Need opinions plz

TBonZTBonZ Ottawa, ON Icrontian
edited September 2003 in Hardware
I'm out of the current technology loop so to speak, my last upgrade was a KR7A and a 2100+, I know you understand. ;) I want to help this guy but know a lot of you are more certified to give opinions.
Will I notice a difference from an AMD XP3000+ w/333 bus speed, 512 cache to an AMD XP3200 w/400 bus speed, 512 cache? There is about $200 difference between them, is it worth paying the extra $200?

Either a MSI or a Soyo Dragon Mobo, not sure but leaning towards Soyo?? What do you think?

Vid card still not sure. I have GF3 now but may go up to the new FX card or ATI, what do you think?

Oh ya, when I get the mobo, is there a difference in what kind of DDR ram I should go with or do I have a choice.


I don't have the time to do the research but of course some of these I can answer however I want all your expert opinions please. :)

Comments

  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited September 2003
    Notice a difference between a 3000+ @ 333FSB and 3200+ @ 400FSB? It depends on what he's doing, but probably not. Is it worth the $200? Again, it depends, but if this is his upgrade then I'm thinking he doesn't need bleeding edge, so I will say it probably isn't worth the $200.

    I prefer MSI, but pick which board has all the features you need and want and read some reviews on them to make sure it's quality.

    Is he a big gamer? If so then he might want to get a new card. For the money I'd go with a RADEON 9800 (Non Pro) for around ~$250 and you might be able to up the speeds on it to 9800 Pro speeds.

    Depending on the mobo you go with the RAM will matter. If you go with a board that only supports 333FSB then using DDR400 RAM really won't bring much benefit and, in actuality often brings a performance hit. If you do decide to get the 400FSB chip make sure the motherboard supports 400FSB and using DDR400 RAM would be much better than DDR333 RAM.

    If you get an nForce2 Ultra 400 board you can purchase the less expensive 3000+ chip, drop the multi and up the FSB to 400! :D
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited September 2003
    It really depends. Outside of folding @ home and maybe some professional-level applications (cad/cam, content creation, etc.) going from a 3000 to a 3200 will make no difference. The soyo is basically a worthless board in terms of performance. Why? Via KT400 chipset. The nForce2 is the best chipset out there for AMD cpus, and is far and away better than the KT400, KT400A, KT600 or any other Via chipset.

    If he does gaming, upgrading from a gf3 to a 9700, 9800, or 5900 ultra will make a noticeable difference. But for normal use (internet, word processing, etc.) it won't make a difference.

    Just do not do not do not do not do NOT get anything other than an nForce2-based board for an Athlon XP.
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited September 2003
    If he wants to save some money, definately grab the 9800 Non-Pro and BIOS mod the thing to the 9800 Pro edition.

    I'll also second the suggestion that you should stick with an NForce2-based chipset for AMD systems. Aww hell, I wouldn't make anyone use a VIA chipset if their life depended on it (even on an Intel system).

    /me shudders at the thought of the Apollo Pro 133...
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited September 2003
    If he's running Windows, definitely go with the nForce2. If he's running Linux or BSD, he'll need to check to make sure the board is supported. Most nForce2 mobos are supported in Linux now, but you'll have to download and install some drivers manually where often a VIA board will work right away. Not that that means VIA is better, it doesn't, in fact I think VIA is worse, it just means it's better supported out of the box.
  • TBonZTBonZ Ottawa, ON Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    Great, thanks for the the input guys. :)

    I'll definitely recommend the nForce2 based board, any particular manufacturer I should turn him to? What would be the happy medium for price vs performance?
  • pseudonympseudonym Michigan Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    Heres what I was just looking at since I'm considering a new purchase. Toms Hardware Ultra 400 NForce2 guide.

    http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20030721/index.html

    I was thinking about getting the 3000XP with the 400mhz bus that newegg has right now. Some new OCZ ram (3200 256, with a CAS 2 for 60 apiece), the 9800 non-pro, but I'm still not sure on my mobo choice, but was leaning towards the Asus, Abit, or MSI. (Already have an Epox, want something else now)
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited September 2003
    It really depends again on what he's looking for. If he's not looking to do really, really serious overclocking (like 220MHz FSB+) an ASUS A7N8X or A7N8X-Deluxe would be my recommendation. Why? Because say what you want about their overclockability, but all the ASUS boards we've got at home and at work have been absolutely reliable (and we're talking about 30-50 boards here). I think one has failed of it's own accord... I've killed 3 though ;D

    For serious overclocking, go with the ABIT NF7 or NF7-S.

    The MSI boards are supposed to be good, but like the ASUS, they don't OC as well as the ABIT. Basically stick to a well-known, reputable manufacturer and you'll be fine.

    In summary:
    No really serious overclocking: ASUS A7N8X, A7N8X-Deluxe, or one of MSI K7N2 boards

    Really serious overclocking: ABIT NF7 series. Period. End of story. Mine is hitting a 218MHz fsb with generic DDR400 and an XP1800+ at the default (11.5) multi- that's 2.51GHz out of a 1.53GHz chip. And it's stable. Totally stable. As in 3dmark looping for hours on end followed by hours of F@H stable.

    Finally, if they're not doing serious overclocking, the 2200s, 2500s, and 2800s I've bought lately have all been coming with this <a href="http://ajigo.com/product/MF035-032.htm">copper-base, aluminum fin heatsink (some are nickel plated, some aren't) with a 60x13mm delta fan.</a> It's made by Ajigo (AMD confirmed this for me the other day) and is actually quite a potent little performer, all things considered. It manages about 45*C idle on a stock 2500. However, if you take off that dinky little 60x13mm, 18cfm fan, re-tap the holes for 8-32 screws, and put a 60x25mm 7000rpm 40cfm Delta on it like I did, you can get pretty good performance out of it- like 5-10*F warmer than an SLK-800a with a SmartFan2 @ full power. That's with the base of the AMD 'sink unlapped though, and it could really, really use lapping.
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited September 2003
    ABIT NF7-S v2.0
    -or-
    ASUS A7N8X Deluxe v2.0

    If you want to save some money then get the MSI board based on the nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset. I think those boards are around $20-30 cheaper.

    // Edit: STAY AWAY FROM EPOX! Please, for all things holy and even some things that aren't, STAY AWAY FROM EPOX! ;D
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited September 2003
    And get some matching DDR. Might as well get 512 of PC3200 tho.
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