Author Topic: Inexpensive Mboard and CPU combo (Read 758 times)

Furious · « **on:** November 21, 2001, 12:55:00 AM »

I am looking to upgrade and old Gateway GP6 for a friend of mine. Any recommendations?

F.

Raubvogel · « **Reply #1 on:** November 21, 2001, 02:13:00 AM »

www.tigerdirect.com always has some good cheap mobo/CPU combos.

Furious · « **Reply #2 on:** November 21, 2001, 10:37:00 AM »

I should rephrase that. Not neccessarily sold as a combo, but a good match.

Example:

P3 1Ghz = xxx Motherboard
AMD 1.2 Ghz = yyy Motherboard

Thanks
F.

DrSoya · « **Reply #3 on:** November 21, 2001, 09:46:00 PM »

I've been looking into cheap mobo / processor combos. If I had money right now, I'd buy an AMD Athlon or Duron based mobo with the KT133A chipset, in order to keep my SDRAM memory (PC100 and PC133). With a Duron, putting PC100 memory doesn't matter since the Duron runs on a mobo clocked at 100MHz.

The SDRAM prices got up to DDR level recently because of depletion of stocks, but I read that it's not going to be permanent, and the prices are already going down.

The board: I would choose the Gigabyte GA-7ZX-H or the GA-7ZX-R (the last one allows overclocking, while I'm not sure with the first), because GigaByte boards are pretty popular with local stores, while boards by other manufacturers are harder to find.

The GA-7ZX-R has had good reviews.

The processor: Duron 900 or 1000.

[ 11-21-2001: Message edited by: DrSoya ]

bloom25 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 22, 2001, 01:24:00 AM »

If I were building a system on a tight budget I'd go with either a Duron 1 Gig or higher or find one of the older Athlon Thunderbird core CPUs (like the 1.2 Ghz).

I'd spend the money and get a good MB though, you will be VERY happy you did in the future for upgradability reasons. I'd get a board using the VIA KT266a chipset as you can drop an Athlon XP in there if you choose to do so in the future. Memory is cheap these days, so sacrificing $40 to reuse old SDRAM and getting an SDRAM based MB is not the best option IMO.

DrSoya · « **Reply #5 on:** November 23, 2001, 08:01:00 PM »

Bloom, it all depends on how often you need to upgrade.

I upgraded my current system two and a half years ago. I originally wanted to go with the cheaper socket370 Abit BM6, instead of the slot1 BX6 rev.2. Because of admonishments by others to think of the sacred upgradability, I changed my mind, and bought the BX6 rev.2, plus a slotket adapter, and a Celeron 466.

You know what happened. Slot1 got retired, and I could have paid cheaper to have a socket370 board. And now, I can't even buy a new processor for my BX6 rev. 2 (was max 700MHz). And I'm not ready yet to upgrade. Maybe 6 months from now.

That $40, I could have put on a better vid card (bought a TNT2 M64 while I though I was buying a "true" TNT2). I'm not gonna get suckered again.

It's all a matter of perspective, budget, and how often you really need to upgrade.

By the time I would be ready to upgrade again, I bet DDR memory will be obsolete.

BTW some KT133A boards can accept the Athlon XP too. It's just that they won't perform as good, but in general applications tests have shown only a 7-10% difference or less. Only memory-hungry apps show a (quite) significant difference.

Personally, right now, I would go with keeping my memory, buying a KT133A board with Duron, but buying a better vid card.

But... it's all a matter of perspective, needs and budget.