AMD 3400 + motherboard only $89.99

[Fiddy]

Link to 3 deals

 

[altonb1]

So...Biostar or Gigabyte board? Which would YOU choose and why?

 

[Ricochet]

Boy, at that price it's irrestible to build another budget system.

 

[jjmIII]

Originally posted by: altonb1
So...Biostar or Gigabyte board? Which would YOU choose and why?

Biostar is making some nice stuff lately. I love my T-force 6100 boards (754, and 939). Also, I'd rather have the Nforce3 mobo chipset on the Biostar. $0.02 added

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: altonb1
So...Biostar or Gigabyte board? Which would YOU choose and why?

I'd choose the Biostar just because it had an NF3 250 chipset. I've heard it's not a bad board by any means.

 

[altonb1]

Originally posted by: Avalon

Originally posted by: altonb1
So...Biostar or Gigabyte board? Which would YOU choose and why?

I'd choose the Biostar just because it had an NF3 250 chipset. I've heard it's not a bad board by any means.

Cool. I guess I'm in for the Biostar board. thanks, guys, and OP!

EDIT: any recommendations on a CHEAP fan for this thing? (ie. $10-20 range, including shipping?)

 

[jjmIII]

Originally posted by: altonb1

EDIT: any recommendations on a CHEAP fan for this thing? (ie. $10-20 range, including shipping?)

http://www.heatsinkoutlet.com/AMD-B.htm

 

[Univac]

Originally posted by: jjmIII

Originally posted by: altonb1

EDIT: any recommendations on a CHEAP fan for this thing? (ie. $10-20 range, including shipping?)

http://www.heatsinkoutlet.com/AMD-B.htm

I got one of those last week. 3 days to get to me from the other coast.

I was able to up the voltage,up the Mhz, and it ran a lot cooler than before with the stock sempron heatsink.

Liked the new speed,got me thinking about a new processor,ordered the combo from new egg,got a case to go with it...

IT is a Slippery Slope!

 

[GeezerMan]

I might just build one to have another PC in the house. I already have a spare case sitting here, got a new power supply sitting here, got my stock HSF from my AMD 4200+ X2 build sitting here, got a spare 200GB SATA drive sitting here, got a ATI Theater Pro TV card sitting here, ... BUT, I would still need ram, and a video card. Still worth it??
The gigabyte board has onboard video, the Biostar does not.
Any ides for a decent AGP video card and cheap ram?
Won't be for gaming, but a decent video card would be nice for the TV card.

 

[1Cheap2Crazy]

How much faster is the CPU(Athlon 64 3400+) than an Athlon 2600+? It says, Operating Frequency 2.4GHz, but isn't an 2600+ about 2GHz?
Thanks

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: 1Cheap2Crazy
How much faster is the CPU(Athlon 64 3400+) than an Athlon 2600+? It says, Operating Frequency 2.4GHz, but isn't an 2600+ about 2GHz?
Thanks

huge difference~ different architectures. I wouldn't be suprised if a 1.4Ghz A64 could best that 2Ghz 2600+

I went from a 2200+ overclocked to a 2400+ @ 2Ghz to this...and its day and night for me.

 

[cparker]

The biostar combo is very nice. I ordered one a few weeks ago, no problems, amazingly fast without overclocking. I liked it so much that I got a second order of the same combo which is still in the box and I'll put it together when a new case arrives in the mail. Using a 1 Gig stick of GSkill Extreme RAM, inexpensive (25-35 dollars after rebates) 128mb direct x9 vga cards as they go on sale at the Egg and Cooler Master 19 dollar (after rebates) power supply (cooler master store at the Egg).: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817171007

These PCs are being used for software development and office applications, not for gaming so the inexpensive video cards work just fine.

 

[GeezerMan]

Originally posted by: cparker
The biostar combo is very nice. I ordered one a few weeks ago, no problems, amazingly fast without overclocking. I liked it so much that I got a second order of the same combo which is still in the box and I'll put it together when a new case arrives in the mail. Using a 1 Gig stick of GSkill Extreme RAM, inexpensive (25-35 dollars after rebates) 128mb direct x9 vga cards as they go on sale at the Egg and Cooler Master 19 dollar (after rebates) power supply (cooler master store at the Egg).: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817171007

These PCs are being used for software development and office applications, not for gaming so the inexpensive video cards work just fine.

Wow, that's a good Ram price. Is that deal still available?

 

[cparker]

Sorry, the 1 GIG GSkill RAM was 89 or so when I ordered it. Now it's up to 100. The low price I quoted was the approximate price for the video cards. Wish the RAM was so low!

 

[cparker]

Also, if you look at the EGG video card section you'll see quite a few cards in the 30-35 dollar range. This should work much better with these video cards than the integrated graphics on other boards. On some video tutorials/demos that I looked at on another box with integrated graphics, I was losing frames. When I ran same videos on the biostar with 30 dollar agp card, it was smooth as silk with more detail. Also these video cards have dvi outputs for the new Hanns-G 19" monitor that just arrived!

 

[GeezerMan]

How about the DIAMOND S120AGP128-CN Radeon 9550 128MB 64-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X that Egg has for 23.99 after rebate?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814103162

 

[cparker]

I just got that diamond 9550 in the mail. It looks very nice. Has a cooling fan on the board. Even has a dual monitor display feature. The other card I got (from the Egg) was an evga E-GeForce 6200. That cost 30 after rebates (free shipping), but the deal is gone, so for now I think the Diamond might be the best deal out there for this price range.

 

[GeezerMan]

Heck, for about another 90.00, I could go with a AMD dual core 3800+ and a Asus mobo with integrated video. But, do I really need another PC around here?

 

[Horo]

I was wondering what HSF should i got with this combo?? i might want to OC it im not really sure yet and im not trying to spend more than 30 on the HSF what should i get??

edit: oh yeah and should i go with the Gigabyte board or the Biostar for the nforce? which is the better choice

 

[jjmIII]

Originally posted by: Horo
I was wondering what HSF should i got with this combo?? i might want to OC it im not really sure yet and im not trying to spend more than 30 on the HSF what should i get??

edit: oh yeah and should i go with the Gigabyte board or the Biostar for the nforce? which is the better choice

BOTH questions have been answered above .

 

[Horo]

I picked the Biostar MB with ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro cant wait for it to come. My rig is so old haha running a Althon XP 2500+ cant wait to see how much this budget upgrade improves

 

[longhorn]

For a different perspective, I just wrapped up a total rebuild of my Mom's PC
with the Gigabyte board. About the only thing left over from her Pentium 400
is a CD-RW drive and the case.

The Gigabyte card has the built-in video, whereas the Biostar does not.
Mom is not a big game player so the lack of a a fast video card won't
be much of an issue. And the reviews state that the onboard video will
run Quake-3 OK.

So for:

$70AR 1GB stick from Fry's
$5AR Ultra Power supply from Outpost
$25AR/Coupon 160GB Seagate PATA from CC
$30 NEC DVD burner from Outpost
$100 Motherboard/CPU from Newgg
$9 Heatsink from Heatsinkoutlet.com

Using Mom's old copy of XP and her case, I have a pretty nice little machine
for her email and web browsing, for about $250.

Build and install was pretty smooth. The only problem was that the
case was a bit cramped, and there are a lot of long, non-modular, unused
cables coming out of the power supply.

 

[altonb1]

Originally posted by: Horo
I was wondering what HSF should i got with this combo?? i might want to OC it im not really sure yet and im not trying to spend more than 30 on the HSF what should i get??

edit: oh yeah and should i go with the Gigabyte board or the Biostar for the nforce? which is the better choice

I just asked that a few posts above yours! RIF - Reading is Fundamental.

In any case, i ended up going with THIS HSF!

Ordered yesterday afternoon, shipped from NJ and currently is listed as OUT FOR DELIVERY to my house in York, PA. Newegg shipping is truly amazing.

I'm also waiting on two 250GB SATA drives from the last Woot-Off. Fedex was notified on 8/22, but it is listed as being picked up on 8/25. Shipped from texas to San Diego, CA (WTF?!?!?!?) and now delivery is scheduled for 8/31. See tracking info below from FedEx.


Aug 26, 2006 12:40 AM
Departed FedEx location
SAN DIEGO, CA

Aug 25, 2006 8:50 PM
Arrived at FedEx location
SAN DIEGO, CA

6:53 PM
Picked up
IRVING, TX

Aug 22, 2006 5:47 PM
Package data transmitted to FedEx
CARROLLTON, TX

 

[NuKe9]

Originally posted by: jjmIII

Originally posted by: altonb1

EDIT: any recommendations on a CHEAP fan for this thing? (ie. $10-20 range, including shipping?)

http://www.heatsinkoutlet.com/AMD-B.htm

How quiet is this? I need super quiet, looking to upgrade my HTPC from a mobile 2400+.

Also, how is the onboard audio on the Biostar board? Can it hold a candle to the Soundstorm on my A7N8X-DLX?

 

[cparker]

The audio is just stereo (two channels). It's definitely not "high end" but it sounds perfectly fine to me on a set of "low end", cheap speakers. It's adequate, but if you are looking for something better for HT you might need to get a sound card or pick up a different mobo.

I don't know about the noise level of the hs/fan but I'm also interested in possibly getting it. I think if you went to the case/cooling forum someone there might know more about getting a quite fan for this cpu.