What MB and RAM for a 2500+?

imported_IslandTechie

Junior Member
Jun 4, 2004
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my current computer is a few years old, some old sony vaio that my dad bought for me. it came with windows me, 128mb of rambus800, and a 1.5ghz p4. as we all know, all three suck so now its time to upgrade.

i want to get the barton core, so my instinct is the 2500+ since its the cheapest of the processors that have the bigger cache (2500, 2800, 3000, 3200).

as for the motherboard, i have no clue. i like the msi k7n2 delta-ilsr because it has firewire, serial hard drive support, lan, and raid (i wouldnt be using the raid function). basically what i want the motherboard to have firewire, serial ata, lan, above average sound, and something that wouldnt mind a 512mb stick of ram. overclocking is an option i would like to have in case i decided to overclock the cpu to 3200+ with ddr400 but that will be down the line. also, i want a motherboard that comes with some good accessories. for example, the msi board comes with a usb and firewire connector to put in an empty slot on the case, i believe some kind of sound connector, serial ata connectors/power, rounded cables, etc.

with the ram, price is somewhat an issue. i know the nforce2 supports dual channel. unless 1gb dual channel is reasonably priced then i want a motherboard that can handle a 512mb stick, and maybe 2 256mb sticks, so that means 3 sticks and single channel.

some other questions...

are the western digital raptor hard drives really worth the extra money?

thermaltake v1000 case (7 80mm fans) or a water cooled case?

ati or nvidia? i like eagames and i know nvidia and ea teamed up but asking around, most people lean towards ati.
 

Fern

Elite Member
Sep 30, 2003
26,907
173
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NF7-S agreed, also check into the mobile Bartons. I've had both the regualr desktop and now have the mobile. Maybe it's just luck, but I spent a lotta time trying to get that regular Barton to a decent OC, no luck. The mobile was a breeze, vcore @ 1.55 and running at 3200+ speeds. Just bumped it up after installing it, and bingo -rock solid stable. Haven't even pushed it yet
 

imported_IslandTechie

Junior Member
Jun 4, 2004
15
0
0
is the abit nf7-s v2.0 stable with 512mb sticks of ram? because i heard some motherboards arent as stable with a 512mb stick compared to a 256mb stick.

also, what comes with the motherboard as far as accessories?

is the abit an7 mb better?