Replacing the wife's PC....comments on this?

[tomstevens26]

The time is long past to replace her old Celeron 400. I'm trying to get out fairly cheap ( < $300) so this is what I'm thinking about....

Asus A7N266-VM w/ Athlon XP 1700 (1.47GHz) Retail version
Evercase E4252WEF5 w/ 300W PS
Crucial Micron 256MB PC2100 DDR RAM

I have a Maxtor 30GB ATA/100 7200 RPM HD to put in it, along with a GeForce2MX card. I'd also be putting in her existing CDROM and floppy.

The Asus board is $73 at Newegg, but I'm thinking I should just buy the ECS K7S5A instead since I don't really need the built in video, soundcard (have a SB Live 5.1) and NIC (have a Linksys 100Mbit PCI NIC). Even so, it seems like the Asus board might be worth the extra $20.

Can anyone give me some advice on this? Of course I'd order it all from Newegg. Any input would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

Tom

 

[FriedRiceBob]

i will agree with you, the board for $20 less would suffice, because you do have the other cards. however, you should get the Asus if you want to hold on to the extra cards for a reason

 

[Lord Evermore]

If you get the K7S5A, you could also save a few more bucks and use PC133 memory in it. I assume by the fact that she's been on a Celeron 400 for this long, she isn't going to notice a slight performance drop when browsing the web or reading her knitting club forum. I don't think it'd be considered a waste of money to get PC133 for such a system now. By the time it needs to be upgraded at the rate she's going, PC2100 won't be worth much either.

 

[tomstevens26]

Hey guys, thanks for the input! I never even thought that I could also just stick w/ the PC133 ram she currently has. I just assumed that building a PC today I should just go with DDR....but you're right, she'd never see a performance difference between the two. Her current config has her with two sticks of SDRAM; 1 64MB and 1 128MB so she would still have enough RAM for what she does. Plus, both of those should work in the K7S5A board...unless I'm mistaken?

So, with the case, the ECS board and the AMD XP 1700 I'll be getting out for < $180 and she'll be getting a pretty nice upgrade in the process. Thanks everyone!!

Tom

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

just a fyi, a nice cheap little integrated mobo that takes sdram is the MSI 6378 (just search for that number at newegg, i forget the full model name/number) - it's $61, and has video, sound, and lan, is matx, takes sdram, and honestly with all the stories about the K7S5A being picky about PSUs, i'd buy it way before a k7s5a.

 

[magomago]

180 dollars?

The proccesor is 60 (i'm rounding up)

the mobo is 55 (i'm assuming you went for the ECS)


Wow...you spent 80 dollars on a case?

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: tomstevens26
Hey guys, thanks for the input! I never even thought that I could also just stick w/ the PC133 ram she currently has. I just assumed that building a PC today I should just go with DDR....but you're right, she'd never see a performance difference between the two. Her current config has her with two sticks of SDRAM; 1 64MB and 1 128MB so she would still have enough RAM for what she does. Plus, both of those should work in the K7S5A board...unless I'm mistaken?

So, with the case, the ECS board and the AMD XP 1700 I'll be getting out for < $180 and she'll be getting a pretty nice upgrade in the process. Thanks everyone!!

Tom

In regards to your memory question, i would imagine your memory sticks are PC100 coming from a machine thats been running a celeron 400?

Im not sure but the majortiy of boards these days are backwards compatible with PC133 only.
Check ya mem chips & what the boards support or you aint gunna have much fun tryin to run two SD100's in a board that supports only PC133 minimum

dan

 

[tomstevens26]

Originally posted by: MrFiTTy
In regards to your memory question, i would imagine your memory sticks are PC100 coming from a machine thats been running a celeron 400? Im not sure but the majortiy of boards these days are backwards compatible with PC133 only. Check ya mem chips & what the boards support or you aint gunna have much fun tryin to run two SD100's in a board that supports only PC133 minimum dan

You know what...you're absolutely right about that board having PC100 memory. I thought it was PC133 but I just checked it. Even so, according to ECS, the K7S5A will support PC100/PC133 SDRAM so that (hopefully) wouldn't be a problem.

Tom

 

[tomstevens26]

Originally posted by: magomago
180 dollars? The proccesor is 60 (i'm rounding up) the mobo is 55 (i'm assuming you went for the ECS) Wow...you spent 80 dollars on a case?

Uh...no... I'm too cheap to spend $80 for a case The numbers break down like this...

CPU - $68
Mobo - $57
Case - $37
Shipping - $15

Total - $177


I'm still almost about to go with the Asus board and the 64MB DDR RAM. That would end up only costing $72 more, plus it would give me some spare parts left over to mess around with in another system.

Tom

 

[Lord Evermore]

I wouldn't even put 64MB of memory in a computer I made for someone's mother. In fact I ended up putting in 256MB because it was WinXP. Even Win98 gets enough of a boost from 128MB to be worth it. I can't even find 64MB DDR modules.

 

[tomstevens26]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
I wouldn't even put 64MB of memory in a computer I made for someone's mother. In fact I ended up putting in 256MB because it was WinXP. Even Win98 gets enough of a boost from 128MB to be worth it. I can't even find 64MB DDR modules.

Errr...typo... I meant 256MB

 

[tomstevens26]

Well everyone, I finally went ahead and purchased the following components for her new PC. Just placed the order at newegg. I purchased the following...

Athlon XP Thoroughbred Retail 1700 (1.4)
Crucial 256MB PC2100 RAM
Asus A7N266-VM (I decided to go ahead with this board instead of the K7S5A. I'll be upgrading my mom's PC soon and she'll need a new video card so I'll just give her the GeForce2MX my wife is currently using since she can use the onboard video on the Asus board)
Foxconn Supercase ATX3400 w/ 300W PSU

I'll be using the onboard sound, the onboard NIC and putting in that 30GB Maxtor HD that I mentioned earlier, along with her current floppy and CDROM. This PC doesn't really give her any room to upgrade in the future...but since she has been on a Celeron 400 forever, you can probably tell she doesn't do anything that needs to keep up with cutting edge technology When time comes to replace this new it would be time for a complete overhaul anyway.

Hopefully I made the right decision. I'm a little nervous about the case but it got some good user reviews at Newgg, plus I've used several of the Supercases in the past so hopefully it will work fine. I appreciate everyone's comments and if you have anything else to share please do so!!

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: tomstevens26
Well everyone, I finally went ahead and purchased the following components for her new PC. Just placed the order at newegg. I purchased the following...

<STRONG>Athlon XP Thoroughbred Retail 1700 (1.4)
Crucial 256MB PC2100 RAM
Asus A7N266-VM </STRONG>(I decided to go ahead with this board instead of the K7S5A. I'll be upgrading my mom's PC soon and she'll need a new video card so I'll just give her the GeForce2MX my wife is currently using since she can use the onboard video on the Asus board)
<STRONG>Foxconn Supercase ATX3400 w/ 300W PSU

</STRONG>I'll be using the onboard sound, the onboard NIC and putting in that 30GB Maxtor HD that I mentioned earlier, along with her current floppy and CDROM. This PC doesn't really give her any room to upgrade in the future...but since she has been on a Celeron 400 forever, you can probably tell she doesn't do anything that needs to keep up with cutting edge technology When time comes to replace this new it would be time for a complete overhaul anyway.

Hopefully I made the right decision. I'm a little nervous about the case but it got some good user reviews at Newgg, plus I've used several of the Supercases in the past so hopefully it will work fine. I appreciate everyone's comments and if you have anything else to share please do so!!

Good. I was going to tell you not to get the K7S5A.. It just isn't worth it, you want a trouble-free system.

 

[Lord Evermore]

KS75A isn't automatically a lot of trouble. It looks like that system will probably last your wife several years. Figure it won't need an upgrade till at least a year or two after the Athlon XP 1700+ T-bred can't even be found from junk dealers.

Also, is it really necessary to quote entire large posts to say one line in response?

 

[ChefJoe]

next time you buy some pc junk, get one of those 80-60 cm adapters so that you can replace the stock AMD fan (noisy little ah heck that 60 * 15 fan is) with a variable (manual rheo control) or 7 volt mod 80 mm (your wife will thank you when she hears the difference). I'd also consider putting low flow, thermo conrol, or 7 volt mod the fans in the PSU to keep noise to a minimum. Mainly depends on how cheap you think the psu is (you'll void the warranty, but not really an issue with a $20 psu). Keep fans to a minimum and your wife will be amazed at how quiet it is for how much faster (non geeks find the quiet case is sooo much sexier than anything black, neoned, or windowed).

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
KS75A isn't automatically a lot of trouble. It looks like that system will probably last your wife several years. Figure it won't need an upgrade till at least a year or two after the Athlon XP 1700+ T-bred can't even be found from junk dealers.

Also, is it really necessary to quote entire large posts to say one line in response?

Yes.

 

[psianime]

ECS mobo
Athlon XP 1600+ OEM (spend another few bucks for a super quite fan. Retail fans tend to be a tad loud. Your wife WILL complain about the noise since she is comming from a Celeron. I sudggest getting a Speez heat sink)

I don't think your wife will really need DDR ram. Just pick up some good old PC133 (or reuse what she already has).

Everything else looks good. You might want to upgrade the keyboard and mouse (optical)?

-psianime

 

[ChefJoe]

Originally posted by: tomstevens26
Well everyone, I finally went ahead and purchased the following components for her new PC. Just placed the order at newegg. I purchased the following...

<STRONG>Athlon XP Thoroughbred Retail 1700 (1.4)
Crucial 256MB PC2100 RAM
Asus A7N266-VM </STRONG>(I decided to go ahead with this board instead of the K7S5A. I'll be upgrading my mom's PC soon and she'll need a new video card so I'll just give her the GeForce2MX my wife is currently using since she can use the onboard video on the Asus board)
<STRONG>Foxconn Supercase ATX3400 w/ 300W PSU

</STRONG>I'll be using the onboard sound, the onboard NIC and putting in that 30GB Maxtor HD that I mentioned earlier, along with her current floppy and CDROM. This PC doesn't really give her any room to upgrade in the future...but since she has been on a Celeron 400 forever, you can probably tell she doesn't do anything that needs to keep up with cutting edge technology When time comes to replace this new it would be time for a complete overhaul anyway.

Hopefully I made the right decision. I'm a little nervous about the case but it got some good user reviews at Newgg, plus I've used several of the Supercases in the past so hopefully it will work fine. I appreciate everyone's comments and if you have anything else to share please do so!!

Notice: A few pieces have already been bought and are no longer "in the air".

 

[MrCraphead]

Um, I would highly recommend you not getting the ECS k7s5a board simply b/c of the sheer number of problems that people have had with it. I'm not sure if they've improved on any of them, but it does seem like a board which has a fairly high complaint factor. :\

 

[Lord Evermore]

But like with all things, you're more likely to hear from the people who had issues with the board than the ones who've had no problems. There are plenty of people who had no problems at all, and found the board to be an extremely good performer, at the time. Most problems manifested at the time of installation as well, not sudden problems later on that required troubleshooting, and some problems were due to BIOS issues which are essentially all resolved. Plus, given the extremely low price, it's hard to beat.

 

[tomstevens26]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
But like with all things, you're more likely to hear from the people who had issues with the board than the ones who've had no problems. There are plenty of people who had no problems at all, and found the board to be an extremely good performer, at the time.

You are absolutely correct. In fact, I have actually built a couple of systems for some friends and used the K7S5A. They have been working fine for almost a year. Easy installation and they haven't had any problems whatsoever. Of course, I didn't post how well the setup worked. On the other, if I would have had any problems, then I would have been one of the complainers in a heartbeat!

 

[wviperw]

Well, if the PC can pleasure you like your wife can... go ahead.

EDIT: err... I read the thread title wrong... nevermind.

 

[PCMarine]

Seems fine to me

 

[majewski9]

The 3.X versions of the K7S5A seem to be running just fine. I have had minor problems with mine but I think it is due to the crappy heatsink for the North/South bridge that ECS glues on there. You probaly cant use the SDRAM from the Celly 400 since the celly has a 66 mhz bus it probaly uses PC 66 or PC 100 at the most. Funny I upgraded from a Celly 400..........almost 2 years ago and I am considering a minor upgrade. I started off with with SDRAM and a KK266 then I upgraded to K7S5A when that board went klablooey. Even with SDRAM the performance is still pretty good but I recommend using DDR. Definately stick with thouroughbred AXP 1700 or 1800 which is just a few bucks more. As for the ASUS board I think ud be hard pressed to notice the difference between the SIS 735 and the Nforce 220. If u were going to use the int video it be definately worth it. Shoot u can even find oc ing BIOS for the K7S5A granted it doesnt work that well!

 

[hbkh]

Hopefully I made the right decision. I'm a little nervous about the case but it got some good user reviews at Newgg, plus I've used several of the Supercases in the past so hopefully it will work fine. I appreciate everyone's comments and if you have anything else to share please do so!!

I used to have this case, it served me very well, study construction, psu's had decent rails, overall good bang for your buck!