Is it worth it?

[SneakyStuff]

Would it be worth it to buy parts off of newegg.com and make an Athlon XP 2500+ system for under $350 dollars? How long would a system like that, with room for RAM expansion, a 5700u video card, and serial ATA HD/RAID 0,1 options last me in the long run? O yes, note, i'll be upping from my current system below, which although is nice, the CPU and ram speed bottlenecks my videocard and games like HALO.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: SneakyStuff
Would it be worth it to buy parts off of newegg.com and make an Athlon XP 2500+ system for under $350 dollars? How long would a system like that, with room for RAM expansion, a 5700u video card, and serial ATA HD/RAID 0,1 options last me in the long run? O yes, note, i'll be upping from my current system below, which although is nice, the CPU and ram speed bottlenecks my videocard and games like HALO.

if you got a nice mobo, and good ram, you could overclock that 2500 super high. i suggest the abit, or the dfi infinity. i think you would notice a VERY nice speed upgrade from that p4. is it worth $350? thats your call

 

[SneakyStuff]

haha thanks nick, what do you think about an MSI mobo? the model Here's the one I was looking at. THE VALUE MINDED CONSUMER

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: SneakyStuff
haha thanks nick, what do you think about an MSI mobo? the model Here's the one I was looking at. THE VALUE MINDED CONSUMER

stay away from MSI's mobos. ask around if you want, but you will generally hear the same answer, they are buggy. i had 2 myself that were FUBAR, and trust me, im not the only one.


get an nforce 2. if you want a cheap board, i suggest the shuttle an35n-ultra

 

[SneakyStuff]

OK, i'm in no position to argue with you here, and i'll take your word for it, would an ASUS or Abit board be a good choice?

 

[nick1985]

i use the a7n8x, and have used it on about 6 other builds. never a single problem. in terms of overclocking, i have heard that abit and DFI have the best boards.

 

[Texun]

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: SneakyStuff
haha thanks nick, what do you think about an MSI mobo? the model Here's the one I was looking at. THE VALUE MINDED CONSUMER

stay away from MSI's mobos. ask around if you want, but you will generally hear the same answer, they are buggy. i had 2 myself that were FUBAR, and trust me, im not the only one.
get an nforce 2. if you want a cheap board, i suggest the shuttle an35n-ultra

Ditto on the MSI. The one I had was buggy as hell and went Tango Uniform within a year. I have Abit and ASUS on everything except my file server. The server has the AN35N-ULTRA and I couldn't be happier with it. Granted, I don't have it set up for gaming but it's flawless with W2K and an array of drives.

 

[SneakyStuff]

thank you very much nick, you aren't the only one either, the board's gotten some nice reviews, once again I thank you, haha now if only you could have stopped me from getting a 5700u, oh well

 

[SneakyStuff]

Can i get some linkage on these boards?

 

[Texun]

Originally posted by: SneakyStuff
Can i get some linkage on these boards?

NF7

ASUS nForce2 Ultra 400

I never had a problem with VIA, but after using the nVidia I don't think I would even consider one again. Depending on how much board you want you can go for something a little more robust, but if you want to stay in the $60-$70 range I would go with the Abit, Shuttle or ASUS listed above.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Texun

Originally posted by: SneakyStuff
Can i get some linkage on these boards?

NF7

ASUS nForce2 Ultra 400

I never had a problem with VIA, but after using the nVidia I don't think I would even consider one again. Depending on how much board you want you can go for something a little more robust, but if you want to stay in the $60-$70 range I would go with the Abit, Shuttle or ASUS listed above.

ditto. also look into the DFI infinity, i have heard of some people hitting 280FSB on it....

 

[SneakyStuff]

I'm willing to go up to $100-110, I want a board with good onboard audio, I have a 5.1 speaker system, and I really don't feel like going out and buying a soundcard right away, i'd also like the SATA option. Does that give you any more reccomendations? I DO NOT want to get a crappy mobo, I want this system to last me for at least 2 years.

 

[SneakyStuff]

mmmmmbumpage

 

[Texun]

In the $90 range I would go for the NF7-S in a heartbeat. I use the NF7 which doesn't have the Soundstorm, but you can search AT for users who have it and see how they like it.

Check out this thread

 

[SneakyStuff]

That is one thing I don't want, another fan in the system, I noticed that the chipset has a cooling fan, and those little fans are always SOOOOOO annoying, this pc I'm making is going to be in the same room I sleep, so I don't wanna go fan crazy, is there a mobo with a passively cooled chipset that is somewhat equal to that board's performance? I liked that board overall, just not that extra fan, i'm kind of a noise freak.