Guest Blackwell Posted July 23, 2001 Report Posted July 23, 2001 Gentlemen,I am happy to say that I am going to upgrade my rig this weekend. I have a $600 budget and prices for computer components are really low around the San Francisco Bay area right now. Here are my two options.AMD T-bird 1.4 --> $165 FIC AD11 motherboard --> $108 256 megs of PC2100 memory --> $40! NVidia Geforce 2 Pro 64 --> $138 IBM Deskstar 40GB Hard drive --> $80 Total = $531 OR AMD T-bird 1.33 --> $124 Asus A7M266 motherboard -->$160 256 megs of PC2100 memory --> $40! NVidia Geforce 2 Pro 64 -->$138 IMB Deskstar 40GB Hard drive --> $80 Total = $542My dilema is as follows... I understand that the Asus board is very stable but Asus does not currently make a board for the T-bird 1.4 or at least not one that AMD recomends. I would go for the 1.4 system but I am not sure of the reliability of the FIC board. Although speed is good I am primarily concerened with stability and reliability. Any ideas?
jstuart Posted July 23, 2001 Report Posted July 23, 2001 Blackwell, from my experience I would go with the Asus. Stay away from FIC,DFI, Abit. Also a Supermicro isn't that bad either, but costly. If AMD is your cpu of choice, then go with the Asus option.
Joel Schultz Posted July 23, 2001 Report Posted July 23, 2001 Ditto on Asus. I've only heard good things about them, they have a reputation for quality and stability. I'm on my second Asus mobo (first got retired during last upgrade due to obsolesence), no complaints on either one.Incidentally, it pays to research your mobo chipset vs. video card chipset. You'll save yourself a lot of grief sometimes by having mobo chipset driver and video card driver updates on hand and installed right away. Case in point: VIA KT133A and ATI Radeon. Without the VIA driver update, any mobo (even Asus) using the above combo can hang Windows at random intervals.
Epsilon 5 Posted July 23, 2001 Report Posted July 23, 2001 ASUS boards don't need to be recommended. They work. They always work very well.
Supreme Cmdr Posted July 23, 2001 Report Posted July 23, 2001 Asus boards are the best. I have four of them here. And I am running an Athlon 1Ghz on a CUV4X-E mobo (without the onboard audio/video) with no problems.If you do go with this board, just make sure that you do the following Use CAS2 memory Download the ATA100 drivers for that IBM (I have two of those drivers too) Download the VIA All-In-One drivers Install the OS from scratch, using a Boot Disk install Apply the ATA100 and the VIA drivers before installing ANYTHING else!!! For me, what I normally do is create a folder tree as follows (after partioning the drive, of course). You would have to create a boot disk from your current OS, to boot from.C:DRIVERS .bios .video .ata100 .via .dvd .joystick .monitor .sound .mouse .network .scanner .webcametcI also have them on a CD-ROM.This way, even if you don't have access to your CD-ROM with the new OS, or just for upgrading purposes, ALL drivers for EVERY device, are within easy reach.Once I have the OS up and running, I ghost it (i.e do a drive image backup). You can use Norton Ghost, Drive Image etcOnly THEN do you start adding crap (read : softare) [ 07-23-2001: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]
Guest Blackwell Posted July 23, 2001 Report Posted July 23, 2001 Gentlemen,Thanks for the feedback! I'll go with the Asus board. Which Geforce 2 Pro should I choose?
Guest Posted July 23, 2001 Report Posted July 23, 2001 Blackwell, I just got my 1.4 T-BirdAsus mobos HIGHLY reccomended.Get yourself an A7M266 if you can find one, if not, an A7A266 would do (A7M266 much better for gaming).whatever you get, be SURE to get a good cooling system. ARTIC SILVERII and some damn good heatsink and fan. My 1.4 is currently overheating with the generic heatsink and fan it was built with, im waiting on my cooling upgrades to arrive.
Guest Blackwell Posted July 24, 2001 Report Posted July 24, 2001 Gentlemen,Tac I know what you mean about the heat sink and fan for the CPU but what do you mean about the cooling system? Do you mean the case? I don't think I can swing one of those Cooler cases with 4 fans for $100 ! Please advice. Alos is the ASUS Ge Force 2 Pro a good choice.
Guest Posted July 24, 2001 Report Posted July 24, 2001 cooling system is whatever you get to keep that cpu below 45C.Fans will be a must for you. Case fans that is. I have 4 on mine now. Get Artic Silver II , use it on the cpu/heatsink contact. It really helps. Oh, and make SURE you get a 300W or higher power supply..AMD approved of course, you dont want to plug in a high end vid card and sound card and have the system blink and blink from lack of power
Joel Schultz Posted July 24, 2001 Report Posted July 24, 2001 And speaking from personal experience, make sure your chassis fan is pointing in the right direction. Mine was facing the wrong way for three years without me realizing it; fortunately it was an Intel PII 450 which ran much cooler than my current AMD Athlon 850MHz. Chassis fans should blow in (not out) at the bottom, to promote airflow moving from the bottom-front to the top-back where it is evacuated by the power supply fan.Extra fans I suppose help circulate the air internally, assist in moving fresh (cool) air in, or venting warm air out. Never had any fans other than the CPU, chassis, PSU, and whatever came attached to the components already (e.g. chipset & video card fans), so I don't know too much about their use.
Supreme Cmdr Posted July 24, 2001 Report Posted July 24, 2001 Blackwell, wtf do you think you're doing, creating duplicate threads?Well, I've deleted it. You SHOULD know better.
Guest Blackwell Posted July 24, 2001 Report Posted July 24, 2001 Your are right, Sorry Derek I think I have gotten all the answers I need. Thanks for your feedback and wish me luck.
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