Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: WhiteHawk on September 29, 2003, 12:00:45 PM
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Gonna build a system. Ive been looking at intel MOBO's.
I see the 845GL looks pretty good for 99.00 bucks.
I also see the 865glc looks damm good. Is it $199? no. Is it $299? no. is it $999? yes:eek: .
Whats the best gaming MOBO I can get for $400 or less?
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One of many sites you can check
http://www.tomshardwareguide.com
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Get the abit IC7max3 225.00 at http://www.newegg.com
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Well, my intitial componants will be...
ASUS p4p800 MOBO.........$200
P4 2.8 gHz, 533 FSB cpu...$400
512 MB DDR 400 RAM........$140
Sound card budget of ......$200
AGP card budget of...........$300
Hard Drive budget of ........$150
All other components can be scavanged from my old puter,
Total budget with software and stuff is $2000.00.
That doesnt include the divorce attourney, alimony, child support, etc.
Question, which is more useful for gaming..2.8 gHz with a 533FSB or 2.4gHz with a 800 FSB?
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Why get a CPU that only 533FSB?
When you can get a P4 2.4 800FSB for 160.00
I got mine over clocked to 3.7 it's a great little cpu.
And with that MB you will be able to Overclock like a wildman.
(http://home.comcast.net/~c.hambleton/wsb/media/134502/site1042.JPG)
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I would go with the bigger FSB if I where you.
more bandwidth is allways better.
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yea..thnx..I was wondering about that.
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ummm - why spend $200.00 on a sound card?
Roll some of that money into processor, or RAM or Video Card.
No way you need a $200.00 M-Audio or SB Extigy type card for gaming. At least, IMO. The Asus ADI 1985 soundMAX is some pretty good s-h-*-t, and is the difference really worth 200 bucks?
Where are you paying 200 bucks for a P4P800? Those look like Canuckian prices - but you're in Missouri?
http://www.newegg.com: p4p800 deluxe - $133.00
Chuck the sound card, grab a Radeon 9800Pro and a gigabyte of RAM PC3200 - Kingston HyperX or Mushkin black is 125 buck per 512 stick at Newegg. And go with the 2.4 at 800 FSB.
BB
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Also If you go with the Abit IC7MAX3 motherboard It has a good onboard Lan and sound.
Saves you some money right there.
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Ok..hows this combo look?
Abit IT7-MAX2 -
Intel 3.06GHz B HyperThread -
512MB PC2700 DDR for $666.00?
or this...
MSI K7N2-DELTA-ILSR -
AMD 3200+ -
CORSAIR MATCHED 1GB DDR
for $993
OK..after further shopping
IC7 MAX3.. ........$220
Intel P4 2.6
512k 800FSB.. $207
Mushkin pc3500 DDR......$186
2X256
GfTi4200..................... ......Already own it
Sound.....................Use MOBO sound
That leaves a good budget buffer for software and other accessories. I will add RAM on after system up and running to 1 GIG. I may be able to go with the 3.06 GHz processor for 330
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IMO - get a new vid card. While the GF4 4200 is not bad - when are you going to be able to spend money on the computer again? Bite off the whole enchilada now. :D
I see by the last system specs you posted, you realized the incremental MHz gain costs way too much as you climb the scale.
example: 2.6C GHz 800FSB PIV is 198.00, while a 3.06 is 379.00 (at newegg)
Is 0.46 GHz really worth an additional 201 bucks?
Or, Athlon Barton 2600 is 98 bucks while the Barton 3200 is 445.00 (newegg again) - is 0.6 pseudo-GHz worth 347 bucks?
IMO, NO - better to spend the differential on a Radeon 9700Pro or 9800Pro. Your current Vid card will be choking your new system. Not to mention that its not DX9 compliant, and I *think* AH2 will be DX9 game?
512 MB memory is a decent compromise for now, and nothing's easier to add to a system (and reasonably cheaply!) than RAM.
BTW - what size hard drive?
BB
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For intel, 800MHz FSB cpu's have more life left in them than 533MHz.
Not much room for upgrading with 533MHz FSB.
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Hard drive is the next thing on the list. Gonna due some cyber shopping.
As far as the vid card, I am definatley going to get a new one. But that will be the last Component. Depending on how much $ I have left. If I have to I will settle for the ti4200 for a short while.
What do I look for in a hard drive, just space and rpm's. ?
I can get a 120GB, 7200RPM, 2MB cache for $102. Or virtually the same for $71 except 80GB.That seems to be anything I ever need. Yea, I dont need any speed searches for massive files or anything.
I prolly ought to get a case first, my old compaq case dont look like it'll fit anything in there. What is a good cheap, standard, case?
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45 bucks:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=11-150-049
42 bucks:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=11-150-014
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=11-150-044
35 bucks:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=11-150-028
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=11-150-015
Essentially all the same case, with different colors/front bezels.
Almost all the maxtop line uses the same internals but different facias and colors.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?DEPA=1&submit=manufactory&catalog=7&manufactory=1524&description=&page=1
The reason I like them, is they're cheap, the PSU is acceptable, and it has a removable motherboard tray, which greatly eases system building.
I have built 4 PCs with some version of the cases above over the past year (not all of them mine!), and know of 3 others who used them as well. NO complaints so far.
The only drawback to the case are twofold:
1) sharp edges around the motherboard interface plate, and sharp edges on the drive cutouts - but those are the ONLY sharp edges. Everything else has rolled edges.
2) the vents in the front of the case are too small. there's no point in putting a fan in the front lower mounting bracket. But with the top blowhole and side fan, you don't really need the front fan.
here's an image of my case right after I build the system 6 months ago - I used the black windowed version, along with some ricer accessories :) :
(http://mywebpages.comcast.net/bbgunwb/Img_1779.jpg)
BB
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that looks prety cool. thnx
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The p4p800 will accept the next generation of pentium's, will those other MB's????? The p4p800 has onboard sound that works very nice in AH, I just built a comp with the p4p800 deluxe, p4 2.8c with 800 fsb, 1 gig of ram, and 9800 pro. System rocks, frame rates never go under my monitor max refresh of 75 running at 1280 x 1024 res.
SNO
=GHOSTS=
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Yeah the Asus and the Abit IC7max3 will handle the prescotts.
The nice thing about the abit is you can incress ddr voltage up to 3.2 in the bios
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Whitehawk,
I've been researching new motherboards and cpu's for a new system.
So far I've decided on the P4C800-E deluxe. This board differs from the P4C800 deluxe in the LAN and RAID configuration. Don't ask me about the RAID stuff as my little brain can only handle so much technical crap. But one thing I picked up is you should get a board with the CSA GigaLAN.
This is from the Anandtech website:
"CSA GigaLAN — a technique that removes LAN from the PCI bus and gives it a dedicated “Communication Bus” away from potential PCI bottlenecks."
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=1851
(Abit IC7 MAX3 is good too but a little more expensive)
Also, listen to BBGun, he lives up there with those 50lb head Microsoft buggers so he's got to know what he's talking about:) Get the good video card (Radeon9700 or 9800) and the 2.6 or 2.8Ghz 800FSB CPU.
One more thing, make sure you buy your RAM in matched pairs so you can take advantage of the dual DDR capabilities of the motherboard. My choice: Mushkin 512MB PC 3200 Level2 Dual Pack (2x256MB) CAS2-2-2, Part# 991031
I'm not a techhead but I can do some research and that is what I've come up with so far.
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So far have ordered..
The case BBGun suggested
IC7 MAX-3 Motherboard
p4 2.6 CPU
Final system will be the above components and
ATI Radean 9800 pro
1 GIG of pc3500 RAM
thnx for help..maybe comming back to ask how to get this
beast on-line:)
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I'm glad to see that you went for the ATI 9800 Pro. You'll love it.
Also, good to see you not scrimping on the RAM. You won't regret the 1GB, either. :)
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you need to get one of these to go with your new motherboard.
Promethiea phase change cooling system. 1.100 bucks
But it will keep you CPU even after extreme over clocking down to -25c
(http://home.comcast.net/~c.hambleton/wsb/media/134502/site1043.jpg)
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Ahhh, mrblack..a bachelor?
Any way, Ive put the motherboard in the case, put the cpu in the motherboard. Some minor "it dont fit" problems but a bit of alteration on the case and It went in. That was scary:eek:
Tommorrow, RAM shopping.:p
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For ram try Mushkin pc 3500.
It has the BH-5 chip
And they have a no questions asked 2 week return policy.
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Yea..I just ordered that today. 1 gig for $300 bucks, shts starting to get $$$$. I got confused on hookingup my cd rom today. Conflicting instructions from the mtherboard book and the cd rom book. I have 1 hard drive and 1 cd rom.
Do I hook the hard drive to the MOBO with one cable, and the cd rom to the MOBO with 1 cable? There are 40 pin connectors on the cd roms and a 34 pin connector on the MOBO??? My cd rom came with 1 cable and all connectors were 40 pin. The only thing i can figure is to hook it to the secondary IDE connect on the MOBO. OR is there a special cable?? Jeez, they sure dont waste any ink on the instructions.:mad: :confused:
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Your gonna have to connect bolth the cdrom and the hd to the same cable .. if that even works with that board.. because its a Sata raid set up .... its made to use the sata hard drives .
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=130 (http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=130)
not a very universal board thats for shure
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You will wont both your cd-rom and burner if you have them on the same IDE channel, and the Hard drive on its own channel. If you have two CD-rom or RW drives set one to master and one to slave and plug them into each other. You really want to avoid plugging any CD drive onto the same IDE channel as your Hard Drive.
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Better look at the board he has first PFunk ...
I beleive it only has 1 ide connection , the hd's are supposed to be connected by Sata cables I posted the link for the mb above .
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The motherboard manual makes no reference to any particular need for a specific type of HD.It does give specific instructions on how to install it. it says "connect the bleu end to to the IDE port on the mothereboard (there are 2 IDE ports) and the other 2 ends to the hard drives." Well I only have one HD and they dont give directions for just one hard drive, so I used the HD manual to install for just one HD. That went ok. The manual says"
Keep away from connecting one legacy slow speed drive, like cd-rom, together with another hard drive on the same IDE channel; this will drop your system performance."
Looking closely at my MOBO, I see the 34 pin slot says FDC1, Not CD1 as I initially thought.
:( I take it fdc1 means Floppy disk1 whcih is probably for the 3.5" drive. So I guess I mount my CD-ROM to the IDE2 pport.
The serial ATA connectors (SATA) "are provided to attach one serial ATA device at each channel via Serial ATA cable. SATA1 and SATA2 are controlled by south bridge" It goes on to tell how to enable them. This section makes no mention of CD-Rom connection, and I have no idea what SATA is or if I have the cable or if I need it. It just says how to connect it.
Oh, It says "the serial ATA only supports Ultra DMA/ATA100 or higher HD. Do not use HD's under this spec or it wont work."
So I guess SATA is for a vicious HD nut, which aint me.
I really appreciate the help guys, this is getting hairy. I hope not to waste what is going to be 1500 bucks on a failed attempt.
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Whitehawk,
As you know, this motherboard has 2 IDE connectors and a whole bunch of Serial ATA connectors. Since you don't have a serial ATA hard drive, you can ignore those S-ATA connectors.
Here's how you hook up your IDE devices(Hard drives, CD-ROMs):
If you have one hard drive, hook that up to the primary IDE connector with one of the IDE cables provided with the MB. If you have two hard drives, you'll need to set the jumpers on the hard drives so that one is the "master" and the other one is the "slave". You'll notice on the IDE cables that there are three connectors, one on each end, and one in the middle. One of those ends plugs into the primary IDE connector on the MB.
If you have only one hard drive, plug the connector on the other end of the IDE cable into it, leaving the connector in the middle of the IDE cable empty.
If you have two hard drives, then after setting the jumpers (see above), plug the "master" hard drive into the connector in the middle of the IDE cable. Plug the "slave" hard drive into the connector on the end of the cable.
For your CD-ROM devices, do exactly the same procedure as above, except using the secondary IDE connector on the MB.
Remember: Hard drives go on the Primary IDE connector on the MB, and the CD-ROM devices go on the Secondary IDE connector.
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I just noticed that the Abit comes with only 1 IDE (Ultra-DMA) cable, so if that's true, then you're going to have to use one of the cables that you used in your previous system. Just use the same cable that the CD-ROM devices were using from your old system.
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Here is the link to download the pdf manual for that main board.
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/manual.php?categories=1&model=130 (http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/manual.php?categories=1&model=130)
You need acrobat reader to view it...
they also have a forum at the abit site for any other questions you may have...
From looking at the picture of the mainboard ... I only see one ide connection ... I didnt even see a floppy connection ... unless thats on the forward end of the board with a different type of connector then what has been the standard..
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thnx guys. That answers my question. And I signed up for the abit chat forum. Lots good info in there also.