Considering Converting to AMD... what should I get?

[Madcowz]

My P3 rig just died on me and I have to replace the motherboard which might just give me an excuse to upgrade. I'm considering getting a new XP setup, but I'm not sure what to get. I probably won't be overclocking, and if I do, it will be moderately. Now which of the XP series is the best value right now and what's the best AMD chipset currently available? Any specific motherboard recommendations?

 

[Insane3D]

Motherboard:

KT266A based Epox 8KHA+

CPU:

AMD Athlon XP 1700+ (1.47ghz)

Memory:

2 x 256mb Crucial PC2100 DDR

 

[John]

Ditto

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=27&threadid=622941&highlight_key=y&keyword1=best

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

John and Insane3D are giving good advice.

Check out the reviews on the main Anandtech site as well as others. You're probably going to have the best performance with a KT266A chipset. Epox or Asus would be my choice of motherboard. XP 1700+ is probably in the pricing sweet spot. Shop at Newegg for the best deals and quality service.

 

[Adul]

i'll just back up the claims of the before mentoined posts.

 

[JRO]

I recently built an AMD system based on the sis 735 chipset mb. Specifically the ECS K7S5A. I used a T-bird 1.4gig proc, and had no problems at all getting it to run. Very fast, especially when used with DDR memory, and extremely cheap. A great board for non overclockers.

 

[kreno]

<< I recently built an AMD system based on the sis 735 chipset mb. Specifically the ECS K7S5A. I used a T-bird 1.4gig proc, and had no problems at all getting it to run. Very fast, especially when used with DDR memory, and extremely cheap. A great board for non overclockers. >>



ditto Built a system for dad with an ECS K7S5A and it runs like a dream. 950 Duron, but nonetheless runs VERY well. Duron 950 beating my Athlon in memory benchmarks pisses me off though lol. I'd go with the 1700+ & EPoX 8KHA+ or the Soyo SY-K7V DRAGON Plus. Both great boards. The Soyo had some bad marks but a new BIOS flash has fixed the probs.

 

[fow99]

Way to go Madcowz. Currently XP + KT266A is a obvious choice. I don't think there is big difference between different brand of mobo though. Check out Toms' hardware for a round up.

 

[robg1701]

Oh no....did he just say......the T word........ ??


ditto what peeps have said so far, all good advice

 

[Pabster]

KT266A? Only if you're ready for some headaches, and wish to spend an extra $50-odd for a couple points in your synthetic benchies.

Another recommendation for SiS 735. It's rock solid, doesn't require the ubiquitous 4-in-1 "fix" package, has terrific IDE performance (superior to KT266A, in fact, although that isn't shocking), offers 1.2GB/s of bandwidth (single chip solution), and runs cool enough that it doesn't require active cooling. It's overall performance is neck-and-neck with KT266A, without the VIA headaches and the patches and driver updates which never seem to end. K7S5A is a fine choice at $50-60 - you can't buy a better price/performance ratio. Period.

 

[Texmaster]

<< Motherboard:

KT266A based Epox 8KHA+

CPU:

AMD Athlon XP 1700+ (1.47ghz)

Memory:

2 x 256mb Crucial PC2100 DDR

>>



I'll do even better than that. I'll give you a price

I posted yesterday that very rig except the cpu was a 1.4ghz XP boxed, same mobo same ram 350.00 at newegg.com Great deal if you are into AMD

New Egg

 

[kreno]

<< KT266A? Only if you're ready for some headaches, and wish to spend an extra $50-odd for a couple points in your synthetic benchies.

Another recommendation for SiS 735. It's rock solid, doesn't require the ubiquitous 4-in-1 "fix" package, has terrific IDE performance (superior to KT266A, in fact, although that isn't shocking), offers 1.2GB/s of bandwidth (single chip solution), and runs cool enough that it doesn't require active cooling. It's overall performance is neck-and-neck with KT266A, without the VIA headaches and the patches and driver updates which never seem to end. K7S5A is a fine choice at $50-60 - you can't buy a better price/performance ratio. Period. >>



Actually only about $40 difference and that affords you a good 200+ MB/sec in memory benchmarks.