Looking for MB/Proc/Mem suggestions

[AndyinNYC]

I'm looking to replace my dual 1GHz P3 VP6 machine - capacitors are starting to die and I can't afford to have lockups while working.

I'm looking to replace the motherboard, processor and memory and keep all my other components - G4Ti4200, Firewire card (if needed), drives, etc.

I'm presently using the RAID 0 from the motherboard with 2x120GB drives - RAID support (or a cheap add-in card) is a requirement.

I do some video editing, lot's of VB programming and Excel VBA, games like Diablo II.

I'm probably not going to overclock the chip, and I don't need the *very* fasted P4 on the market - just looking for a serious speed bump from dual P3@1Ghz.

Prefer Intel over AMD, but I can be swayed.

So, what are your suggestions?

Andy

 

[AndyinNYC]

A computer group this educated and opinionated - without an opinion? Come on, guys - make some suggestions. <g>

Andy

 

[Cerb]

Since you want a real speed increase, may as well just go Intel, since the mid-range is only slightly higher in price than the AMD. Also, for video editing the P4 is better, for the rest it's a toss-up. Note that I am assuming you are not going to overclock.

Newegg:
P4 2.4/133MHz FSB Retail - $164.
2x512MB Kingston CL 2.5 PC2700 - $120; (for 1GB dual channel DDR). The gains from going to PC3200 are minimal unless the FSB is also increased (which involves overclocking); by minimal I mean less than 1% in most cases, and about 1 1/3% for encoding DivX.
GA-SINXP1394 - $230; onboard RAID; should support hyperthreading.
Antec 330W Power Supply TRUE330 - $60; very nice power supply, likely needed if you're going from a P3, and with 2 120GB drives, may as well not go cheaper.

 

[AndyinNYC]

Thanks for the suggestion, a couple of questions and comments.

My Antec case already has a PP-403x (400 watt) power supply (see: Antec Power Supply), so I don't think I need a new one.

Wouldn't I be better off with a 2.53 P4 and faster memory? What kind of bump would that provide to the whole system? Which mem spec would I then need to buy? Does this motherboard support the 2.53 and faster memory?

I'll look into the GA-SINXP1394 - thanks.

Edit:
Looked at the Gigabyte site. My VP6 has IDE connectors + RAID IDE connectors (4 regular devices + 4 on RAID chain). I can't tell - does this motherboard work the same, or are the IDE and RAID connectors the same (ie only 4 IDE devices total). Thanks

Any other suggestions?

Andy

 

[floccus]

Prefer Intel over AMD, but I can be swayed.

.... Enter me

Its a well known fact that the Athlon's will perform better on the apps you listed than a Pentium which is more designed for linear processing. Games rely on repeating streams of data whereas office apps jump around frequently, which leads to pre-fetch errors and causes a performance hit due to the Pentium having to clear its 20 stage pipeline.

I'd say your best option would be to look into an Athlon XP based on the Barton core, at least two sticks of 512mb C2 PC3200 DDR ram, and an nForce 2 based board. This would produce a pretty sweet price/performance combo. Since the nForce boards support IEEE1394 natively in the southbridge then you can ditch your add in card. As for the raid... some boards offer integrated IDE RAID 0 while most will offer it through SATA. You could easily get an adaptor and use the drives through the SATA interface.

Here's a recommendation:
Athlon XP 2500+ ~ 187 retail
2 X Crucial PC3200 C2 512mb ~ 260 total
Asus A7N8X Delux ~ 150
Enermax 431W ~ 82
SATA adapters... ~ varies

 

[Shimmishim]

Since you are not going to overclock, there is no need for RAM faster than pc2100.

Intel:
2.4B = 18 x 133
2.53B = 19 x 133

But if you get a barton..

2500+ (1.83 ghz) = 11 x 166

you should prolly try pc2700 RAM

pc3200 is overkill if you're not overclocking...

 

[Cerb]

Wouldn't I be better off with a 2.53 P4 and faster memory? What kind of bump would that provide to the whole system? Which mem spec would I then need to buy? Does this motherboard support the 2.53 and faster memory?

PC2700 only cuts the performance by 1%. 1%. You can get a 2.53GHz P4, yes. 2.4GHz is the price point.
The mobo appears to have 4 IDE connectors, likely all 4 off the RAID controller.

Since you are not going to overclock, there is no need for RAM faster than pc2100.

The high-end AMDs use 166MHz FSB. Even _I_ get some benefit from running mine at 166MHz, though it is minimal. Also, check any set of benchmarks...in many cases the P4 does do extremely well with dual PC2700 on the SiS platform. Lastly, right now PC2700 is only like $20 more than PC2100 for 512MB.

If you do go AMD, the Asus Nforce2 board is pretty much your only bet right now. It and the new MSI NF2 boards are the only ones will all the bells and whistles.

 

[toilet]

the sis 655 from asus or gigabyte are rock solid board or not?? because I need to build a rock solid board for content creation and grphic design nad I dont know witch platafor is the best fot that!!!.. amd o rintel.. , Nforce II , sis or intel??? But.. what I need is a rock solid system.. and fast of course can you recomended??
tks a lot

 

[Cerb]

Rock solid...the mobo is what makes that. All platforms except the maybe the KT133 are good on both sides.
There were some boards that do great, and some that VIA-bashing is based on. yet if that is indeed the case, why is VIA successful and the good boards around and still selling?
The individual mobo will make or break the stability issue. People here like the Gigabyte board (wasn't it NFS4 that got the stripped-down version?), and I can't imagine them selling a $230 board that isn't at least stable at stock speeds.
Asus and MSI tend to have the best record for producing good boards...the only one I know of that wasn't was the original K7T Turbo Pro2.

 

[AndyinNYC]

If I get the 2.4B and PC2700 memory, what's the fastest I can reasonably hope to overclock with the stock cooling? My PC case has 4 or 6 internal fans on the case (if that info helps).

If I bump to 2.4B and PC3200, what increase/overclock with stock cooling?

(and next to last)

What about bumping to 2.53 and PC3200 with stock?


I can't stand the wickedly loud CPU fans that I initially had on my PIII 1Ghz - I switched to 80mm fans and cancelled any hope to overclock. I'm hoping to keep this upgrade as quiet as possible.

Last - What's the slowest P4 that supports hyperthreading (or whatever they're calling it)?

 

[EXman]

keep your PSU 403 is a nice one

if you any editing you do not wanna OC keep stock and your set get a 2.4-2.53 with some good 2700 kingston Corsair Crucial come to mind.