Question For You Tech Gods......

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
5

509th

Member
Mar 20, 2005
47
0
0
Hi all, coming to you live from WAFB outside Knob Knoster, Missouri. This is my first post here although I've "lurked" around for awhile now. Very nice place you have here and very helpfull to a lot of us! Now, on to the subject at hand.

I currently have a P4 3.2 that runs fine and all, but, it's loud as all hell although cool with what I have. What I'm looking to do is replace the motherboard and chip with an AMD 64 setup. I really don't want to dump a whole lot of money on it, but want something that will at least be as fast as my current 3.2 P4, but quieter and a better gamer. Everyone here, and some of my freinds seem to believe that the AMD 64 is much better as a gaming platform, and much easier to cool (i.e. quiet system) so that's what I'm in the market for.

Here's what I have that I will hope to reutilize in this new build:

Antec Sonata (Black) with 2 120mm fans

1GB Cosair XMS 2-2-2-5 Ram

Seasonic S12 500W

NEC DVD Burner

Pioneer DVD-Rom

2 200GB Seagate SATA Hard Drives

XFX 6600GT AGP Video

I also have the monitor, keboard, etc.

What I'm looking for is a decent yet not so expensive motherboard & chip basicly. I've heard/read some good things about this new ATI board. Any comments on that? Give me some ideas on what to go with! Thanks

 
5

509th

Member
Mar 20, 2005
47
0
0
We seem to be miscommunicating a bit.

I already have the case with the Seasonice power supply, the ram and everything else listed. I'm currently using those in my P4 system. All I'm looking for is the board and chip unless I absolutely need something else. I'll then seel my board and chip on E bay or somewhere.

Not sure of the ATI Motherboard, but was reading about it in the motherboard forum here and on other forums this morning.

EDIT: This is the board:

MSI "RS480M2-IL"
 
5

509th

Member
Mar 20, 2005
47
0
0
Originally posted by: ribbon13
That's a PCIe motherboard. You have an AGP video card.
Click to expand...


I know. I was just wondering about the immpressions of that board thinking perhaps I could use the onboard video and then sell my motherboard, chip and AGP card. Really just looking at all options right now.
 
R

ribbon13

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2005
9,343
0
0
That wouldn't be that bad of an idea... the onboard sucks compared to a 6600gt, but you can upgrade to an x800 xl later. definately get a 3200 though... because theres no overclocking on that board AFAIK.
 
Markfw

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
27,429
16,297
136
I think the neo2 platinum is the way to go. AGP isn;t dead yet, you could still go up to a 6800gt easily.
 
I

InlineFive

Diamond Member
Sep 20, 2003
9,599
2
0
I would stay where you are right now. To me building a whole new A64 system for an additional 1xFPS wouldn't be worth it. Unless you are going to go all out and buy an Athlon 64 4000+.
 
5

509th

Member
Mar 20, 2005
47
0
0
I really don't intend to overclock anything anyway. All I'm looking at really is a relatively quiet system in comparrison to what I have now. My current P4E (prescott) is OK, but I'm told gaming performance is better on the AMD 64 and that it's easier to cool. I'm currently running an XP 90 with a Tornado fan on the P4 and I'm sure you can imagine the noise. I literally have to move away when I talk on the phone.

Will the 3200 be sufficient to give me comparable speeds to what I already have overall? I mean I do game some, but also multitask and do a lot of reports on my system as well as talking with freinds and family.

I'd LOVE to have that X800XL but first want to sell what I already have if I need to go that way. Heck, I don't even have a clue as to what my IC7 MaxIII, chip and the 6600GT are worth anymore! As for those other boards you listed, I've found quite a lot of forums with multiple threads concerning problems with the DFI Ultra board.

Bottom line I guess, I've never built an AMD system and just want something stable, moderately priced and something that won't give me headaches to setup.
 
5

509th

Member
Mar 20, 2005
47
0
0
Originally posted by: PorBleemo
I would stay where you are right now. To me building a whole new A64 system for an additional 1xFPS wouldn't be worth it. Unless you are going to go all out and buy an Athlon 64 4000+.
Click to expand...


Well, there is a bit of method to my madness. I don't know how familiar you are with the military, but, we are going to be able to swap our legit copies of XP for copies of 64 bit XP real soon according to MS and that being the case, I want a 64 bit chip!
 
5

509th

Member
Mar 20, 2005
47
0
0
OK, MSI Neo boards........do they make an AGP and PCIX board? Do they have the same options and are they stable and easy to setup?

DFI Ultra boards.......do they make an AGP? I know they make the PCIX. I've been reading about a lot of setup problems and also some memory problems on various forums. Is this old news that's been straightened out or are the same problems still occuring?

The new ATI board.......Anyone now ANYTHING about these boards? I've read that they are very stable, the onboard video rivals 9700 Pro benchmarks and better, that they are very easy to setup and of course, that there's no overclocking.

Unless anyone has other suggesstions, I guess I'll pick from these 3. Pretty wide spread though, I mean the ATI is well under $100 and the rest are $130+ unless the AGP versions are less. Like I said, I just want something quiet, something that is stable, reliable, easy to setup, but still has features like 10/100/1000 networking, lots of USB ports, maybe firewire, maybe decent sound since my Catalina is getting old..........
 
vailr

vailr

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,365
55
91
For a quieter system, you might consider replacing your loud cooling fan, with one of a larger diameter, such as 90mm or 120mm. Larger fans can move the same amount of air at lower RPM.
Note: this may also require switching to a different CPU heat sink, such as a Thermalright, specifically designed for larger fans.
If you still want an A64 based system, I'd suggest looking at the several Abit, DFI or Asus brand of "AMD socket 939" based boards. You should also be able to move to an equivalent PCIe video card, (selling your present AGP card on eBay) without significant $$ loss.
 
5

509th

Member
Mar 20, 2005
47
0
0
Originally posted by: vailr
For a quieter system, you might consider replacing your loud cooling fan, with one of a larger diameter, such as 90mm or 120mm. Larger fans can move the same amount of air at lower RPM.
Note: this may also require switching to a different CPU heat sink, such as a Thermalright, specifically designed for larger fans.
If you still want an A64 based system, I'd suggest looking at the several Abit, DFI or Asus brand of "AMD socket 939" based boards. You should also be able to move to an equivalent PCIe video card, (selling your present AGP card on eBay) without significant $$ loss.
Click to expand...

OK, but the only thing I could move to then is a 120mm because the XP 90 already uses a 92mm and is considered in side by side comparrisons to be one of the top heatsinks available.

I've been reading a lot about those top teir manufacturers boards and there seems to be a lot of complaint threads on the DFI, Abit and especially the Asus. It seems there are less on the MSI board and even less defect wise on the new ATI motherboard but it hasn't been around as long either.

Seems the DFI is very picky about the bios setup and stability according to several threads.......

Seems the Asus is flaky stability wise and voltage wise.........

The Abit seems to have the best reports out of these three, but is the most expensive.

I just want to find a decent, stable board for a reasonable amount of money (i.e. least I have to spend LOL!) I've decided the 3200 .09 chip should give me nearly as fast overall speed as my chip but may opt to wait for the new cores or just get a 3400 to be safe. Right now, to be honest, I'm leaning toward the ATI board unless there's something I'm not finding wrong with it...........

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom