PC Upgrade

MiCr0

Antec Super LANBoy/MT noPSU 2x120mm fans ATX
Thermaltake TH A1535 400 Watt, PSU
Asus A7N8X-X, ScktA, ATX, nForce2, 400FSB, DDR 400, 8XAGP, 6 Ch Audio, LAN, 5 PCI, 6 USB2
AMD Athlon XP2400 - Retail Boxed incl fan
512Mb DDR333 VM/Elixir


what does any one think of this as an upgrade?
i've got all the other bits and a geforce 4 gfx card too
should i get something faster than 2400?

Creamy Goodness

i'd go for the 2500+ OEM and get a good heatsink like the aero4

but other than that it's spot on i think

MiCr0

these bits are upgrading an existing ath700 system.
i doubt i'll overclock anything, and prob wont upgrade any of it for the next 18-24 months.......... well maybe a new gfx card/more ram

MiCr0

any one?

Col_Loki

Antec Super LANBoy/MT noPSU 2x120mm fans ATX

Nice case, has 120mm fans for cooling which is great.

Thermaltake TH A1535 400 Watt, PSU

Decent power supply, will definetly do the job. If you want a quieter system id probably go with a be-quiet ...... available from www.hitide.ie . (350w will be plenty to power your system, but the more watts the better).

Like Cr3m0 said, the Xp2500+ is a better choice, its a newer core and has more cache. Also a good overclocker should you choose to go that route.
If you definetly arent going to overclock then get the retail boxed version with the crappy retail fan. If overclocking mabye an option then spend a little extra on the CPU cooler......... Zalman 7000, Aero7, ThermalRight ......

512Mb DDR333 VM/Elixir

Again, if your overclocking get Pc3200 Ram ...... if not then this should be fine.
For good ram prices and free delivery try www.pc-memory-upgrade.co.uk (based in kildare) . Dont get OEM ram always get some named brand and you should be fine. The lower the CL number the better. Ie CL2 ram is better than CL2.5.
Dont get ECC or Registered (ie just normal ram).

red_ice

Micro, imo an upgrade option should be the first thing that you implement when getting a machine. Naturally you want the fasted machine possible for the ammount of money you have.

The first thing that you should look at is the motherboard, the one you have there is a good way to start as it leaves the gate wide open for upgrades. The good thing about a good motherboard is downgradablility. The reason i say the motherboard you have chosen is good is because you have 400FSB on it, which means that down the line that puppy can run a 3200+ chip.

When it comes to ram, you can also use cheaper/slower ram, which will also inturn be able to run on a motherboard of such spec.

So, looking at a 2400+ with say 256 megs of pc2100 on a motherboard with 400fsb and what ever else is great. In the short run a motherboard with that FSB is really overkill, but in the long run it will be perfect for more options and building your dream machine in parts.

With regards to your choise of motherboard i am a bit sketchy. Ive built over 500 machines, and imo asus make poor motherboards. I highty recommend you look into getting a chaintech, very good motherboards, have everything you want there, they are simple to work with and do exactly what they say on the tin.

When it comes to what motherboard you want fron the chaintech range, the ZenitH motherboard from chaintech wins hands down. It may be a lil more procy, but it really is the bee's knees of motherboards. It costs abot 150 + vat, but it has shit loads of extras and features like optional raid, a tool that sits in a CDrom bay which has 2xfirewire slots, 2xUSB 2.0 and a timer which tells the tempreture of your machine aswell as gives you post signals if there is a problem with your ram/chip/cdroms/motherboard. It also comes with a special cleaning kit for the motherboard and a tool kit with screwdrivers n such.

The best thing to look at is your mobo, and thats all you need really to start your upgrade process.

I hope thats some help to you

GL, enjoy the build

reD.

Col_Loki

TBH i definetly wouldnt spend that ammount on a motherboard. I agree that its nice to have the option of upgrading later on but......

The XP range is almost at the end of its line, in 18-24months wheater his motherboard supports 400fsb or any ammount of great features it will still be useless. There will be different sockets out and he will have to upgrade it anyway.

I would agree with you, i dont like asus motherboards myself. I have no experience with chaintech (have heard good things about them), but i know ABIT are great boards aswell......

I would recomend the ABIT NF7-S , SATA, RAID, Digital Sound, basically everything you need ...... one of the best Socket A boards you can get IMO. Available here - €110 . If thats too pricey then the NF7 is a good choice, it doesent have SATA, Hasent as good sound as the NF7-S (still good).........

I have the Asus A7N8X & The NF7-S .......... theres no comparison, if at all possible i will always choose Abit boards. Very impressed with them.

woolymammoth

out of curiosity guys.. why the dim opinion of the asus?

MiCr0

cheers for all that.

my base criteria is really the cost
i'd like to spend around 4-500euro on this

i only need those 5 bits - if any one can suggest an intel route/ different amd route, by all means......
this was just a starting point

is that case good?

MiCr0

time passes and so do prices

komplett have this at the moment

• SKU 116242 AMD Athlon XP3000+ 2.167 GHz 333 MHz bus Socket A (Barton) processor
• SKU 112612 EKL Blade XP Controlled Socket A (20704001041) up to AMD XP3200+
• 2 x SKU 113517 TwinMOS PC3200 DDR-DIMM 256MB CL2.5 Memory 184-P (for DDR-PC400MHz)
• SKU 117359 Asus A7V8X-X mainboard Socket A DDR LAN VIAKT400, ATA/133, ATX, USB2.0, 8X AGP

€328.62

tman

Originally posted by COL_LOKI
I would recomend the ABIT NF7-S , SATA, RAID, Digital Sound, basically everything you need ...... one of the best Socket A boards you can get IMO. Available here - €110 . If thats too pricey then the NF7 is a good choice, it doesent have SATA, Hasent as good sound as the NF7-S (still good).........

yeah, i'd have no hesitation in reccomending an NF7 mobo.

got mine last thursday along with an xp2500+ & an aero 7 lite. its been running as a 3200+ without any problems since then.
the makings of a sweet pc.

Woden

Originally posted by MiCr0

[*]SKU 117359 Asus A7V8X-X mainboard Socket A DDR LAN VIAKT400, ATA/133, ATX, USB2.0, 8X AGP
[/list]

this motherboard is not the way forward the one you hard originally was better then that as it was based on the nforce2 chipset, basically if your buying an athlon chip the nforce 2 chipset is the one to go for

case option is up the yourself at the end of the day, there is an older antec lanboy version that comes with a psu as well if that interests you, there is also the antec sonata which is a nice case

MiCr0

after much discussion (thanks ppc)

---

AMD Athlon XP2800+ 2.083 GHz Socket A 333MHz, 512KB Barton, OEM
116245
€110

---

Asus A7N8X-X mainboard for Socket A nForce2 400/MCP,ATX,ATA133,USB2.0,LAN
118692
€78.65

---

Cooler Master AERO 7+ AMD ASB-V73 til AMD XP3000+ CPU and Higher
117894
€37.98

---

TwinMOS PC3200 DDR-DIMM 512MB CL2.5 Memory184-P (for DDR-PC400MHz)
113518
2 @ €87.12 = €174.24

---

Chenbro Gaming Box Black/Orange 350W ATX12V SPI PSU, w/PFC, PC61166 (UK)
121702
€106.4

---

---

Total = €507.27

any suggests/thoughts?

joePC

All very good choices, I have one suggestion,

Coolermaster Aero 7 dont get this go with a Thermaltake or Zalman cooler the Aero 7 is very loud.

Thanks joePC

MiCr0

suggestion made to change the case to

Chieftec Matrix Midi Tower w/Door, Blue Case w/360W power, MX-01BL-D,P4/AMD (UK)
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=112330&cks=SER

€110.94

Woden

or if you do go for the cooler master get the one for around €22 as it does the job just as well.

tman

yeah, the aero 7 lite does a fine job of cooling my 2500+ thats running as a 3200+

barely needed it running when i had the cpu at stock speeds (had the fan selector yolk rotated about a 10th away from the lowest setting )

Woden

tman what types of temps do you get at 3200+ with the aero lite? are you on an nf7 motherboard also?

tman

yeah, nf7 v2.0 with the latest bios.
i haven't seen it go over 50 degrees in the 3-4 weeks that i've had the new rig.
using hardware doctor from the abit website to keep track of temperatures... it seems to give identicle readings to sandra

Woden

i'd be afraid to flash the bios, do you find that the temps jump up by a bit (no pun intended ) after a reboot?

tman

now that you mention it, the temp was at 47 after a reboot earlier... i hadn't checked how hot it was beforehand. but the processor hadn't been under any serious preasure prior to the reboot.
i'll check it out properly next time i need to reboot.

updating the bios/flashing firmware is always a nerve wracking experience, wouldn't reccomend it to anybody tbh.
i came within a hairs breadth of using the bios from the first version of my mobo, not the second revision:eek:
would've been shagged if i had

MiCr0

typical
you decide on what you are going to get, and then you find something else.......


now i reckon i'm going to go intel:


SKU 117321 Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz Boxed PC800 Socket PGA478, 512kB "Northwood"
SKU 117721 Abit IS7 Mainboard for S478/800mhz I865PE,SATA,ATX,Dual-DDR,1394,Raid, LAN
SKU 112666 DDR-DIMM PC3200 512MB DDR CL2.5 Memory 184-P (for DDR-PC400MHz) X 2
SKU 112330 Chieftec Matrix Midi Tower Blue

€556.15 total (vat + delivery)

thoughts?

MiCr0

*cough*

quarryman

yeah that's good. get that.