What else do I need?

[Cocytus]

I have an older system that I built a while back and am ready to upgrade. The current stuff I have is:

Iwill KK266+ board
512 mb of pc133
TBird 1.4
an old IBM 20 GB hard drive
SB Live value
logitech optical mouse(corded)
GF3 TI 200
DVD drive
Burner drive
Win 98SE
And most of it is inside the crappiest generic case ever built back in 1999.


The board doesn't seem able to support Windows XP...so I guess it's time for a change.


I am planning on getting:
Epox 8RDA+ board
2 sticks of the Corsair XMS 256mb 3200
Athlon (Barton) 2500+
Lian Lan PC60 USB B case
ThermalTake Silent Purepower 360 power supply.

Using the salvagable stuff from the first list, and setting up this new box....is there anything I've forgotten? Any incompatibilites/potential conflicts?

DO I NEED anything else?

 

[Jii]

Originally posted by: Cocytus
The board doesn't seem able to support Windows XP...so I guess it's time for a change.


I am planning on getting:
Epox 8RDA+ board
2 sticks of the Corsair XMS 256mb 3200
Athlon (Barton) 2500+
Lian Lan PC60 USB B case
ThermalTake Silent Purepower 360 power supply.

Using the salvagable stuff from the first list, and setting up this new box....is there anything I've forgotten? Any incompatibilites/potential conflicts?

DO I NEED anything else?

All you need now is luck. There are reported cases that 10% of the 8RDA+ simply refuses to co-operate with 25% of the DDR RAM sticks in stores. The problem may manifest itself by a "C1", "C3" or even "C5" POST error codes (a built-in debug card in the motherboard). Newest boards come with a BIOS flash that (by EPoX) should solve this problem. The workaround is using either PC2100 or 2700 DDR RAM, go to BIOS and set the memory timings right manually.
Some people have reported a straightforward "FF" POST code as soon as the board is powered up. According to the 8rdafaq.com (hope I remembered the site name correctly), the "FF" code is "a matter of life and death, meaning either a successful bootup to a complete failure". If you run into this problem, it may force you to RMA the board. I emphasize that this is the worst case scenario.

Also, get a good heatsink and (if preferred) a silent fan and some silver thermal compound since you're planning on using the AMD 2500+. Everything else looks pretty good. Take the advantage of what the NForce2 has to offer and dump the SBLive!. If you have a network card or USB/Firewire-addin card there, discard them, too. My personal favorite for an OS is Win2000 Professional, but if you prefer XP better, I'm not stopping you.

For more information and help on the EPoX 8RDA+, join the Official EPoX 8RDA+ thread. There you'll find vital knowledge about the board.