After looking around, I'm going to go ahead with an Athlon XP. I'm looking for good value, so I'm not going to go high-end, but this is a definite upgrade over what I'm using now: AMD Athlon XP 1600+/266 FSB PROCESSOR CPU - RETAIL 1600+/ 1.40GHz, AX1600BOX. 3-Year Warranty. With heatsink and cooling fan. The Ultimate Digital Media Experience in an x86 Platform.Tailored for Microsoft® Windows® XP. Featuring QuantiSpeed Architecture for Rapid Execution of Applications. Tomorrow’s Technology Today. The Power of a Reliable Partner. Model#: AXP1600BOX This would cost me $128. (seven bucks for shipping). Now, mobos. Any suggestions? This is what I'm looking at now: Abit VIA KT266A Chipset Motherboard Model KR7A Supports AMD Athlon XP 1500+ ~1900+/AMD Athlon 700MHz~1.4GHz or future Socket A Processors, AMD Duron 600MHz ~ 950 MHz or future Socket A Processors. ATA100. Four 184-pin DIMM sockets support up to 4 GB PC1600/PC2100 DDR SDRAM module. 1 AGP slot, 6 PCI slots Model#: KR7A Cost: 129 (10 bucks shipping) or Abit KR7A-133 VIA KT266A Chipset ATX Motherboard Supports AMD Athlon XP 1500+ ~ 2000+ or future Socket A Processors based on 200/266 MHz, supports AMD Athlon 700MHz ~ 1.4GHz or future Socket A Processors based on 200/266 MHz, and AMD Duron 600MHz ~ 1.2 GHz or future Socket A Processors based on 200 MHz. Memory: Four 184-pin DIMM sockets support PC1600/PC2100 DDR SDRAM. 1 AGP slot, 6 PCI slots. Model#: KR7A-133 Cost: 143 (same shipping) Now, I know that pricewatch has some good combos for cheaper, but I'm not yet certain how safe that route is. And of course there's always Ebay. Suggestions?
Rokkit Both those boards are great choices for the XP. Another board I have used and heard nothing but good things about is this one. SOLTEK SL-75DRV4 (Purple Ray Ver.) VIA KT266A AMD Althon & Duron DDR **ATA133** 200/266 MHz FSB Socket A ATX MOTHERBOARD - RETAIL VIA VT8366A + VT8233A chipset. FSB 266/200 MHz. Supports DDR SDRAM @ 266/200 MHz. Supports Ultra ATA 133/100/66. Multiplier Setting. BIOS FSB Setting. AGP, DIMM Voltage Setting. RedStorm Overclocking. SmartDoc. Anti-Burning Shield. SCR (Smart Card Reader) Interface. Optimized for all Socket-A processors Its available for $115 plus $10 shipping from Newegg.
Check out http://www.harddrive.com I bought all of the components from these guys and built my own system cheaper than I could anywhere else. If you live on the south side of Houston, these guys are located in League City and are worth the drive. Just call ahead of time to make sure that they have everything in stock.
Scary, I saw that board but couldn't tell if it was for the XP. Its a lot cheaper than the Abits, but if you've heard good things I might have to consider that... And thanks too boom. I didn't know about them either.
On second thought, maybe there's a reason I didn't know they existed. Their price and selecition are not exactly the best.
want good prices: http://www.puicorp.com great selection, but not as much as: http://www.axiontech.com I buy almost all my parts from PowerUp (puicorp.com) -- GREAT prices and top notch service. You can usually find better prices online, but I like going with a local place. Don't go with Directron, even though the price is good. They have a good selection at good prices, but they are not always totally up front about everything, in my experiences at least.
I built this system about six months ago and they had the best prices in the area. I was not looking to order anything online nor was I willing to drive a long way. They had everything I was looking for at a good price.
Rokkit The Soltek board is Athlon XP ready out of the box. Of course, I would get the latest bios anyway. I built one for a friend who loves it. Its been running stable for a while now. The company (Soltek) doesnt have the name recognition of Asus or Abit but if these boards are any indication they will soon. I am not sure about always having the cheapest price, but Newegg has excellent service. I buy just about everything from them and have never had a problem.
I'm kindof partial to the newest Soyo motherboard. <i>Soyo SY-K7V Dragon Plus (VIA KT266A chipset) with Raid, Supports Tbirds, XPs and Durons processors up to 1.4GHz+, 5PCI, 3xDDR DIMMS (3gb), AGP Pro/4X, 6USB / Smart Card Reader, Onboard 10/100 Lan,On Board 5.1 Sound, Raid (0,1), Symantec Software</i> 154 at PowerUp If you want to save some money, I'll sell you my motherboard for $60. It's an MSI KT266. It works great, but is the older KT266 chipset (older by what, a month?). I'm running an Athlon XP 1800+ on it, and it's stable as anything . . .
Oh, and if you want to buy online, www.pricewatch.com will point you in the direction of cheapest price. Personally, I like buying my parts from a local distributor (easier RMAs, etc.), but you usually pay a bit more.
Hmm. A look at pricewatch doesn't find much difference in the prices for the combos compared to buying seperately. (At least, in terms of the Abit or Giga Byte boards). Others are pretty cheap though (Biostar, DFI, MSI)...but don't really trust that.... Vengeance, I'm not as up on mobos - what kind of difference is there in the (slightly) older chipset?
Some of the combo offerings, for example: ECS 830LR - with cpu - ATHLON XP 1600+, 1.4GHZ 266MHz and fan Price for PHONE ORDER must MENTION PRICE WATCH - SIS735, 266FSB, 2 SDR & 2 DDR, ATA100, AC97, onboard LAN, 4XAGP, 5PCI, ATX, AthlonXP READY $ 158 $17.95 + (ship) ECS K7S5A Retail Box 2 yr warranty SOCKET A MB w/AUDIO/LAN 2 DDR/SDRAM 5P,1AMR,1A, UDMA100 Instock with cpu - ATHLON XP 1600+,1.4GHZ 266MHz, AX1600DMT3C w/ Heatsink & Fan. $ 165 $12-$15 Gigabyte GA-7VTXE,AMD Athlon™/Athlon™XP/Duron,5 x PCISlots support 33MHz & PCI 2.2 compliant,1x AGP 4X slot with cpu - ATHLON XP 1600+,1.4GHZ 266MHz, AX1600DMT3C w/ Heatsink & Fan w/1 yr. warranty.. $ 220 $12 + Gigabyte GA-7VTXE+, KT266A CHIPSET, 3DDR,AC97 SOUND ON BOARD, 1AGP,5PCI, ATA133,DUAL BIOS,ATX Price for phone order. Mention PRICE WATCH - with cpu - Athlon XP 1600 with Coolermaster EP5-6I11 heat sink and fan assembly - One year warranty on the kit! $ 221 $11.95+ Decisions, decisions...
Really, the difference is that the older chipset doesn't perform quite as well. You'll get around a tiny speed increase with the newer board. I just want a newer board so I can buy one with a nice color PCB for the casemod I'm working on. The only other thing is that when I got it, I couldn't run anything off the AGP slot when I had Windows 9x or ME installed. 2000 and XP run it fine. It could have been that Athlon bug that was just discovered, or a slight incompaitibilty with the older windows, and perhaps there's a patch . . .
