another "what to buy" yes yes but i need some opinions.

[erikistired]

okay, i'm a diehard intel person. i've always used intel since i tried amd around the k5-100 times (and i swore i'd never use another amd again) but i'm starting to ponder it, because quite frankly i don't want to pay the intel premium. i'm running a p3-1ghz with 1gb pc133 right now, and i need to upgrade.

here's what i'd like to keep:

ati radeon 8500 (non le)
sound blaster audigy gamer
lite on dvd/cdrw
case with 330w p4 ready power supply
floppy
western digital 40gb ata66 hdd

and i guess that's it, unless i need to use my existing network card, in which case i'll keep that too.

i have an asus via based board now running windows xp and i don't really want to reload, so i guess i'll need another via chipset board to jive (i know i had to do this with win2k to avoid issues so i'm guessing xp will be the same).

so, what do you guys that run via chipset boards think?

is there a board that will work with my existing hardware based on a via chipset? i don't need onboard sound but i'm realizing everyone has it. onboard lan i can do without but i won't turn it away. i don't need raid or anything like that. i'd like at least 4 usb ports, since i'm using a usb card right now to supplement the 2 onboard. also what's a good chip? should i just buy the fastest availible? and ram as well, what speed. the whole ddr thing has kinda passed me by, i'm not sure what matches up where anymore. i actually build systems, but we do strictly intel, and i buy combos based on cpu speed mostly (i have an intel board i like alot, they just send me the correct speed ddr for what i order).

so if you can help i'd appreciate it. i have searched the forums, and i couldn't find exactly what i was looking for. i also poked around newegg a bit but i dunno.

thanks.

~erik

 

[Snoop]

i have an asus via based board now running windows xp and i don't really want to reload, so i guess i'll need another via chipset board to jive (i know i had to do this with win2k to avoid issues so i'm guessing xp will be the same).

IMO, that is a bad idea. Just backup your data and reload. You really should do that anyway in case you ever have a harddrive failure.
As for the hardware, I for one am waiting for the nforce 2 based boards which from what I understand should start appearing in the next few weeks.

 

[EKAtBzboyz]

Originally posted by: fisher
okay, i'm a diehard intel person. i've always used intel since i tried amd around the k5-100 times (and i swore i'd never use another amd again) but i'm starting to ponder it, because quite frankly i don't want to pay the intel premium. i'm running a p3-1ghz with 1gb pc133 right now, and i need to upgrade.

here's what i'd like to keep:

ati radeon 8500 (non le)
sound blaster audigy gamer
lite on dvd/cdrw
case with 330w p4 ready power supply
floppy
western digital 40gb ata66 hdd

and i guess that's it, unless i need to use my existing network card, in which case i'll keep that too.

i have an asus via based board now running windows xp and i don't really want to reload, so i guess i'll need another via chipset board to jive (i know i had to do this with win2k to avoid issues so i'm guessing xp will be the same).

so, what do you guys that run via chipset boards think?

is there a board that will work with my existing hardware based on a via chipset? i don't need onboard sound but i'm realizing everyone has it. onboard lan i can do without but i won't turn it away. i don't need raid or anything like that. i'd like at least 4 usb ports, since i'm using a usb card right now to supplement the 2 onboard. also what's a good chip? should i just buy the fastest availible? and ram as well, what speed. the whole ddr thing has kinda passed me by, i'm not sure what matches up where anymore. i actually build systems, but we do strictly intel, and i buy combos based on cpu speed mostly (i have an intel board i like alot, they just send me the correct speed ddr for what i order).

so if you can help i'd appreciate it. i have searched the forums, and i couldn't find exactly what i was looking for. i also poked around newegg a bit but i dunno.

thanks.

~erik

i think you probably should do a reinstall of os becuase you are going from intel to amd and theres bound to be driver confusion/crashing
not to mention the chipset is very different

asus a7v333 with pc2700 ram and any speed athlon xp should be good (has pretty much everythign you want)
pc2700 becuase well it supports pc2700 ram (pc2100=133mhz, pc2700=166mhz, pc3200=200mhz before ddr)

or maybe get asus a7v8x (has alot of newer features)
with that maybe get pc3200 becuase it supports that (but also supports any other lower speed if you want)

either that or just wait for nforce 2 boards
they have newer features along with dual channel ddr

 

[erikistired]

i know that i should do it. but if i can get away without it. but yeah i'm sure i'll end up doing it anyhow. i have a full backup already. it's just a pita redoing everything. but anyway, so if i'm going to reload anyhow, what do you suggest then, via or not.