Help Building A New PC

[CSquare43]

Hello to all & thanks in advance.

Right now I'm using an AMD Athlon XP 2100+, 1.73GHz, MSI KT4V Mobo, 1.5GB of Ram.

I've started acquiring pieces to build a new PC, but I'm unsure what to get in terms of a CPU & MoBo.

Here's what I have already:
Antec SLK 3700 case w/ 350w p. source
2x Maxtor HD's
Sound Blaster Audigy2 Sound Card
Radeon 9600se 128mb
NetGear PCI Adaptor
1.5GB Of Ram (that's in my current PC)

I don't play games on my computer, but I still want a decent machine that's an upgrade from what I'm using. I'm considering these items:
AMD Athlon64 3200+ & MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum.

Is this a nice upgrade over my current set up? Is it a good bang/buck ratio? I'd like to stay under $350 (if poss).

Also, is there a way to hook up 3 HD's into a system?

Again, thanks for any direction you can provide.

 

[Appledrop]

yes that is a good choice, and will be a nice upgrade *however, you should ideally be running DDR400 in the board, and that may not be the case with yours at moment* Running 3 drives is super easy if the third is a SATA connector, otherwise you might have to run the third ide drive on a shared ide cable with dvd/cd drive and mess with master/slave settings. Or something

 

[CSquare43]

Azzy, thanks for the quick response. How can I tell if I'm running DDR400? I know I'm using DDR, but that's all I know.

 

[Appledrop]

google for "cpuz" , download it, run it. click the memory tab. It will say the frequency your memory is running at : 100mhz = ddr200, 133mhz=ddr266, 166mhz=ddr333, and 200mhz=ddr400.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

very unlikely u have DDR400 already in ur machine. I guess its PC2100. wanna make sure than download cpu-z and check ur Ram and stuff: www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Memory is cheap these days. u can buy 512mb DDR400 for $45. Two sticks should be enough.

U can hook up at least 2 P-ata and depending on the mobo up to 8 S-ata Hdd`s.

 

[TankGuys]

If you aren't playing games, this setup would be just fine.

Even if you are gaming, it will work fine for now. Really, for non-gamers, virtually anything works fine right now. The technology is so good compared to the average user. When we get customers looking to buy a machine for just plain e-mail and internet, they are shocked when I tell them to spend less than what they were planning... it just doesn't make sense to buy a $1700 computer when you play poker online and e-mail your grandkids.

For what you said, I'd say those parts will work just fine for you!

 

[TankGuys]

Originally posted by: CSquare43
...
Also, is there a way to hook up 3 HD's into a system?

Again, thanks for any direction you can provide.

Forgot to mention... It's very easy to hook up 3 if you are only using 1 other device (such as a CD-RW). In that case, just hook up 2 hard drives on the first IDE channel, then your CD drive and your 3rd hard drive on the 2nd chain.

 

[n7]

Even if he is running PC2100, he can run that quite well till he can afford PC3200.

There really isn't such a huge difference between those with A64s, as Zebo's testing has confirmed.


However, you cannot run 3x512 MB with dual channel.

You may be able to get it working, but it will be single channel.
Or, it will not work & you will have to run 2x512 MB.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

i agree, not a big difference 2100 and 3200. it just my feeling for well combined components

 

[CSquare43]

Thanks for the help. Sounds like I'll have to go with 2 HD's & partition them differently than planned.

The RAM that I'm using now shows as pc2700 on the cpuz. Will this make a difference? Also, anyone know what the differences between the MSI K8N Neo4 & the Neo2 are? Would one work better than the other for what I've described above?

 

[BillyBobJoel71]

pc2700 is barely under pc3200, if not the same in performance. for no games i don't think it matters what you get.

 

[CSquare43]

Thanks ST. One last question, then I'm breaking out the CC...is there a difference in the Winchester & Newcastle cores that I'll recognize?

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: CSquare43
Thanks ST. One last question, then I'm breaking out the CC...is there a difference in the Winchester & Newcastle cores that I'll recognize?

very negligible performance increase, and also they run a bit hotter but that is not nothing to worry about


EDIT: ^^^with regards to the winchester core^^^

 

[Aenslead]

It would only matter if you where runing an Intel processor... which you are not... which is cool (geddit!?).

 

[CSquare43]

Ok, I lied...a few more ??'s...
I got my CPU, a 3200+ Venice, but now I'm very confused as to what Mobo to get...I won't do any serious Oc'ing (maybe a little just to try it out...), & I don't ever see myself needing SLI. I want something that will set up very easily, be stable & work with the Radeon card I've already got.

Thoughts? What stable, easy to use Mobo should I look at? I want to stay below $150...
Thanks again.

 

[theMan]

you have to get a motherboard with an agp slot. so you cant get anything with an nforce4 chipset, like the neo4 plat. i would suggest getting the msi k8n neo2 plat. it has agp, and is very good.

 

[Vegitto]

Originally posted by: theman
you have to get a motherboard with an agp slot. so you cant get anything with an nforce4 chipset, like the neo4 plat. i would suggest getting the msi k8n neo2 plat. it has agp, and is very good.

Yes, I would recommend that one, too.