Easy Questions for Someone?

[markjonesx]

I'm going to builds a new rig, however I have some question as I want to match the parts.

CPU; AMD Athlon XP 2600 333FSB
MBO; Asus A7N8X Deluxe
Ram; DDR 512Mb PC3200 (PC400)

Questions;

1. Do all these components match i.e will they work well together?
2. Whats the difference between Barton and Throughterbred AMD?
3. The MBO has capability for FSB400, does this mean it will take a faster CPU than stated at FSB333
4. Ram; what does PC3200 mean? how does it match the other components? whats does (PC400) mean?

I'm looking for simple answers please.

 

[Furor]

Originally posted by: markjonesx
I'm going to builds a new rig, however I have some question as I want to match the parts.

CPU; AMD Athlon XP 2600 333FSB
MBO; Asus A7N8X Deluxe
Ram; DDR 512Mb PC3200 (PC400)

Questions;

1. Do all these components match i.e will they work well together?
2. Whats the difference between Barton and Throughterbred AMD?
3. The MBO has capability for FSB400, does this mean it will take a faster CPU than stated at FSB333
4. Ram; what does PC3200 mean? how does it match the other components? whats does (PC400) mean?

I'm looking for simple answers please.

1. Yes
2. Barton has more cache I believe
3. Sorta, AMD doesn't officially have a 400FSB CPU out yet, but when it comes out, the mobo will probably support it.
4. PC3200 = DDR400, which is the FSB at 400Mhz. PC400 isn't really correct, so you should ignore it.

 

[Lonyo]

PC3200 means it has a bandwidth of 3200MB (3.2GB)/s.
It will run at 400MHz DDR (2x200MHz) for sure.
Your computer will probably default to 166MHz though (2700), running it slower that its maximum, but that won't hurt performance too much.
As your motherboard should probably support 400MHz processors, your RAM will match up in the future (200MHz bus speed), so that RAM and motherboard should do you good for now, and will work if you wish to upgrade to a 400MHz processor in the future.

The Barton has 512KB L2 cache, the T-bred has 256KB. This provides a small performance increase, but the speeds (PR ones) are adjusted accordingly. An XP2500+ T-Bred would be as fast as a Barton 2500+, because although the Barton would have extra cache, it has a lower clock speed.
Usually Bartons put out more heat because they have more transistors (for the extra cache).

You've already had simple answers, those add a bit
But yes, they should all work together and give you an upgrade path in the future.

 

[markjonesx]

Thanks for your help.

Its now a toss up between A7N8X L and a A7N8X Deluxe (save myself £30).

The only difference between these boards is the SATA Raid, what is this? is it worth the extra £30?

As far as I can figure out its something that controls the hard drives.

I currently run a master and slave set up 60Gb master, 40 Gb slave, nice and simple, no trouble, would the SATA Raid do something different?

 

[bgeh]

there is a problem currently with ASUS's SATA RAID
and even if it's fixed i don't think you need it unless you really hate those big, fat, clumsy IDE cables

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: markjonesx
Thanks for your help.

Its now a toss up between A7N8X L and a A7N8X Deluxe (save myself £30).

The only difference between these boards is the SATA Raid, what is this? is it worth the extra £30?

As far as I can figure out its something that controls the hard drives.

I currently run a master and slave set up 60Gb master, 40 Gb slave, nice and simple, no trouble, would the SATA Raid do something different?

Where are you looking to get the board from? www.komplett.co.uk usually have some of the cheapest prices.

SATA is basically a way of connecting your hard drives to the motherboard, just like an IDE connector, but you would need an adapter to allow you to connect your hard drives to it, so it's not really anything to look for since you wouldn't be able to make us of it without shelling it £30 or so for an adapter, or buying new HDD's.
It also doesn't offer anything in terms of real performance (again, unless you buy different hard drives), so save yourself the money.

 

[markjonesx]

Thanks guys, I'll save the money!

 

[markjonesx]

P.S just checked the prices at Komplett, you might want to try www.scan.co.uk

A7N8X @ KOMPLETT £108

A7N8X @ SCAN £84

Go figure?