I am considering purchasing an Athlon 64 2800+ or 3000+ and the three boards I am considering are the Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR $99
Chaintech VNF3-250 $78
DFI LANParty UT nF3 250GB $127, all from Newegg.
Now I don't really care about the gigabit ethernet, but it comes standard on the Soltek and DFI. Anandtech in their user guides recommends the Chaintech for entry level systems, but this isn't really an entry level system, but seems like a good board.
The Soltek seems to a be a nice board, but I am unfamiliar with this brand. Might anyone have experience with them?
Also, memory, I might decide to delve into oc'ing a bit, so what RAM might you suggest? Crucial Balistix seems a tad overkill unless I go with the DFI board. What are your thoughts on OCZ 400512EL PC-3200?
Underlying all this is that I currently run an AMD Thunderbird 900 and tis time to upgrade. Will be sticking with my Gforce 4 Ti4200 128mb vid card for the time being, not running RAID or SATA. I plan on this system lasting at least until the nForce 4 boards have had a chance to mature and the prices on both them and the 939 90nm chips to come down, and at that time build a really nice rig. Was considering an Athlon XP system, but as they are discotinuing them early '05, I figured socket 754 was the way to go.
Thank you in advance for you thoughts, comments, and other helpful hints you all might have.
Chaintech VNF3-250 $78
DFI LANParty UT nF3 250GB $127, all from Newegg.
Now I don't really care about the gigabit ethernet, but it comes standard on the Soltek and DFI. Anandtech in their user guides recommends the Chaintech for entry level systems, but this isn't really an entry level system, but seems like a good board.
The Soltek seems to a be a nice board, but I am unfamiliar with this brand. Might anyone have experience with them?
Also, memory, I might decide to delve into oc'ing a bit, so what RAM might you suggest? Crucial Balistix seems a tad overkill unless I go with the DFI board. What are your thoughts on OCZ 400512EL PC-3200?
Underlying all this is that I currently run an AMD Thunderbird 900 and tis time to upgrade. Will be sticking with my Gforce 4 Ti4200 128mb vid card for the time being, not running RAID or SATA. I plan on this system lasting at least until the nForce 4 boards have had a chance to mature and the prices on both them and the 939 90nm chips to come down, and at that time build a really nice rig. Was considering an Athlon XP system, but as they are discotinuing them early '05, I figured socket 754 was the way to go.
Thank you in advance for you thoughts, comments, and other helpful hints you all might have.