Help me decide what system to build

[DietDrThunder]

The last PC I built was 6 years ago. I put together an epox 8K7A Rev. 1.0 motherboard, 512MB of PC2100 RAM and started with an AMD 1.2 GHz Thunderbird. This system has evolved. I upgraded the BIOS and installed an AMD XP2400 about 3 years ago. It has 2 120 GB WD 7200 RPM ATA 133 HDs, a Pioneer 4x DVD writer, Linksys 10/100 ethernet card, an ATI AIW 7500 AGP video card, a no name floppy drive, and is running Windows XP Pro SP2.

Now the caps are bulging and the system is very unstable (will reboot randomly and then gets stuck in a reboot loop), so it is time to build a new system.

Here is the basics of what I'd like, then maybe you guys/gals can suggest the rest.

1) I'd like, if possible a micro ATX based system. I no longer feel it is necessary to have such a huge case since I never fill up the PCI slots. I've looked through Anantech's reviews for motherboards, but I don't find anything on Micro ATX boards.

2) I'd like to stick with an AMD processor based system.

3) I'd like to reuse my hard drives if possible. So ATA 133 and SATA would be nice.

4) I'd like gaming, but I don't want to blow too much money on a video card.

5) 1 gig of memory would be sufficient for now, but I'd like to be able to add more later.

Any help getting started with this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bullfrawg]

For AMD, you want to use socket AM2 at this point, probably, and therefore DDR2 memory. Dual core processors are now priced well. If you want more than an X2 3800 (cheapest AMD dual-core), then your money is better spent on the intel Core 2 Duo. Toms Hardware has price-performance charts that are interesting. I'm planning on sticking with AMD because the next processor socket, AM3 (torrenza?), is supposed to be backwards compatible with AM2, so upgrading a processor in 2 years looks easier w/ AMD. The cheapest AMD X2 dual-core and the cheapest Intel Core 2 Duo are pretty similar in terms of bang-for-buck (C2D has a little more bang and buck). But then the performance ramps up a lot faster for Core 2 Duo, as you buy faster processors. (Stay away from Pentium D's, unless you want to gonzo-overclock an 805.)

Several newer chipsets like to have fewer PATA i(Parallel ATA) nterfaces. The Epox nVidia 570 sli chipset board has 2 interfaces (so you can have 4 drives). Oh -- but that's full ATX. Optical drives are cheaper with the PATA interface, but hard drives are cheaper with SATA.

The micro-ATX boards I've seen for AM2 are nVidia 6100 or 6150 chipsets with integrated audio. These are nForce4 - based chipsets, and I think they have 2 PATA interfaces.

Regarding video cards, Toms Hardware has a good video card overview today. (Not trying to plug toms -- I actually like Anandtech better. Also, they are a little hard on the nVidia 7900 GS and GT -- their own benchmarks, and Anand's, make them look competitive, dollar-for-performance.) Anyway, nvida 7600 GS, 7600GT, 7900 GS, 7900 GT are good values, as are ATI X1900 GT (though they lowered the clock speed recently) and X1950 Pro, and possibly soon the cheaper X1650 XT. Oh, and X850 somethingorother.

I've heard that memory is snobby now -- so sometimes you can't get it to work with 4 sticks. So you might want to go ahead and get 2 gig, especially if you want to upgrade to Windows Vista when it comes out. It will use a lot of memory and also -- this is unexpected if you haven't been around for a while -- it has a new 3D visual interface that will put your GRAPHICS card through its paces somewhat. On a related note, ATI and nVidia will probably come out with Direct-X10 (Vista only) compatible cards pretty soon. We're at the end of the product cycle for ATI x1000 and nVidia 7000 series parts.

That ought to get you started. But I'm a newb -- no builds yet. That's just some of my info gathering. No expertise found here, just some inexperienced scouting.

 

[bullfrawg]

Actually, some of the best quick info you can get is right here on Anandtech. They did a series of 3 system guides -- high, medium, and low price range. Have a look at the first 3 articles here:

http://www.anandtech.com/guides/

 

[DietDrThunder]

Thanks guys for the advise. It looks like I have plenty of research ahead of me.

 

[you2]

I'd go with a p965 system (something like p5b-e) unless you are 100% sure that am3 will be the same socket as am2 and the am2 mb you purchase will meet your needs for more than a few years. The cheapest am2 system you can build is something like a kn9 abit uforce 4 ($75) and a 3800+ am2x2 $159 (if you only require single core you could do a *lot* better on the processor). The p965 system will cost $174 for e6300 (which is about 25% faster than the 3800+ am2x2 at stock speed and will overclock better. A foxconn or s3 board will cost around $105 while the pb5-e will run $155 (pb5-e has firewire and extra sata port if they are important to you as well as both jmb and intel raid support).

If you go single core then the am2 system will be approx $150 less expensive - if you go dual core it iwll be approx $40-90 (dependent on mb).

Now reading your objectives I would go am2 - i would stick with atx (abit has a nice micro atx board with built in graphics - but it will not be very useful for gaming - if it meets your needs it will be a decent system). I would go with a single core processor today and then upgrade in 6 months or a year. The upgrade cost will likely be sum 0 (as the money saved with the single core will pay for hte dual core in a year).

if you went with a 939 board you could get a 4200+ single core processor for around $40 but the ram would not be useful in a new system. THe disks will work fine in any am2/939 board. In a 965 board they will work but be aware that all 965 boards (currently) only have one eide connector (2 drives - unless you buy a card).

 

[DietDrThunder]

So you guys input as left me with another question. you2 states that "abit has a nice micro atx board with built in graphics - but it will not be very usefull for gaming". If I go with a micro atx motherboard, what case would you suggest using which would allow me to use a good PCI-X video card?

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: Cepak
what case would you suggest using which would allow me to use a good PCI-X video card?

< beg > Please say you mean PCI-e < /beg >

I can't think why you should be looking for a good PCI-X video card.

 

[DietDrThunder]

See, I told you I was out of touch with the latest technology. Yes, I meant PCI-e.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I just built a budget matx box for my wife and so far love the components I used

Biostar Tforce 6100 mobo

Antec NSK2400 case with 380w PS

The case has great airflow with 2x120mm super quiet fans, and will handle most all of the mid to highend PCI-E video cards, but the mobo I listed also has decent onboard graphics if you want to wait awhile to upgrade. And they just added a $15 rebate on the case

The biostar board is rock solid, and probably the best overclocking matx board available. I paired this up with 2x512 ram, an X2 3800+, 320gb seagate 7200.10 HDD, and a 19" widescreen flat panel and it rocks! My wife couldn't be happier

 

[kmmatney]

I'm very pleased with my budget system in my sig. The CPU and Motherboard combo was $99 at NewEgg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103023

And this heatsink:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185125

This is a great deal for the money, even at stock speed. Mine will overclock to 2.7 Ghz easily, but I have it at 2.6 Ghz for "safety". I'm also using very cheap Kingston value RAM. The comob motherboard is very nice, and full featured, with NForce4 chipset, and lots of options.

Edit - They do not have the same ECS motherboard, but you can now get a Micro-ATX ASUS ATI Express based motherboard with built-in video (and PCI-E expansion) instead.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131049

 

[DietDrThunder]

Wow, I just can't believe it. I guess my building a new system will wait for a while. I contacted EPOX Customer Support, and they actually RMA'd my 6 year old 8K7A motherboard. I got a replacement 8K7A MB via UPS within a week. It works better than the old 8K7A did new.

I think the next system I build will include another EPOX motherboard.