Need advice

[cjiii]

I'm building myself a new gaming machine since my AMD 1.0 GHz is starting to show its age. Anyway what I wanted to know is what is the best AMD chip to go with today? I'm looking to not pay more than $250 or so for the processor. Also which motherboard should I go with? I'm a huge fan of MSI motherboards, but I'm open to any suggestions. Lastly, I haven't purchased many peripherals via the web and I was wondering if anyone could point me to a great website that keeps pretty decent prices. Thanks all!!

 

[BlueWeasel]

Well, the OEM XP+ 2400's are going for ~ $175 at Newegg. That's well under your $250 limit for the processor and damn fine performance to boot.

IMHO, the Nforce2 boards are the way to go for anyone looking for a MB upgrade for an AMD system.

 

[cjiii]

Thank you for the reply, now here's a total "newb" question. What is the difference between OEM and regular processors? I've been told in the past to not go with OEM? I however don't even know what it is.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Welcome to AT!

OEM is simply the processor...nothing else....

Retail includes the processor, and a heatsink + fan combination...

If are you going to be doing some overclocking, it is likely you will need more aggressive cooling than the retail HSF. Therefore, use the money you saved by buying the OEM chip to get a better cooling solution.

 

[cjiii]

Alright cool, I'm getting it now. I tracked down the XP 2400 processor and I'm now looking for the NForce 2 boards on Newegg. I found one that looked okay, but once again I'm always up for suggestions. This is the board I found, it's from Asus

Hot Item! Asus A7N266-VM AA (AMD Assured Version) NVIDIA nFORCE 220 Chipset 266/200MHz FSB Motherboard Micro ATX- Retail
Socket A AMD Duron, Athlon, and Athlon XP up to 2600+
nForce 220D: NVIDIA IGP-64 north bridge and NVIDIA MCP-D south bridge
FSB:266/200 MHz
2 DIMM sockets support max. 1GB unbuffered PC2100/1600 non-ECC RAM
Slots:3x PCI 1xAGP PRO 4x
Onboard LAN:10/100 Mbps
Integrated AC97and Dolby Digital 5.1 (AC-3) Encoder Audio
Integrated Nvidia Nforce GeFORCE2 Video.

Would that be a good board to accompany the XP 2400 or is there a better board for under $150? Thanks again!

 

[BlueWeasel]

No...that is not an Nforce2 board....

Here are a few to consider:

Asus A7N8x
Chaintech 7NJS
Epox EP-8RDA/EP-8RDA+
Leadtek Winfast K7NCR18D

The Chaintech is expensive at around $180. Overall the Asus is a great board with alot of features for around $130-$150. The Epox and Leadtek boards are good as well, but slightly lower than the Asus.

Be advised, some of these boards have two similar models with different prices (depending on features). Read the specs at Newegg to be sure what you are getting is what you need.

Also, I saw that you have Micro-ATX and integrated video on the above motherboard selection? Are you sure about this? Because I don't think there are any micro-ATX or integrated video on any of the good Nforce2 boards.

Hope this helps.

 

[cjiii]

I was kind of worried about that since I have my own Audigy and Radeon 9700 video card to toss in the system. You have been a great help and I'll be telling everyone I know to come here. Great community of people. Thanks again!

 

[Lord Evermore]

Keep in mind that the retail version's included heatsink and fan are sufficient for cooling at stock speeds, whereas the OEM version comes with a very short warranty period, from the retailer, not AMD. Of course, if you've overclocking, you void your warranty, but they can't tell that was the cause of your chip's death. So if in 6 months the chip dies, the OEM chip will be a keychain, whereas the retail chip can be RMA'd as long as there isn't physical damage.