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Help me decide on MB and processor

P

pennywise289

Junior Member
I want to build a computer and have looked around for components I need your opinion to choose the MB processor combination. The 2 choices I have in mind are.
Epox EP8 RDA+ with athlonxp 2100 or ALBATRON INTEL 845PE Chipset ATX Motherboard Model PX845PEV PRO with Pentium 2.4 processor. I know the pentium combination is about $ 100 more. I will be using 2 identical 256 mb ddr333 ram chips.
Questions I have are
Is it worth it to spend the extra 100 bucks will there be a significant improvement in performance in the pentium system
I dont plan to over clock right now but will do it eventually which will be better for overclocking. I seem to be more inclined towards the albatron.
Any link to articles will be appreciated
 
Welcome to the forums, pennywise289.

Both of the motherboards you have picked are good overclockers. Since you mentioned that you are going to overclock the system later on, I recommend the Pentium 4 with the Albatron motherboard. The P4 may get to 3GHz, but typical results are around 2.7-2.8GHz, and I think you would be well suited by a retail processor. The Anandtech review by Evan Lieb on the Albatron is here. Concerning your memory choice, one stick of 512MB, DDR333 would give you better overclocking results that two sticks of 256, DDR 333. Do buy memory from reputable manufactures such as Corsair, Kingston or Samsung.

There is another things I want to add. When you buy you case, be sure that it contains a good power supply unit. Antec, Sparkle, and Enermax are trusted brands. That's it. Good luck with your new system. Peace and have a merry Christmas.
 
Thanks for the reply and a merry christmas. I have read a lot about dual channel ddr and was wondering if the athlon system would be fast. I have the antec 300 watt smart power supply and case that i will be getting from compucycle do u think that will be enough. I have a mushkin 512mb ddr266 ram chip cl2.5 lying around the reason i decided to buy the 256 ddr333going to be available at compusa this weekend was because i though it may be faster and i was thinking of using it in the epox athlon system.
 
That power supply will probably be enough. The dual channel Athlon boards are not faster than the single channel versions. The Mushkin stick is good quality, and, IMO, would work well in either systems. That is until you start to overclock, then I recommend DDR 333 or higher. Peace.
 
I just built a system with the new ASUS nForce2 offering (A7N8X) and an XP 1800+ (Thoroughbred) which is easily o/c'ed to 2400+ speed. Couldn't be happier. Inexpensive, fast, stable. If you are even considering buying an AMD setup now the NF2 is the only way to go, IMNSHO.
 
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