1st Athlon PC - Please help with a7v266-e setup.

[RockysDad]

After massive searching, downloading manuals, etc... I finally decided to build my 1st AMD athlon PC with the ASUS a7v266-e. Can some of the experts here take a look at my basic parts components and confirm their compatability with each other?

Asus A7V266-E
Mushkin DDR ram- 512mb high perf pc2100 Mushkin CL2 (2 sticks)
Athlon XP 1900+
Thermalright SK-6 w/delta 60x60x25 38cfm fan

Installing everything in a Lian-Li PC61 black case
PC Power & Cooling 400 atx silencer

The case and power supply are the only items I currently have, so no other changes would be too late. Need to pull the trigger and order by Monday 11/26 (can't wait any longer)

Thanks in advance for any additional suggestions or help that may be useful.

 

[Mltsao]

get a better mobo, preferably the epox or shuttle KT266a mobos.

ecs k7s5a if you dont want to spend so much.

a geforce 3 ti200 - ti500 or radeon 8500 would go nice with this machine if you are gonna game

 

[carbonbased]

RockysDad: As far as I know all those parts will work together just fine. I just built my computer with the A7V266-E and I think it's a great motherboard. This is what I have in my computer:

AthlonMP 1600+
New Koolance water cooled case
Asus A7V266-E /w RAID
768MB DDR RAM CAS 2-2-2
Radeon 8500
Sound Blaster Audigy
Linksys 10/100 network card
2 Maxtor D740X 60gb 7200rpm hdd's
Lite-On 24x10x40x burner
Kenwood 72X TrueX cdrom (don't have yet but soon)
Microsoft 104 Keyboard
Logitech Mouseman Dual Optical mouse
Planar 17.4" Digital/Analog LCD

For a video card I'd recommend either a regular Geforce3 (not a Ti200 or 500) or the Radeon 8500 OEM or Retail. There is a bios you can flash the oem's that have the 3.6ns memory with that will change the voltage and up the clock and memory to the retail 275/275.

Again, I think the Asus motherboard is the best choice as of what's available right now. Newegg.com just got them in stock and they are selling them for $161, although they left off the "E" in the description, if you look at the pictures under "see it" it has the a7v266-e box and raid controllers on it, etc.

You have a good start

carbonbased

 

[Hauk]

It sounds like you've done just fine in your research and selection. Someone else posted "get a better motherboard." Keep in mind, people do have their biases. I've owned over six Asus M/B's, and wouldn't consider another manufacturer. The A7V266-E is a solid M/B; unlike all other KT266A solutions currently, you can omit Audio and Raid. Biggest recommendation: learn about the bios settings. There are many changes you'll need to make from default settings to really push this board. Such as the memory settings to 2-2-2. Good luck!

 

[RockysDad]

thanks all. I did put strong consideration towards another motherboard, but I'm not a big tweaker/overclocker so I was primarily looking at features and stability/reliability. I've always had good experiences with Asus on the intel side, so I finally went that way.

Nobody thru up a flag with the Mushkin memory that I chose, so I assume it works fine.

One last thing, what is the quality of the heatsink/fan that comes with the Athlon XP 1900+ retail version? The price difference is upwards of 20-30 dollars at various retailers. All but the elite coolers seem to be less than that.

Steelsix: I saw the same thing at NewEgg. I think thats where I'm going to order it if my local guy doesnt have it yet. (fat chance)

 

[Webgod]

I'm looking at getting a similar setup. Mushkin is a good solid brand, as is AsusTek. I'd take an Asus board over the other brands mentioned. Although I went the route of getting a retail boxed XP 1900. That way I get a hs/fan that I know is guaranteed to snap on and just work, and isn't needlessly loud. But I'm not planning to o/c, I just want the reliablility there.

 

[Bucksnort]

get a better mobo, preferably the epox or shuttle KT266a mobos.

What an Idiot, He probably just doesnt have the bucks for the Asus. You made the right decision.

 

[Nebakanezzar]

Hey,

That High Perf Mushkin ram sure does look SWEET! but costs sooo much...i went with the crucial stuff hopefully it will oc well...only looking to pump the fsb to 145-150...anyone know it the mushkin is using better chips..or if the heat spreaders are what are allowing them to go cas2? them heat spreaders are only like $10...

 

[rkpindia]

finally stable after throwing out my enermax 365 ve power supply and using an old sparkle 300 watt i had around

using athlon 1700 xp
asus a7v266-e motherboard
radeon AIW agp video card
1GB (2 x 512MB mushkin DDR pc2100 ram)
western digital 40GB WD400 hard drive 7200 rpm

would consider maxtor hard drive though just a personal preference.

i you have problem with your set up try a sparkle power supply first then consider other components. i did it the otherway around and assumed a bad cpu / ram / motherboard when it was really the power supply.

finally stable

 

[FiveDoubleO]

Neb:

your Crucial should reach Cas2 no problem.

honestly I do not think there is much difference between the Mushkin and Crucial.
One is rated higher and which means they put thier word on it will run at that!

in my experience both have been able to reach the same levels even tho the other is more pricey.