can you help me decide on a motherboard/processor?

[5489]

im building a new computer, and havent kept up with the technology, so i dont know which board is good/bad.

can someone recommend me a very good Athlon XP motherboard? only criteria, is that i would like for it to have onboard raid.

 

[newbiepcuser]

Epox/Asus nForce 2 series for right now. I would wait out and see if how the new VIA chipsets do.


CPU, what ever you can afford. Remember that you have to get two ram sticks to take advantage of nForce2.

 

[konichiwa]

Epox 8RDA+ or 8RDA3+ if you want all the goodies (SATA, IEEE1394, etc)

AMD Barton 2500+ for best price/performance (assuming you'll overclock)

 

[5489]

what kind of heatsink do i need for the higher-end cpu's if i do plan to over clock,

and the nforce 2's that i've seen dont have RAID,

 

[x3m]

Originally posted by: 5489
what kind of heatsink do i need for the higher-end cpu's if i do plan to over clock,

and the nforce 2's that i've seen dont have RAID,

Abit NF7-S and Asus A7N8X Deluxe do have RAID. I don't know if Epox has.

 

[5489]

Originally posted by: x3m

Originally posted by: 5489
what kind of heatsink do i need for the higher-end cpu's if i do plan to over clock,

and the nforce 2's that i've seen dont have RAID,

Abit NF7-S and Asus A7N8X Deluxe do have RAID. I don't know if Epox has.

can you use regular hard drives on serialATA ports?

 

[Fallengod]

You want intel. Abit IS7/IS7-G or Asus P4P800 or P4C800-E. Whatever cpu you want....

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: modempower
You want intel. Abit IS7/IS7-G or Asus P4P800 or P4C800-E. Whatever cpu you want....

Did you read the post?

can someone recommend me a very good Athlon XP motherboard?

 

[Fallengod]

My bad. You still want intel though.

 

[Nebor]

Yeah, you can use regular PATA HDs on a SATA connector w/ an adapter... I'm using one... I'll be using 2 when I put my new case together and rewire everything. The adapters are about 30 bucks a piece... the one I use is a Vipower VP 9041. Comes w/ a sata cable... I think it's a scam that they try to market it as making your drives faster... Just because you connect your old style HD to an adapter that goes to a fast new technology doesn't make your old drive faster. Ex: Put F1 tires on a Honda Civic.... no performance gain.

But seeing as how Asus poorly designed the original P4C800 Deluxe, I have to do this in order to use RAID w/ non-SATA drives. Still, the sata cables are very neat and small, they don't block airflow in your case.