Putting together a system for college (DDR or PC150?)

[slakhead]

Hi,

I have spent the past couple weeks searching through Anandtech's motherboard reviews, pricewatch.com listings, and a myriad of other AMD related sites to figure out what the best AMD system I can get for $500 is...

I have narrowed it down to either an IWill KK266 with a 900mhz Duron cpu and 256mb of PC150 ram or an Asus A7A266 with the same cpu but with 256mb of PC2100 DDR ram...

I am trying to make a system that will last a while (i.e. two years or so) and I guess my main concern is whether or not the non-DDR system will be sufficient for the next couple years. The DDR is a little more expensive and I am not sure it is as capable of being overclocked as the IWill KK266 system...but does that matter? Is the Asus DDR board as stable as the Iwill board or should I look into another board if I do go for the DDR system?

 

[gopunk]

i say spring for the ddr, it's down to 41 bucks from crucial. sorry but i don't have any experience with side by side comparisons of pc2100 and pc150. personally, i've had good experience with asus (although their support is kinda crappy), but i've also heard the epox board is good.

 

[soulm4tter]

1st) For what do you plan on using the computer?

It won't make a big difference with the Duron 900, but i suggest going with DDR for longevity. You may want to upgrade in a year or so and it would make a much bigger difference with an 2GHz Athlon4. I don't care for the A7A266. The Epox 87KA and Abit KG7 look nice. Spend a little more and you'll be much happier with your system a year or 2 from now.

 

[soulm4tter]

oops double post

 

[DDad]

Go With DDR- price is about the same, and it's going to be the next standard- may be important if you need to add memory in a couple of years

 

[slakhead]

Ok, I did it. I went for the DDR system but with the Iwill KA266 board instead. Now the Wait has begun...2 days is too long!

Thank you for your suggestions!

 

[amoralist]

In an attempt to make you feel like crap.

I would have gone with a 1Ghz T-bird. I have ran 950mhz Duron, and a Pentium 1Ghz side by side, and the Duron sucked. I think the T-bird would be even better than the Pentium 1Ghz.

Jason

 

[eLiu]

for a duron 900...the difference between DDR and non-DDR should be negligable.

(and you do realize that PC150 is only for OCing...)

but, I would personally go with the Epox 8K7A, and PC2100 DDR. (this board is as good as people say)

-eric