Need help deciding which Mobo and CPU to get...

[jagr10]

My friend has between $300-$350(US) to spend on a cpu,Mobo and at least 64 MB ram. What is the best bang for the buck so that all of those 3 products together will come within that price range? Also, any suggestions as to where he should get it?

He has a PCI video card, a soundblaster 64, and a scsi card he'd like to re-use so please keep this in mind so that there are no compatibility issues.

thanks

 

[LXi]

Tbird 900MHz ~$120
MSI K7T Turbo-R ~$120
256MB Corsair PC150 ~$110

Total ~$350

Or go with less RAM for more CPU speed.

 

[jagr10]

IS there one particular place that will have all these products for those prices or lower?

 

[Shmorq]

Check out mwave.com and go to Motherboard Bundles. Mwave is a fairly reputable company and the prices should be similar to what LXi posted...

 

[PCResources]

I liked LXi's suggestions, the motherboard and CPU are the same ones i would recommend... I would recommend Crucial over Corsair though, but that's just me... ;-)

Patrick Palm

PC Resources

 

[LXi]

Check the aforementioned Mwave.com, they've got the motherboard and the CPU for cheap, they dont have the Corsair PC150, but you can get the equally good Kingmax PC150, which is totally fine.

 

[jagr10]

Ok i took your advice and went to mwave.com and for the ram it says 32x64 256MB PC133. What is the 32x64? is that the dimensions of it or is that something else?

 

[Shmorq]

Also, if you don't plan on doing any tweaks and you don't need the RAID support, you can go with the cheaper MSI K7T TURBO (no 'R') and PC133 memory. This might bring you to the lower end of your budget.

 

[ku]

I'd suggest these:

Duron 800
MSI K7T Turbo (NON RAID)
Crucial ram... (a little cheaper than corsair [about 10 bucks] but doesn't gaurentee 150 mhz)

the duron is cheaper than a tbird but a little performance lost
MSI K7T Turbo is a good board for it's price
Crucial ram is cheap and good...

 

[AaronP]

I just picked up a Duron 700 and MSI KT7 Turbo. The KT7 works great. However overclocking kinda sucks in it. I would recommend Asus instead.

 

[LXi]

The first number means how many megabytes are packed in a chip, 8 chips with 16MB each equals 128MB. 64 is unbuffered, 74 is registered(ECC), somebody feel free to correct me.

 

[jagr10]

Another thing, it says on the site that it is all OEM. WHat if i have probs with something not working? Will i get tech support from the website or do i get it from the products manufacturer? Do they come with warranty?

 

[Modus]

If you get a cheap Duron, you might be able to squeeze in a GeForce 2 MX or an ATi Radeon LE.

Modus

 

[murdock2525]

Everyones assuming these guys are overclockers....
I doubt it if they're not real familiar w hardware sources.

 

[Sugadaddy]

You get the Tech Support in this forum, and MWave handles the warranty.

 

[LXi]

Actually you get lifetime warranty from Kingmax and Corsair depending on which one you buy. And whoever said that everyone assumes this guy is an overclocker, please provide your reasoning. My recommendations were not targeted at overclockers.

 

[bluemax]

Getting my name is so I can come back to this later. I'm 99% at the point of upgrade (even have a buyer for my BH6+celly+RAM!) Just have to choose what to replace it with on a budget of $250! (or so...)

 

[yata]

at www.mwave.com

Go to Mobo/cpu combo section. Tyan Trinity 400 with PIII 733 and 128meg ram comes to $283.xx plus extra shipping. No frills machine, rock stable.

Then consider Radeon LE at www.newegg.com $77.00 shipped.
Radeon is one slick card. Check it out.