• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

New System Recommendations

C

crisscross

Golden Member
I have decided to upgrade my PC. Please let me have your recommendations.

This is what I am thinking of getting.

AMD Athlon XP 2000
MSI KT3Ultra2 or Asus A7N266-C (can't decide which!)
Crucial 256MB DDR2100 184Pin
Enermax 350w PSU

Note: I have a PCI64 Soundcard and RadeonVE 32MB. I don't play games so I don't need great graphics but I do listen to mp3 and I need a good soundcard.

Thanx a lot.
 
For the motherboard, I suggest you look into the Gigabyte 7VAXP. According to reviews it's a pretty good performer and it has a lot of features like onboard usb2.0, firewire, and RAID.

For sound card, Sound Blaster Audigy, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, and Game Theater XP are all pretty good IMO. The Game Theater has a breakout box that would be pretty useful to some.
 
Those look like pretty good choices. If you're interested in overclocking, perhaps you could save a bunch and just get an Athlon XP 1600+ instead of the 2000+, most of them go to beyond 1.6GHz, and that would be near 2000+ territory. In fact, many clock to 2200+ speeds. Of course, YMMV.

If all you do audio-wise is listen to mp3s, then your soundcard should suffice. I assume its an SB64 PCI? If so, those are actually better than the SB Live! sound quality wise, they're based on the Ensoniq AudioPCI, which were very good in their day. If you do decide to upgrade, get a TBSC or a Philips Rhythmic/SeismicEdge. No point spending too much money on the sound if you don't do much except listen to mp3s IMHO. Your video card should be great for normal non-game uses.
 
I've built two systems now based on the Chaintech Apogee 7VJL and both people are extremely pleased. It has integrated 5.1 sound, 10/100 LAN card, and USB 2.0 all integrated. It also comes with 2 rounded IDE Cables and a rounded floppy cable. The board is nice-looking too; doesn't matter if you don't have a window, but it's a heck of a thing to look at. Plus, if you are like me and have to use headphones a lot (hey, there are SOME out there that don't like music loud like I do at 2 in the morning), it also comes with a breakout box with at least one (if not two, I can't remember and I'm too lazy to look it up) USB 2.0 port and a headphone jack up front. That's much nicer than having to reach around back to plug your headphones in, eh?

How much? $115 at Newegg.com. Not too bad if you ask me.
 
Thanx ppl will look into ur suggestions. I wonder why nobody is recommending Nforce based motherboards anymore. When it was first launched most of the ppl here were raving about it and reviews said that the sound was as good as the audigy if not better. I might use the system to watch movies so Dolby Digital would be a plus. I was planning to get the Nforce but I am having second thoughts now that nobody seems to think highly of it.
 
The Nforce was overhyped I guess. It didn't really deliver exceptional performance over the KT266A that was the reigning champion at the time, even though it had really great specs. Its still a pretty good chipset though, if a bit too expensive. Anyway, since then many newer, faster chipsets have appeared...
 
as far as mobo i recommend epox 8k5a2or3+
cpu..it might be worth it to go up to a 2400+, hardocp's review sample had good oc headroom and ran cool
psu..probably good enough but might want to jump up to 431w enermax if you have quite a few fans and drives
ram..go for 512..its pretty much the sweet spot for xp right now..i can tell a major difference now that i'm down to 256
sound card..hercules fortissimo II, has optical digital out, good drivers and feature set, basically like the gtxp minus the breakout box
stay far away from creative products as their latest drivers shut off digital output on digital rights management protected media
digital out is the only port i use on my sblive 5.1..so its about to say goodbye to be replaced with a fort 2, just a matter of cashflow or lack thereof
hsf: thermal right sk6+,i have an original sk6 and my fan died once and it saved my tbird 1.4 (still going strong), sk6 + has minor design improvements so even better
 
I don't know if i would call it a recomendation, but last week i built up a KT3Ultra2 mobo with a 2100xp and 256m crucial 2700 (for the moment... lotts more ram to come down the road). Oh yea, Enermax 365 PS as well.

It all went together very un-eventfully and is working Great, even with the fsb overclocked mildly (140). No problems encountered at all (so far), so i would give the combo a thumbs up.

My only suggestion would be 2700 ram instead of 2100 (might as well take advantage of the chipset your buying), and to buy more ram if or when funds permit. Here is one problem i had... well, i had a heads up form the Maximum PC review, and changed the setting before booting, but the default setting for my CAS2.5 ram was sensed as CAS2.0. I believe it had to do with loading the "high performance bios defaults". The board gives you the option to select two sets of defaults, one is "High Performance", the other is "maximum Stability"

I toyed with the onboard sound for a day, and it was quite decent, but i have an Audigy platinum. I have firewire built into the audigy, and i use it for importing from my gf's DV camcorder, and the usb2.0 onboard is nice, but i don't need it just yet.

I am using two 80g special edition western's in RAID 0, and it works great even if i am LOCKED INTO the one set stripe size (as is the case with all the mobo's using the Promise onboard chip). The BIOS is very tweek-friendly as well.



 
epox's boards use high point raid which allows you to set the stripe size
pc2700 ram gains very little for the athlon platform until you hit the 2800+ with official 166 fsb, if he's not ocing
if running at stock speeds i'd say pc2100 and plenty of it, put the cash to better use elsewhere
because of the added latency of running fsb at 133 and ram at 166 pc2100 at really tight timings might be faster than 2700, haven't looked at the benchies in awhile so i could be wrong..but general consensus is that pc2700 adds very little to 133 fsb athlons
 
I would go with the cheapest motherboard or the one with the most features. Of course this depends on the rest of the audio system, but even a Sound Blaster Live would be an improvement on what you have right now. I have the Game Theatre XP but I can not say it is that much of an improvement over the cheaper SB Audigy or other sound cards in that price range.
 
I'm glad you decided to go this way instead of screwing around with that PII 350MHz. 🙂
I still recommend the MSI board. It's price/performance/features are hard to beat.
 
Thanx a lot ppl. You have been very kind. just one final question.

There are 2 MSI KT3Ultra2 Motherboards on Newegg. Which one do I get?

KT3 Ultra2(6380E-050) Retail $82
KT3 Ultra2-BR(6380E-060BT $128

There is also a KT4VL -OEM with KT400chipset for $85.

Thanx once again.
 
Since this thread is getting so much attention and my own with a similar question isn't, I thought I'd post a reply here...anyone care to help me out?
 
There are 2 MSI KT3Ultra2 Motherboards on Newegg. Which one do I get?

KT3 Ultra2(6380E-050) Retail $82
KT3 Ultra2-BR(6380E-060BT $128
Click to expand...
The -BR version has onboard Bluetooth support. If you need onboard Bluetooth support (I'll be shocked if you say "yes"), then spend the extra $46 and get it.

KT3 variations

Some with RAID, some with Bluetooth and various combos in between. The Ultra2 seemed to do everything I needed.

 
Is there any reason why nobody is recommending the KT400 chipset mobo from MSI?
Sorry for being such a pain and thanx for ur patience.
 
never mind. Did a search and read that the KT400 has some issues. Going with the MSI KT3Ultra2.

Thanx everybody.

This forum rocks 🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top