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Most stable AMD solution (MB, memory, and Sound)?

L

Lunchboxah

Member
I'm a bit out of the loop hardware-wise, what with the MCSE 2k studies...

I'm looking for the most stable combination of Motherboard, memory, and Sound in the AMD arena. For the CPU I'll likely get a 266 1GHz Athlon, so the real quandry is in the chipset. I'd like to spend no more than $250, but if a stable DDR motherboard puts me a bit over this amount, I'm OK with that.

Right now I'm thinking about either a KT133A, KT133E, or DDR solution...Ideas?
 
Either, MSI K7 Master for 140 or Epox EP-8K7A for 120, i would probably just save the twenty dollars and go with the epox.

Memory, accept NO substitute, get Crucial pc2100,Crucial webpromo link with free shippingyou must type something in the little box for this link to work

Finally, for sound i would get the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz.
 
I've got an Epox 8K7A with an Athlon 1.2GHz. and 256MB of Crucial PC2100 and I haven't had any hardware-related problems yet. I also have a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card and it sounds great! 😀 Best sound I've heard from a computer speaker system. So that's what I'd recommend. If you want to see the complete specs on my system, click the "Rig" link in my sig.

Good luck! 🙂
Nick
 
No, not with the AMD761 North Bridge, but the VIA 686B South Bridge may still have some incompatibilities.

EPoX EP-8K7A, Crucial PC2100, and Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sounds right.
 
And if you are looking for speakers, end your search with the Boston Acoustics BA4800. Relatively inexpensive (can be found for less than $135 shipped), has great sound, excellent clarity, good bass, etc.
 
I'm going to be getting a 1.4GHz Thunderbird and probably an Asus A7M266 (i'm biased towards Asus) and a SB Live. Are there still compatibility issues with the Live cards? Also, what cpu cooler do you guys recommend. Thanks!
 
Thanks for the responses, folks. Especially the pointer to crucial.com. 256mb 2100 DDR for $49! I can live with that.

Slightly off topic, but if you all have suggestions on a heatsink+fan combo for my little rig I'd appreciate that too...
 
Sound is not a concern on this system. Any decent PCI will do. I'm thinking Live! Value. As Jumpem asked, is there going to be a problem with the Epox and the Live! card?
 
It will be a 2k box, but I'm still hesitant to spend $70 on a sound card for my mother. She doesn't care about sound at all. So any average sound card without 2k troubles is great for me. Again, stability is the most important part of this system..far above performance.
 
well if u gonna play games on it. santa cruz again. my sound blaster seems to have some problems in WIN 2k with few games. but if u arent gonna play to many games then get Sound blaster live value..
 
It doesn't sound like you need the best possible computer. Get an IWILL KK266 motherboard and an AMD 1 gig T-Bird, both from newegg.com. The IWILL has integrated sound which is pretty good. The two together will only cost $200.
 
I didn't know the EPOX had built in sound. I'd get that, unless you want to save 30 bucks. I have the IWILL and the sound is good enough for my needs. Either way Newegg.com is probably the best place to shop.
 
Excellente

The 8K7A does in fact have integrated AC97 sound, which is sufficient for a box that isn't mine anyway

To BuckleDownBen's question - like I said.. stability is paramount. I don't plan to be troubleshooting a relative's pc every weekend. Now I can raid the fridge when I visit, but with the current gas prices the two basically cancel each other out. Longevity is second, which is why I'm going the DDR route
 
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