Advice on Upgrading PC? (P3 500 to AMD 1.4mhz)

[edm]

Greetings,

I've had my Dell PC for a couple years now and I'm ready to upgrade (PIII500, 256MBPC133, Geforce 2 GTS-32MB) but I know very little about mobo's, hardware compatibility's, etc., so I have some questions, and would really appreciate any advice on what I should buy.

First, I have decided to go with a Athlon TB 1.4

1) what is a best motherboard to go with? something in the $100-$150 range?, I need one that will support my current PC133 RAM but also supports the newer stuff (PC2100 I think) so I can upgrade at a later time.

2) my current case has a 200w power supply, from what I gather this will need to upgraded it to at least 300w? would it be easier to just get a whole new case rather then upgrading the power supply itself, or could I save some cash by just getting the PS? (Dell mid tower).

3) would the new CPU/mobo even fit in my current case (Dell ATX Mid tower)

4) advice on a good fan to use with the 1.4 CPU?

Thanks,
Ed
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current specs:
DELL XPST500 - PIII500
384MB RAM (256PC133/128 PC100)
Geforce 2 GTS 32 MB
SBlive Value!
40 GIG WD 7200 Ultra ATA/100
Toshiba DVD
Sony CD-RW
ATI TV Wonder
Linksys LNE100TX ethernet
SONY G500 21"

 

[cchen]

1. There are a plethora of boards that you can choose from. IF you have the money, I think that the best bet would be to get a DDR motherboard, or if you want to be able to use either pc133 or ddr ram, get an ECS k7s5a, which has gotten nice reviews. I have a MSI K7t Turbo myself and it is a great board.

2. A new case would be better, and would have better airflow for overclocking

3. it might fit, depends on the board and your particular case

4. are you planning on overclocking? a sk-6 with a delta fan would cool very nicely, but would also be extremely loud. if you don't plan on overclocking, then any fan would work, like the fan that comes with the retail boxed tbird

 

[edm]

thanks for the help,

No, I won't be over clocking.

I read some user reviews on that ECS mobo you suggested and as you say it looks like a good board, not to mention a great price at around $65 bucks. one thing though, I noticed it has "on-board LAN", is this different than on-board audio, and if it does have on-board audio can it be disabled?, can they cause problems?

Anyway, here's what I'm looking at getting...

btw, is that an ok choice for a Case & power supply?

ECS Socket A K7S5A SiS® 735 chipset motherboard with On-Board LAN Port. Retail - $65

AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1.4GHz 266MHz Bus Socket A PGA Processor-Retail Box Version with Heatsink and Fan - $121

Enlight Medium ATX Tower Case Model EN-72370X3 Recommended by AMD. with 300Watts Power Supply, 4 5.25" Bays, 2 3.5" Bays & 1 Hidden 3.5" Bay - $50

anyone's comments are welcome

Thanks again

 

[whitelight]

1. i say go with a ddr mobo and forget about the sdram. 256mb ddr is <$40, so it's not going to cause a dent in your wallet. and for a mobo, i would wait a few weeks until the via kt266a chipset comes out because it outperforms the other ddr chipset solutions by quite a large margin in some tests. but if you have to get one now, i recommend the epox 8k7a. it's the one i'm using and i've had no problems with it.

2. you need at least a 300w psu. i would even recommend going for a 350w to be safe (because i don't know exactly how much power you'll need). and the price difference is pretty minimal, so it's better to be safe.

3. i also have a dell p3-500. i like the case, but i don't like the fact it has only 2 5.25" bays, so i opted for another case (antec sx635). i'm not sure if the dell case will work with another motherboard because the case "hooks" onto the motherboard. i'm not sure if these "hooks" can be moved to accommodate other holes in other motherboards, but you might be able to tell if you take the motherboard out and get a look at the case. also, the power, reset buttons and lights are attached from the front bezel using a special ribbon. if you plan to use your dell case with another motherboard, you have to modify this part of the case to do so. here is an article that details what you have to do.

4. since you're not overclocking, i would recommend the taisol copper bottom hsf. it is pretty quiet (30dba) and does a pretty good job of cooling for that noise range.