T-Bird vs. Classic quetions

[Limonov]

I have an ABit KA7 and a Gigabyte Slot A mobo. I want to build a 1 GHz box. Do I:

1. Keep both boards (I have a 650 already), get an Athlon 900 Classic and put it on the ABit and overclock it?

2. Get a T-Bird 900 and a new ABit KT7 and overclock that? Would there be enough of a difference to justify the extra expense ($100?)? Also, if I get the T-Bird, do I have to pencil in the contacts to make it overclockable?

Thanks....

 

[Techwhore]

IMO, i think you should go with the classic 900 and spend the $100 elsewhere. The T-bird would be faster clock for clock, but the gains will be minimal, there are bottle necks in the machine that need more attention. And if you do go with the t-bird you will most likely need to pencil the bridges in, but it's not that bad, did it the other day.

 

[xtreme2k]

i would hold off for now and wait for the DDR

 

[Limonov]

Thanks for the replies. I went ahead and ordered a classic 900. See youse later....

 

[han888]

better take the thunderbird and wait the ddr board! thunderbird have L2= 256 full on die

 

[Limonov]

I'm at one of those points where I'm ready to buy now and don't want to wait much longer since I have a buyer lined up for one of my other pc's. In any event, I'll probably put another box together in the next 6 months +, so I'll get the latest thing (or as close to it as I can afford and makes sense to buy) then.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[cabojoe]

900 waste of money...850 clocks just as well.


Athlon 850 @ 1007 1/3 L2 1.9 volts
Abit KA7
256 meg PC-133
Ninja Micros FreeSpeed Pro goldfinger
GlobalWin FKK32 Heatsink/Fans

 

[Rudee]

"i would hold off for now and wait for the DDR."

If your holding off for DDR then you will be holding off for a couple of months. Not only that, but introductory prices of DDR motherboards will be much more expensive, plus this is relatively new technology that will no doubt have a few initial bugs as far as the motherboards are concerned.

Buy a Abit KT7 now and slap in some old PC100 memory if you have some lying around. Wait until spring when all the manufacturs have their DDR boards out and hopefully prices will have dropped by then.

You can't justify "holding out" for DDR motherboards when prices are that steep. Not for an extra 8-10fps in Quake3. Wait until the new year and a couple of new DDR boards will be out and you will have a chance to evaluate them properly.