Need suggestions.. please!!! AT.. help

[kormaster]

I have shuttle sk41g SFF w/ XP2100+ ThoRB
512 Crucial ddr 2100
120g WD SE
60g WD
PNY GF4 ti 64meg
AUdigy
Pionner DVr-105


I am planning to give that to my sister and planning to purchase a new board. I was going to get SN45G Ultra 400 but i want to go back to a tower system for now.
1) NForce 2 chipset is the best out there for AMD for now right?
2) Are most Nforce 2 MOBO similar? I was thinking about MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR. I am looking for On-board everything (except video) so such as LAN, Sound, USB 2.0, Firewire.
3) Dont really care about RAID.. but i want to eventually hook up more than 2 HDs, DVD-r (current pioneer 105) other peripherals
4) want a quite system. I had 6 fans on my last tower... it was like an airplane.. need a quite system.. minimize sound/heat with less fans?
5) dont really care about OCing but price of ram is pretty high.. do I have to go with PC3200 if i want to take advantage of barton 2500+?

I was planning on buying Barton 2500+ and recycling parts from my shuttle system. But i guess i have to buy new ram to take advantage of the 333mhz system.

Please help me choose the right board, right ram, right case. My budget is under 500 for sure. Less is better of course... like 400 ish is perfect.

I hope I dont sound a new system builder, but I am unfamiliar with nforce chipsets... i used to be pretty tuned in before that... it's amazing how things move so fast when you dont pay attention.

I know Epox 8rda+ got good reviews and people like it but isnt that an older nvidia chip? i could be totally wrong.
It seems like every nforce board has issues... it's scary reading the MOBO forum on this board... I had good experiece with EPOX before (with first DDR board 8k7a)
Well... 400mhz is imp i guess because i dont want my mobo to be outdated when i buy it...

please help me.. i need to order it in couple of days.. thanks.

Thanks!

 

[newbiepcuser]

For AMD chipsets, I believe Asus, MSI and Epox do have newer nForce2 revisions. Asus is around 109 at newegg.com Doesn't have firewire though. I don't think Epox does either.




I saw Fry's had deal on Corsair Twin pack DDR 3200 1GB for 229 plus tax.

 

[kormaster]

Any other comments or suggestions? bump please

 

[Corporate Thug]

nforce 2 is best
asus, abit and epox are among the best mobos
you only need pc2700 to run the 2500+ since it is a 333 fsb cpu

 

[EeyoreX]

1) Yes, I think nForce2 is the single best AMD solution at this time.
2) I think in the end all about the same, just a matter of a few different features and package contents. Incidentally, I love my MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR. This is the new revision from MSI with the Ultra 400 chipset.
3) I currently have 5 IDE devices (3 hard drives, 2 opticals) I have the ability to add 2 more before I need to even think about a controller card.
4) Get quiet fans, and/or a rheobus/baybus. Panaflos are supposed to be real quiet. Check out the cases and cooling for more help here, my fans are all quiet since I don't run them at high RPMs (rheobus) unless I need more cooling.
5) As was mentioned, the Barton 2500+ is only 333MHz FSB (unless AMD retools it later) so PC2700 is the RAM to get to run in synch with your CPU. You could get faster and just run it slower, but if you are trying to stick to a budget 2700 is perfect.

I had nothing but a great experience with my MSI board, and nForce2 in general. I have read of problems (with MSI and all the other companies) but I have experienced none. As I mentioned the Delta is a 400MHz board, but unless you plan on getting a 400 MHz CPU then you don't really need it. If you do plan on going that route in the future, get 400MHz RAM now to save later. I'd bet that your next upgrade would likely be a 64 bit if you stick with AMD, unless you upgrade fairly soon. Personally, I'm going to have my setup for at least a year (Barton 2800+ on the Delta-ILSR).

\Dan