PCI IDE Expansion or New MB/CPU?

[haze03]

I have an old K6-2 450@500 that I wanted to use as a Linux file server, but the 200 GB HDD is too big for the bios. The install craps out on the \home partition because it is bigger than 130GB. Mandrake partition will recognize the full 200GB, but die on install and Disk Druid in Fedora only recognizes it to the BIOS limit of 130GB. Anyhow, the cost of a PCI IDE expansion card is like $30-40, whereas, Fry's sometimes has a CPU/MB combo in that range. Or maybe one of those Cyrix combos I heard about. So what would be better a new card or new CPU/MB combo? Would a newer CPU/MB use it a lot more juice and run my bill up? How about having two servers on fulltime, how much extra electricity is that?

 

[0roo0roo]

well at frys yes. but online you can get silicon image ide controller cards cheap. i got one for less then 20 shipped from pcimicro they work well too.

as for electricity, most new systems are pretty power hungry. i guess you could buy a c3 system..not sure how much power that uses, or a mobile barton and even underclock it, or get a centrino system whenthose come out. all involve spending lots of money.

 

[nitromullet]

The main thing to remember about getting a new mobo/cpu combo is that you might need new RAM as well. Most Athlon (XP) mobo's require at least PC2100 DDR RAM, while your K6-II mobo probably has regular PC100 or PC133. There are a few mobo's from the transition period that support both (not simultaneously). The ECS K7S5A is an example of such a mobo, as is the Asus A7A266 (if you can find one). If you decide to buy a mother board that supports both types of RAM, they will be considered 'older' motherboards already and they may not support all of the current Athlon processor cores. For instance, the previously mentioned A7A266 only supports up to the Palomino core for the Athlon XP and this applies only to the later revisions of the mobo. The ECS supports most the newer cores, but you might have to flash your BIOS.

For $30-40, go for the add on card...

 

[haze03]

Hmm, I guess a controller card then. Any suggestions on cheap and reliable? Promise, perhaps?