Question about upgrading.....

[Lupine2]

I am looking to upgrade my current computer, and go with an athlon setup. Therefore, im looking to get a mobo, CPU and some ram.

A few quick questions, if anyone can please help me out:

1) My case is I belive either 250 or 265w...will that be enough? (other components = GF2, 2 hard drives, 2 cdroms and possibly another video card)

2) If I get a duron and the abit-KT7 or some other jumperless motherboard, will I have to unlock my duron to overclock or not?

3) Im trying to get this for not too expensive (hopefully around or bellow 300), so I need to know what would be the best mobo/processor combo for around that price? (im assuming overclocked duron600 + mobo + 256mb or ram can be found for about that price, atleast pricewatch leads me to belive so)

Thanks in advance

 

[madthumbs]

1) Check AMD's site for compatible power supplies. Quality is most important, not rated power. The only way to tell for sure is to try it.

2) Yes, jumperless motherboards still require unlocking of cpus. They merely save the hassle of repositioning jumpers.

3) Definitely check out Icompz , they have an excellent user rating (last I knew) and they have supplies hella cheap! They cater to overclockers as well and may sell unlocked or preclocked cpus.

 

[ledzepp98]

as far as the power supply goes, 250 will probably work but with all that stuff, a 300 would definately be recommended. for the record, i have a t-bird running at 1ghz, a dvd drive, a cd-rw, 2 7200rpm hard drives, a sb live, a geforce2 gts, and three 128meg sticks of pc133, all running with a 250watt power supply (don't know what brand) so it can be done. as far as the mobo, if you don't mind the jumpers (which i don't) you might save some money by looking into the msi or epox (i like my epox ep-8kta+). the + version of the epox allows for overclocking and i know there is a version of the msi that does as well (don't remember the model). i'm not knocking the abit board and it would seem to be the way to go if you want raid, i'm just saying there are viable less expensive options

 

[AMB]

1) 265W should be enough with the newer motherboards

2) You would probably have to unlock it yourself

3) Duron 600 + Abit KT7 + Crucial PC133 256 Mb RAM

 

[RoboTECH]

allow me to pimp the MSI K7T Pro2a

Anand gave it his best KT133 motherboard award

I cannot vouch for the MSI board, but that is what I am about to pick up for a system I'm building for a friend.

If you search the AMD sites for motherboards, you'll see a tremendous # of people complaining about the Asus and Abit motherboards. Conversely, you'll see nothing but praises for the MSI board(s)

It has jumperless overclocking, and 7 capacitors right around the CPU to aid in stability.

Plus, having become a fan of MSI motherboards, the documentation and software tools that come with the board are simply head and shoulders above the rest.

I like Abit, but after using the MSI BX Master and setting up afew other systems using MSI boards, they are simply fantastic. Rock solid, stable, and high performing.

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