building new system, low budget

[LoveDoc]

hey guys i'm working on putting together a new system for myself.
This is going to be an all around system, prolly around 35% gaming so i'm not focusing on the vid card end of things yet...

Right now i have an xp 1600+ w/ 256mb ram running winxp on some sort of shuttle mobo.. Depending on the game and the amount of programs I'm trying to run at the same time I will get some noticable speed bumps which I'm sure is attributed to only having the 256 of ram...

i've been looking at getting the chaintech vnf3-250 mobo w/ either the 2500 barton or the 2800+ 64..
One of my questions is this, if i get the 2500 barton, would it be worth it getting the vnf3-250 w/ it or should I look for a lower model mobo? and if so, any suggestions? or should i just pony up the extra for the vnf3 and the 2800+? I've been able to put up with my current system for about a year maybe two now so i'm thinking just going to the 2500 barton with a some more ram would feel like a huge enough increase in performance for me and save me a great deal of change..

 

[PinchyCM]

why not the a64 3000+/MSI k8t neo combo at newegg for 286? it'd be cheaper than buying the a64 2800+/chaintech board.

 

[Connoisseur]

dude, just to clarify... Bartons and nForce 3 boards are incompatible. If you're getting the vnf3-250, you must buy an Athlon64 cpu. once again, AthlonXP bartons and Athlon64's are not pin compatible. That being said, if you're on a tight budget, Buy the 2500+ barton and a decent nForce 2 board and you can easily overclock that cpu to 3200+ speeds... that coupled with a faily decent hs and 512mb-1gig of ram will give you a tremendous boost in speed as compared to your current rig (I used to have a 667P3 with 256megs of ram which I gave to my parents... the difference between that and my current rig is insane). And it'll only cost you between $200-300 for the cpu, mobo and ram depending on whether you go for 512 or 1 gig. With the athlon 64 system pinchy suggested, it'll cost you at least $400-$500 for those parts but they'll be even better performing and they'll probably last you longer. Your call. I chose to go the route of the mobile barton cause I couldn't resist having a 2.4ghz athlon xp .

 

[LoveDoc]

So the bartons and nforce3 boards are incompatible huh? i didn't know that.. thanks for the heads up..

What about this mobile 2500+ i've been hearing about? Is that also not compatible w/ the nforce 3?

i'm a broke college student so the hundred dollar difference between the system pinchy suggest and what I was originally thinking makes a huge difference.

 

[LoveDoc]

ok, i just checked out newegg and found the following..


ASUS "A7N8X-X" nForce2 400 for $69
AMD 45 Watt Mobile Athlon XP 2500+, 266 FSB, 512K Cache for $88
A-DATA 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 for $154(x2)

Brings the total to $311

Any thoughts?

 

[So]

AthlonXP are socket A chips

Athlon64's up to 3400+ (iirc) are socket 754
Athlon64's 3500+ and up are socket 939
Athlon64 FX line is Socket 940

Obviously chips for these sockets are not cross compatible.

The nForce 2 chipset is for socket A boards, only
The nForce 3 chipset handles Socket 754, 939, and it may handle 940.
This DOES NOT MEAN that any nForce 3 board will handle all athlon 64's, you have to watch which socket the board you're looking at has.

Via KT800 chipset is also Athlon 64 only.

I can't recall the last Via XP chipset.

I think I've covered everything. Anyone?

 

[LoveDoc]

bump ^

 

[Dufrane]

That Asus MB is an excellent MB. I am not that familiar with that brand of memory.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

The A7N8X-X is "NF2 400" and not "NF2 400 Ultra". That means no dual channel memory for that extra 2-3% of performance. I'm not sure what else is different, but I'd just prefer the newer chipset myself. I'd recommend going with the Shuttle AN35N Ultra or the Epox 8RDA3I for the same or maybe a tiny bit less money. Also save a few bucks and get the 2400+ mobile Athlon XP which will handle 3200+ as easily as the 2500+ mobile. Put the extra money into some name brand memory like Corsair, Mushkin, Crucial, or Kingston.

 

[LoveDoc]

yeah i was just about to ask that.. I've been checking out the Shuttle AN35N and it seems the only difference between the two is the audio and the shuttle does not contain that SATA stuff.. Other than that though its about $35 bucks less and seems like it would do the same job.

So my setup right now looks like this
Shuttle "AN35N-Ultra" nForce2 Ultra 400 @ $58

Aspire X-Dreamer II(Black) ATX Mid-Tower Case with 350W Power Supply @ $59.. This case looks really cool and I already have a Antec True 550 or something like that which I would just switch out

AMD 45 Watt Mobile Athlon XP 2400+, 266FSB, 512K Cache @ $77

Which would be the better option? 1g of pc 2700 or 512 of pc3200?

Thanks so far for all the help guys.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: LoveDoc
yeah i was just about to ask that.. I've been checking out the Shuttle AN35N and it seems the only difference between the two is the audio and the shuttle does not contain that SATA stuff.. Other than that though its about $35 bucks less and seems like it would do the same job.

So my setup right now looks like this
Shuttle "AN35N-Ultra" nForce2 Ultra 400 @ $58

Aspire X-Dreamer II(Black) ATX Mid-Tower Case with 350W Power Supply @ $59.. This case looks really cool and I already have a Antec True 550 or something like that which I would just switch out

AMD 45 Watt Mobile Athlon XP 2400+, 266FSB, 512K Cache @ $77

Which would be the better option? 1g of pc 2700 or 512 of pc3200?

Thanks so far for all the help guys.

go with the 3200