Update: How does this sound

[BigLance]

EDIT: How does this sound:

P3 866
Intel i815 MB (Actual Intel MB) 5 PCI, Built in 100mb/s LAN
384MB Corsair PC133
IBM 7200rpm ata100 45 GB
Net Gear or other inexpensive 10MB / s Phoneline Network
Aopen HQ08 FT Case - 300w

That combined with what I already have is doable with the money I have to spend, what do you think ?





I bought a new Case (Aopen HQ08 FT Blue) so now I have about $700 to spend on upgrades

This is what I need to fill in the parts I sold:
Processor (Prefereable Intel based, sorry AMD guys, did that... What about SMP, still considering...)
Motherboard (I like Intel for stability (Not OC'er) Dual is good )
Memory (At least 256MB of something, DDR or stick with cheap SDRAM..?)

Here are my Current Specs if that helps at all:

ATI Radeon 64MB VIVO
SB Live! X-Gamer
3Com 10/100 PCI
3Com 56k Modem PCI
Hitachi 5x DVD
Panasonic 8x4x32x
Western Digital 30GB UDMA/66
-Sold WD 2.1GB- So another drive would be cool- IBM 30GB or larger, 7200 RPM
Zip Drive, Scanner, Net Cam etc. etc.

Please help me decide, I need to finalize my decision because my stuff will be gone soon and I don't want to be using my Mom's machine to long

Any help apperciated !
Thanks...

 

[LXi]

How can you want SMP and DDR? There are currently no motherboards that satisfy both of those two requirements.

Consider the VIA solutions, with two P3-1GHz or something.

 

[Noriaki]

When you say Intel based mobo do you mean Intel chipset or Intel board?

I'd go with an i815 board, probably the Asus CUSL2 (or CUSL2-C no onboard gfx so it might be a bit cheaper, but you won't use the onbaord video either way so it probably doesn't matter much) and 512MB SDRAM though it doesn't do the SMP thing...

If you meant that you wanted Intel board get the Intel i815 board then, and use 512MB SDRAM with that instead.

Asus has a Dual Slot1 BX board, P2D-D or something like that..not 100% sure what's it's called, but it starts with P2 and has a D in there somewhere

Maybe look at a ServerWorks chipset though it's probably kind of expensive...

There aren't any good intel chipsets in the i8XX family for dual P3s. Only the i840 and it's not that great...I'd rather stick to SDRAM and get a buttload of it...

If you want Dual go for the MSi 694D Dual Via Apollo Pro133A. You said you wanted intel so maybe you don't like this option, but that's what I'd do.

MSi 694D
Dual P3s 866,933,1Ghz whatever...
512MB SDRAM...shit get more than that....it's like $92 for 256MB Micron SDRAM

 

[BigLance]

Sorry, what I meant by that was, should I go with a DDR equipped board or should I go with a Dual Motherboard... two seperate thoughts...

 

[BigLance]

Yea, I am kinda thinking single CPU and SDRAM is a better Idea... I just want something that I won't have to upgrade in 3 months !!

 

[NaughtyusMaximus]

<<I just want something that I won't have to upgrade in 3 months>>

Good luck.

I would listen to the all knowing Noriaki. Dual is nice, but you wont see its improvment in most things. High speed and lots of RAM will typically be most useful.

 

[LXi]

If you're thinking single CPU with SDRAM, get a KT133A/Tbird or i815E/P3 setup.

 

[Dulanic]

Aye DDR on Intel won't help much at this time, the bus doesnt have the bandwith. Here is a link to help you out in that aspect.

http://fullon3d.com/reports/app266/

 

[Syborg1211]

I say get a dual ghz. It should be pretty good, and I heard somewhere that with windows 2000 it automatically separates work between all the cpus so programs themselves don't have to support dual cpu. Although I am very skeptical about what I just said, can someone verify this?

 

[LXi]

http://www.viahardware.com/pro2661.shtm

 

[Syborg1211]

Another suggestion would be to get a single processor like a ghz and keep the leftover cash for the upcoming NV20

 

[Syborg1211]

I say spring a little extra for a 933 so that it isn't too much harder to reach ghz if you do decide to overclock in the future.

 

[LXi]

Why not a KT133A/Tbird combo?

 

[Syborg1211]

BigLance probably has his reasons for wanting Intel only. I have my own too. I am really thinking about getting a 1.2 ghz tbird but I kind of fear my older sister who works for Intel! She might smack me upside the head or something.

 

[Topochicho]

Win2k and NT4 do utilize dual cpus even if the program doesn't, but its not a real split. You end up with more of an offload situation were the second cpu only really gets utilized during severe cpu use. Even when running multiple apps, the second cpu sees maybe 20% use. MS just doesn't run SMP efficiently.

This is JMHO and comes from personal observation on several smp machines.

For hard core programs that actually are built for SMP, Dual cpus rock. But even if you buy an SMP enabled prgram, you still ahev to be sure to get the SMP build, not all programs include that in the retail box.