Need some ideas for a new AMD PC.

[ROcHE]

My duron 750 @ 950 is getting old and i'm going for a new PC. I've been out of the hardware "scene" for the past year and I'm confused

In the past years I worked in a small computer shop (which is not the case anymore) and always been able to buy the most bang of the buck cpu like celery 300a, p2 300 SL2W8 for those who remember this stepping, the slot-a athlon 500 which was in fact a 650, etc. I'm on a budget and looking for something similar today.

My first question is : Which amd cpu is "hot" today ?

My second question is : which motherboard to get?? There is KT333 still around, KT400, nforce, nforce 2. Damn! I miss the Abit BX6 time. What to get ?

My last question is : What's the best harddrive on the market at this time?

Thanks for any inputs.

 

[Darien]

processor q:
there are 1700+ and 1800+ thoroughbreds on newegg -- should overclock nicely. (~$60/~$70, respectively)

motherboard q:
nforce2: The Epox variant -- 8RDA+ ($128)

hard drive q:
Western Digital Special Edition drives seem to be the top performers. Seagates are quiet (but produce quite a bit of heat and aren't the fastest). IBM 180GXPs aren't too bad themselves. Perform better than Seagate drives and aren't as noise as the WD.

 

[Ralidan]

Definetly go Epox 8rda+ Cannot beat this board for the price! $128 at Newegg. and ~120 shipped on pricewatch.
depending on the Budget.. a Gf4 Ti-4600 or Gf3 Ti-200 (what i have) are good options.
CPU... the 2400 seems to be hot right now.. i just picked one up for a friend, should be here tomarrow.. we are building it on Friday, and i have high hopes for it. We are putting it in a Asus KT400 board (against my will) but if you want, I'll let you know how it runs.
As for HDD... I have only used Maxtor and I would never switch. Can beat it for the price, same with Samsung Memory. Good luck on the new Comp, keep us posted on what you go with and how it turns out.


-Ralidan

 

[Wuzup101]

Depends how fast you want to go.... I know you can get an AMD 1600+ (1.4ghz) XP for like $53 at www.newegg.com These are a decent bang for the buck. I'm not sure what the fastest chip for under $100 is... I would guess around a 1800+ or 1900+ XP. For harddrives: Western Digital Special Editions (8mb buffer), Maxtors w/ the fluid drive, segate cuda's... I would personally go for the WD in 80 or 120 gig. 80gig ones should run just a bit over $100

 

[ROcHE]

Thanks for the fast replies. My last concern is that I live in Canada.. So no newegg for me. Anyone know a great canadian online retailer ?

 

[CraigRT]

1700+ TBred for sure is your best bang for buck CPU and they overclock like mofos.

 

[ROcHE]

T-Bred A or B ?

 

[Darien]

Originally posted by: ROcHE
T-Bred A or B ?

99% sure it's the B stepping you're looking for

 

[CraigRT]

I think the 1700+ are all A steppings.. and they max out at 2200+ levels just like the actual TBred "A" 2200+ CPU.

 

[Darien]

Originally posted by: Yield
I think the 1700+ are all A steppings.. and they max out at 2200+ levels just like the actual TBred "A" 2200+ CPU.

Guess I was wrong

 

[DougFrippon]

www.NCIX.com is IMO the best canadian retailer.

MOBO : Altought the epox 8RDA+ would definitly be awesome, NCIX doesnt have it, so I would go for an ASUS A7N8X, only problem with it is that is a little pricey.

CPU : Since you're on a budget I would go for either 1700+ or 1800+, but personnally, I would definitly take a 2400+ as it uses latest thoroughbred revision and seems like one of a hot AMD price/performance deal. (also a 2.0ghz CPU, yay! )

Memory : If you go with the nForce2 mobo, you will need two memory sticks, to benefit the new 128bits technology of the nForce2 for some Niiice performance increasement. I would go with 2x256mb pc2700 samsung, crucial or micron, NCIX has a lot of choice on memory .

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: ROcHE
Thanks for the fast replies. My last concern is that I live in Canada.. So no newegg for me. Anyone know a great canadian online retailer ?

Try Pricewatch and scour for a retailer that will ship to Canada.
While their prices can be a little out of whack on some things, NCIX and DealsDirect sometimes have good deals.

- M4H

 

[ROcHE]

So a 8RDA+ if I can find one, a 1700+ tbred and a western digital 80 gb could be great ?

I'm thinking Radeon 9500 PRO for the video card, using the onboard sound of the epox and 512MB of DDR what ? 2100 ? 2700 ? 3200 ?

 

[Darien]

Originally posted by: ROcHE
So a 8RDA+ if I can find one, a 1700+ tbred and a western digital 80 gb could be great ?

I'm thinking Radeon 9500 PRO for the video card, using the onboard sound of the epox and 512MB of DDR what ? 2100 ? 2700 ? 3200 ?

2100 = 133
2700 = 166
3200 = 200




I'm not sure if the nforce2 is capable of a 400mhz ddr bus, and I don't know if 3200 has been approved yet.



a 1700 tbred will use a 266ddr (pc2100). if you plan on upgrading in the near future, you might want to think about 166mhz bus. especially if you plan on overclocking. or just changing the multiplier and bumping the fsb for more performance.



if it were me, i'd go 2700.



your other stuff looks fine. very nice, kick ass system

 

[ROcHE]

I heard the 1700+ t-bred come factory unlocked. Is that true ?

 

[ROcHE]

Anyone feels like expressing their opinion ?

 

[Darien]

coming locked or not, you can always unlock it yourself right?



I don't know the answer to the question...if I did, I would've responded promptly.