Budget AMD setup

[tiacovelli]

I'm building my first AMD machine. I'm on a budget like most people. The machine will primarily be used for surfing the net, school work, some gaming (not heavy gamers here). Here is the parts list that I'm thinking about. I'm going to start with the built-in video and eventually put in a better video card. I haven't purchased any parts yet, so I'd like some feedback from you folks first.

Antec SLK3700AMB case with 350psu
Shuttle MN31N Motherboard
AMD XP2500+ cpu
2 x Kingston 256MB PC2700 RAM
Western Digital 80gig Special Edition HD

Thanks..........

 

[Boonesmi]

looks like a good setup

but one thing i would definately go with pc3200 and not pc2700

the reason is that the xp2500+ will almost always run at xp3200+ speed with no problems at all (the only difference between the xp2500+ and the xp3200+ is one runs on a 166mhz fsb and the other is a 200mhz fsb)

so if you get the better ram you can set your fsb to 200mhz and run your ram at 200mhz, giving you a kick butt overclock and not spending much $$

 

[NTB]

looks good. I would say go with this board instead, but it doesn't have built in video or firewire. You might want to look at getting an nforce-2 400 / 400 ultra based board rather than the one you've listed; the newer ones have official 400MHz fsb support - which, by all accounts that I've seen, that Barton 2500+ is capable of running at.

Nate

 

[jjyiz28]

Originally posted by: tiacovelli
I'm building my first AMD machine. I'm on a budget like most people. The machine will primarily be used for surfing the net, school work, some gaming (not heavy gamers here). Here is the parts list that I'm thinking about. I'm going to start with the built-in video and eventually put in a better video card. I haven't purchased any parts yet, so I'd like some feedback from you folks first.

Antec SLK3700AMB case with 350psu
Shuttle MN31N Motherboard
AMD XP2500+ cpu
2 x Kingston 256MB PC2700 RAM
Western Digital 80gig Special Edition HD

Thanks..........

wow, DUAL vga ports??? wow. never saw such a thing onboard.

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: jjyiz28

Originally posted by: tiacovelli
I'm building my first AMD machine. I'm on a budget like most people. The machine will primarily be used for surfing the net, school work, some gaming (not heavy gamers here). Here is the parts list that I'm thinking about. I'm going to start with the built-in video and eventually put in a better video card. I haven't purchased any parts yet, so I'd like some feedback from you folks first.

Antec SLK3700AMB case with 350psu
Shuttle MN31N Motherboard
AMD XP2500+ cpu
2 x Kingston 256MB PC2700 RAM
Western Digital 80gig Special Edition HD

Thanks..........

wow, DUAL vga ports??? wow. never saw such a thing onboard.

The board I used to build my girlfriend's PC this summer - an Epox 8RGA+ - had the same thing.

Nate