I'm upgrading my machine - any thoughts?

[torrid]

The items here are about the pricerange I'm looking for. I'm just hoping someone can warn me against any major mistakes, really. The keys are the MB, Processor and RAM. I'm upgrading from a Celery 600, so this will be wonderful.

I'm about ready to click "OK." Let me know if you see any errors in the order:

MB ($60):
A7V8X-X

Processor - second on list ($85):
AMD 2500+ Barton

Fan ($26):
Zalman

RAM ($84):
Crucial PC2700

Flash reader ($9 - because it looks useful, though hit-or-miss):
6in1 Reader


Also, I must be retarded because I can't read MB specs. Will the Asus board be able to recognize 160GB hard drives without any additional cards?


Thanks for any thoughts/advice/warnings!

 

[xSkyDrAx]

What's your budget? Cause you could always up the mobo and the ram. The processor is fine.

 

[randumb]

Get PC3200 RAM if you plan on overclocking that 2500+ to 3200+ levels. I'd suggest Buffalo PC3200 RAM, it's cheap and great.

 

[Twista]

almost same motherboard and pc3200 is useless on it ;-) KT400 cant go up to 200FSB (not any via)

 

[torrid]

xSkyDrAx - My budget is right around what I'm spending. I'm more looking for any errors in compatibility or perhaps a better option in the same price class.

randumb - I kind of want to overclock, but I don't think I will. The theory is I'll overclock a CPU when it gets offload to a second machine. A lot better cost-benefit then.

Twista - I did go with PC2700 to match the FSB ratings of the board and processor. So what you're saying seems to be a positive reinforcement to my purchase.

 

[Corporate Thug]

slk900 if you can still get it for $19.99 @ SVC

 

[torrid]

Looks to be $45.

http://store.yahoo.com/svcompucycle/noname10.html

 

[python134r]

Shadys right, get the slk-900a for 19.98 + shipping, coupon code is af900a. I bought two. Its 29.98 less 10.00 from the coupon code. I would buy a A7N8X if you want a asus board but for 75.00 you can get a soltek or for 67.00 get a biostar M7NCD Pro which is a good overclocker.

I have the asus and the biostar and the biostar I like better(420fsb..210X11) same cpu as what you want to buy. With the slk-900a and a coolermaster adjustable fan off a x-dream my temps are 33c idle, 38~39load and quiet.

If you are not under any budgetary restraints get a abit NF-7s....great board.

 

[torrid]

I thought the fan/heatsink combo I was getting was pretty nice (and quiet). Am I wrong?

What advantage is there for the A7N8X vs the A7V8X-X?

As for overclocking, I'm not really planning to mess with it to be honest (I know, blasphemy). I don't really have time right now to be tweaking. It sounds like the advice you're giving me would be good if I was overclocking, though. As it is, the only advantage a more expensive board could seem to give me is to allow more upgradeability down the road than the A7V8X-X does. Of course, I could be fooling myself.

 

[novice]

I would go for the Shuttle AN35N Ultra 400 for $63 shipped from newegg. The nforce 2 chipset is a bit faster than the KT400 and I would also suggest the PC-3200 Buffalo ram, a pair of 256 Mb sticks with the windbond chips so you can run 400 Mhz and enable the dual channel capabilities. I have the Shuttle board and it is quite nice as long as you don't have to have onboard raid, firewire or SATA capabilities. I am going to order some of the Buffalo ram for my system soon. I use the Speeze hsf available here, for an unbelieveable $12 shipped, it works just fine on my XP1700 "B" running 166x12.5 for a little over 2 Ghz. CPU temps are around 35 C at idle and under 40C at load. Check out the reviews on newegg of that particular hsf, I don't know why more people aren't using it.

 

[thunderhorse]

Torrid, I'm running the A7V8X-X, XP 2800 with stock fan and PC2700 memory. There isn't a game out that I can't play, and my machine is totaly stable. Now the hard drive. I use 2 WD 40s ATA 133 because I don't like large drives( my personal preferance ). Everything you have picked should work well wothout any problems. If you are on going to overclock, your are on your own. I've done my share of it, but in the long run you are better off not to. Look at the info everyone is giving you because each one is a starting point. Good picks, now build your machine.

 

[torrid]

Thanks for your post. And thanks to everyone. Based on this, I decided to go with my original selections. I'm sure it'll be great and I should be good to go for a year or so.

 

[torrid]

I've received everything in the above list save for my fan.

I hooked up the Mobo, my GeForce3 vid card, my 60GB HD which will be my main drive, my CD burner, my floppy drive, my RAM, and my processor. Got the case connections all made. I'm using a 400W power supply.

Even though I didn't have the fan, I thought I should try to turn her on. The system fires up for about 1.5-2 seconds and then shuts off. It won't fire up again for a minute or so...I am disconnecting the power and shutting off the supply, then turning it all back on.

Please let me know your opinions on why this is. Could the CPU be getting so hot right off the bat that the thing powers itself down? Is it possible the Mobo recognizes there is no fan and won't power up? Should I be concerned yet or should I wait for my fan, mount it, and see what happens? I'm hoping my power supply is sufficient as I just bought this case/supply this summer.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[torrid]

Bump for help!

 

[ozonecomputer]

Hope you haven't fried your CPU bud, and hope it really is your motherboard being safe for you. I would never, ever power up a system like that without the CPU fan!

 

[Markfw]

It probably won't boot without the cpu fan. Most modern Athlon motherboards are that way to save your cpu.

 

[techwanabe]

Originally posted by: torrid
I've received everything in the above list save for my fan.

I hooked up the Mobo, my GeForce3 vid card, my 60GB HD which will be my main drive, my CD burner, my floppy drive, my RAM, and my processor. Got the case connections all made. I'm using a 400W power supply.

Even though I didn't have the fan, I thought I should try to turn her on. The system fires up for about 1.5-2 seconds and then shuts off. It won't fire up again for a minute or so...I am disconnecting the power and shutting off the supply, then turning it all back on.

Please let me know your opinions on why this is. Could the CPU be getting so hot right off the bat that the thing powers itself down? Is it possible the Mobo recognizes there is no fan and won't power up? Should I be concerned yet or should I wait for my fan, mount it, and see what happens? I'm hoping my power supply is sufficient as I just bought this case/supply this summer.

Thanks for any advice!

It is NOT a good idea to boot up and run your PC without the Heat Sink and Fan. Athlon processors (in the past anyway) have been shown to fry themselves in about one second flat if the HS/F pops off. That is probably your problem and if you haven't toasted your CPU already you are lucky.

 

[nick1985]

you wasted your money on the cruddy kt400. you could have gotten the shuttle nforce2 board for like 48 bucks after rebate at newegg...and are you insane trying to run it without a HSF????

 

[torrid]

Originally posted by: nick1985
you wasted your money on the cruddy kt400. you could have gotten the shuttle nforce2 board for like 48 bucks after rebate at newegg...and are you insane trying to run it without a HSF????

Thanks, bud. Altogether helpful. It'd be one thing if three people hadn't already called me an idiot (albeit in a much better tone, a claim I accepted whole-heartedly), but to reiterate what was said in this manner was real classy.


Thanks to everyone else. I think my processor is fine, but I could very well be wrong. My stupid idea is a result of me running my old processor with only a heatsink, which is something I need to change.

Still hopeful that my processor is fine...