or DDR Ram? - newer boards are likely to be DDR only. You may need to decide whether you want a newer board that will have stuff like 333FSB, but will need new memory, or an older one that will still use SDR Ram.

The specs on this bundle would suit

http://www.maplin.co.uk/products/module.asp?CartID=030801133801952&Addon=F&moduleno=-550&modulecode=

although you are likely to get it cheaper elsewhere

Gaz

[keithwalton]

Originally posted by TigaSefi
if 2700 just 2.1ghz then 2400 can't be 2ghz


It is, its called amd marchitecture, the 2700+ is 2.16Ghz, the 2800+ (tbred) is 2.2Ghz, 3000+ (barton) is 2.16Ghz

There system allows to much for extra fsb and l2 cache, the 3000+ is no faster really than the rare 2800+ tbred, (there are slower barton's now with that ranking)

there will also be shortly 3 2600+ 's with completly different performance characteristics,
1) tbred core 266 fsb (will be replaced by thorton core but same speed as before)
2) tbred core 333fsb (slower clock)
3) barton core 333fsb (even slower core again)

K

Edit just noticed the other q, if it can only take upto an old type p3 it will be sdr ram for sure

[Russ]

Yeah it's using 256K SDR which I'll prolly keep as it's only a spare machine for me to practise messing around with home networking.

[Lord Nikon]

May I suggest a CPU / Mobo combo?

Soltek SL-75FRN2 Motherboard (Nvidia NForce2 Chipset, DualDDR400, 6 USB2 ports) also known as the Golden Flame.
In recent reviews the fastest and most configurable mobo around. Currently retails at around the £60 mark

AMD Athlon XP 2400+ Retailing around £50

DDR 400 Ram, whatever amount you want up to 3Gb BUT I would advise you to get 2 sticks rather than just one, fit them in the 2 YELLOW DDR slots on the Golden flame and it enables dual channel mode. (Works faster)

not expensive, but an excellent combo

even LOOKS good in a case with a transparent side panel.
Installation is painless, although the chipset is too new even for XP to support, but the drivers supplied with it are easy to install.

an online comparison of the 2 (Asrock Vs Soltek) is here

http://www.digital-daily.com/motherboard/asrock-vs-soltek/

[MadGamer]

If your Machine would support 1024MB (1GB) of DDR ram then go for that as 256MB of DDR ram isn't much. Then again it depends what you are using it for. If you didn't want to spend the money on 1024MB of ram then go for 512MB.

[Bifta]

Originally posted by keithwalton
It is, its called amd marchitecture

That's the most amusing quote I've seen all week :D