Athlon Combo

[AChilds]

Hi,

What is the best Athlon CPU, Motherboard combination?

Im looking at the MSI K7N2 Delta board, with an athlon 2400+...
I got around $350
Anybody got an idea?

 

[minendo]

Epox 8rda+ and a TBred b 1700+. Fairly inexpensive combo and the Tbred b is a nice overclocker.

 

[Jeff7181]

Get the Asus A7N8X Deluxe... comes with GREAT onboard sound... many people like it better than Audigy sound cards. That's about $125... then get an Athlon XP2500 Retail for about $100. Well within your budget, and a VERY powerful setup as it is, also VERY overclockable if you decide to tinker with it.

 

[JZilla]

I'm in the middle. Epox 8rda+ and AthlonXP 2500+ "Barton".

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: JZilla
I'm in the middle. Epox 8rda+ and AthlonXP 2500+ "Barton".

Does the Epox 8RDA+ have the same SoundStorm audio as the A7N8X Deluxe? If so, yeah, go ahead with that one since it's cheaper and has better overclocking ability because of it's ability to adjust multipliers above 12.5

I love the layout of the A7N8X deluxe though... makes for a very clean case.

 

[JZilla]

Let me paste from the 8RDA FAQ

Do the 8RDA+ and 8RGA+ have "Soundstorm" audio?

Yes! This is perhaps the most common audio related question I get. "Soundstorm" is actually a certification, like "THX" and "Dolby" are. Because the Epox Nforce2 boards don't come with spdif connectors, they don't meet Soundstorm requirements, and thus Epox doesn't advertise the feature by name. The boards do have the Soundstorm quality audio, but you can't get the official "Soundstorm" certification unless you buy a matching spdif bracket that Epox has for sale.

 

[bradruth]

I have the MSI K7N2 Delta mobo, and I love it. I highly recommend it. You should get a 2500+ instead; the added cache makes a substantial difference, it runs at 333mhz out of the box, and it's a good overclocker.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: bradruth
I have the MSI K7N2 Delta mobo, and I love it. I highly recommend it. You should get a 2500+ instead; the added cache makes a substantial difference, it runs at 333mhz out of the box, and it's a good overclocker.

MSI didn't put the IDE ports all the friggin way at the bottom of that motherboard did they? =) (MSI left a bad taste in my mouth after my KT400VL)

 

[NokiaDude]

Abit AT7-MAX 2. I have one and am extremely happy with it. Can't go wrong with THIS board!

 

[bradruth]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: bradruth
I have the MSI K7N2 Delta mobo, and I love it. I highly recommend it. You should get a 2500+ instead; the added cache makes a substantial difference, it runs at 333mhz out of the box, and it's a good overclocker.

MSI didn't put the IDE ports all the friggin way at the bottom of that motherboard did they? =) (MSI left a bad taste in my mouth after my KT400VL)

As a matter of fact they did :|. I had to buy a 24" round cable to have my burner and DVD drives in the top 2 slots in my Antec SOHO case. I really wish they put them up by the memory slots.