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[subxeon]

Hey, my dad's 400mhz p2 died, so he asked me to come up with something he can use for a good 5 years without upgrading. He doens't play games so this should fit his needs very well. I chose this much speed because I want all his apps and windows to load quickly.

He doesn't want to spend a lot of cash , what do you guys think on the choice of chipset/ram?

ABIT BD7II 845E Based Pentium 4-478 ATX Mainboard 400/533MHz Retail
Specifications:
Chipset:Intel 845E (ICH4) chipset
MEM: 3x 184 pin DDR DIMM up to 2GB PC1600-2100
IDE: 2 Channel Bus Master Ultra DMA 100/66/33
IO:1 FD 1 Parallel, 2 Serial 2 USB 2.0, audio ports
Slots: 1xAGP4X , 5 PCI Rev 2.2
Onboard LAN, RTL8100B 10/100
Onboard Audio: AC'97 2 Channel Model#: BD7II For Service, Click Here Special FedEx Saver Shipping $4.00


$110.00 @newegg


Intel Pentium4 1.8A GHz 512K Socket 478 Processor 400MHz Processor Bus Retail

$166.00 @newegg


KINGSTON KVR266X64C25/256 256MB 32x64 PC2100 DDR RAM - OEM
CL2.5 Six Layers High Quality Boa

$60.00 @newegg
=================================================
total of 336$


Ok so he needs a case/psu also, what is some good ones? he wants a quality case. I was going to get him Lian-li but he said he wants something cheaper, are Antecs any good, he mentioned he wanted usb in the front.

I was thinking of overclocking the 1.8a to something like 2.5 gigahertz.

ps. is it true INTEL is going to have a price drop on their cpu's labor day? If so how much u think the 1.8a will drop down to?

 

[pitupepito2000]

Hi,

I would recommend you to get your parts from newegg.com or googlegear.com. They are both great with prices and also great customer service. If your dad doesn't want to spend a lot of cash I would go for an AMD XP 2000+ which costs $205 at newegg.com. The motherboard that I would suggest is the MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU, which is a top performance motherboard with great features. It comes with 8 USB ports, 4 USB 1.1 and 4 USB 2.0. this motherboard has far better features than the one you have picked. Here is a link to the features of the motherbaord link.

Here is a link to googlegear.com where you can get the motherboard link, newegg.com right now doesn't have this board in stock. This board is great.

The ram is good.

If you are looking at cases, the antec cases are great. I have one and it is easy to set up, and they come with usb port in the front. The case that I would suggest is Antec SX630 - $65. This case has been getting great reviews lately, so it's backordered pretty much everywhere. This case has front usb ports. The antec performance series are easier to find in stock, but they are a bit more expensive.

I hope this helps!!

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: subxeon
Hey, my dad's 400mhz p2 died, so he asked me to come up with something he can use for a good 5 years without upgrading. He doens't play games so this should fit his needs very well. I chose this much speed because I want all his apps and windows to load quickly.

He doesn't want to spend a lot of cash , what do you guys think on the choice of chipset/ram?

ABIT BD7II 845E Based Pentium 4-478 ATX Mainboard 400/533MHz Retail
Specifications:
Chipset:Intel 845E (ICH4) chipset
MEM: 3x 184 pin DDR DIMM up to 2GB PC1600-2100
IDE: 2 Channel Bus Master Ultra DMA 100/66/33
IO:1 FD 1 Parallel, 2 Serial 2 USB 2.0, audio ports
Slots: 1xAGP4X , 5 PCI Rev 2.2
Onboard LAN, RTL8100B 10/100
Onboard Audio: AC'97 2 Channel Model#: BD7II For Service, Click Here Special FedEx Saver Shipping $4.00


$110.00 @newegg


Intel Pentium4 1.8A GHz 512K Socket 478 Processor 400MHz Processor Bus Retail

$166.00 @newegg


KINGSTON KVR266X64C25/256 256MB 32x64 PC2100 DDR RAM - OEM
CL2.5 Six Layers High Quality Boa

$60.00 @newegg
=================================================
total of 336$


Ok so he needs a case/psu also, what is some good ones? he wants a quality case. I was going to get him Lian-li but he said he wants something cheaper, are Antecs any good, he mentioned he wanted usb in the front.

I was thinking of overclocking the 1.8a to something like 2.5 gigahertz.

ps. is it true INTEL is going to have a price drop on their cpu's labor day? If so how much u think the 1.8a will drop down to?

That is an ok system, but let me give ya some feedback.
Yes, Intel is going to drop the price on their cpus, September 1st. Id wait till then to buy an intel system. For cases, Antecs with 300W PS or higher are good.
This case here, has a good PS and front USB ports.

You can buy it here.

Concerning the CPU, Motherboard situation, you may want to go AMD. An Athlon XP 2000+ is only $105 now. Its the best one to get these days.

Also, if you do go P4, try the SiS 645DX (Asus P4S533, or the new 648 chipsets (not many are out now, but the Asus P4S8X will be "soon") .They are great for overclocking. You might as well get crucial RAM too (not saying kingston is bad or anything).

Good luck, and what pitupepito2000 said is mostly correct, except for the price he listed on the Athlon 2000+.

 

[FishTankX]

My advice would be wait till labor day for the 2.4B to drop down to 200$, and pick up a 2.4B and the 1.8A will have little to no price drop. 1.8As aren't guarnateed to hit anything over 2GHZ and you're taking a real gamble, plus overclocking drastically reduces CPU life. I doubt a 1.8A@2.4GHZ would last more than 3 years, and soon you'll be able to pick up a genuine 2.4B for 200$, so it makes no sense. Then I would pick up a Mobo on the cheap like Asus's i845G and use integrated graphics ifyou're dad isn't too demanding on the 2d side. Then pair it with good PC2700 and get that 2.4B running with PC2700. Antec is good. Just make sure you get a quiet powersupply, somewhere around 300 watts. If you want real speed, get a 1000JB harddrive. They're not too terribly expensive and devilishly fast.

 

[CrazySaint]

I would have to agree that in your dad's situation, overclocking may not be the best option. It doesn't sound like he does anything too demanding, so any Northwood P4 or Athlon XP should offer plenty of speed for what your father does for the next 5 years. Give that, and he wants to save money, an Athlon is probably the best choice. There are several excellent AMD motherboards at a low cost, look at the features of the MSI KT3-Ultra, Asus A7V333, Abit NV7-133R (has excellent onboard sound) and Gigabyte 7VRXP REV 2.0 (<---- Make sure its REV 2.0, there were some issues in the original 7VRXP that were fixed in REV 2.0) and pick the board that best meets your price/features requirements. That RAM should be fine, Crucial is also excellent. I second the Antec nomination for both case and PSU. Also, I noticed you didn't mention anything like HDD, CD-RW, etc. Are you bringing those over from an older PC? If so, I would recommend that you at least buy a new HDD unless the old system already has a new (7200RPM) HDD, as a slow HDD (< 7200RPM) will really bottleneck the entire system. As for cheap video card, you can get a Radeon 7500 64MB (which is actually a fairly decent budget card), which should have great 2D, and if your dad ever gets a sudden urge to play a video game, the 7500 shouldn't disappoint him. You can get it at newegg for $51. If you need an uber cheap video card, you can get an original Radeon 32MB SDR for $35 at newegg, which will still have great 2D, but might struggle a bit if ever does try to play anything resembling a demanding game (even by today's (or yesterday's standards, never mind Doom3 or UT2K3), but should be great for anything besides games.

 

[subxeon]

Yeah we're bringing over a 7200 rpm 30gig and a geforce 1 (works fine for his needs)

hehe

and cdroms etc.. all coming over.
i will check out those motherboards, thanks for the help!

 

[subxeon]

We decided on a 2000+ xp
and we'll get 2100 ram , there wont be much difference than 2700 and 2100 correct?

also on the HSF, i'm unsure what to get, i dont want a LOUD one .. but i want it to cool it sufficiently without additional fans required .

 

[subxeon]

hey is there any roundups on those types of boards you mentioned,

MSI KT3-Ultra, Asus A7V333, Abit NV7-133R, Gigabyte 7VRXP REV 2.0


and more?

t

 

[CrazySaint]

Right, the difference between PC2100 and PC2700 on a KT333 board is about 2-3%, and its non-existant on KT266A and nForce boards since it will only run the RAM at PC2100, anyway. Depending on how much you want to spend, either get a Thermalright AX-7 HS, or a SVC GC68 HSF from svcompucycle. The AX-7 cools a bit better, so you could probably stick a quiter fan on there, but its also more expensive and it doesn't come with a fan, so you'll have to buy one seperately. A popular silent fan with decent CFM rates is the Panaflo L1A. I would also recommend at least one case fan (a L1A should be fine).

 

[mchammer187]

my 1.8A @ 2.4 runs more stably than my athlon XP setup ever did so i would reconder intel

AXP was a 1700+ on an 8KHA+ sold it and paid an extra $150 to upgrade and i am glad i did

my athlon 800 setup on a KA7 has been running like a champ for 2 years though

 

[CrazySaint]

Originally posted by: subxeon
hey is there any roundups on those types of boards you mentioned,

MSI KT3-Ultra, Asus A7V333, Abit NV7-133R, Gigabyte 7VRXP REV 2.0


and more?

t

Yeah, there's a few. AT did one, you can find it in the motherboards section of the main site, THG did one (Tom's Hardware), I think vr-zone did one, and there are others. However, all the ones I listed reviewed the original 7VRXP, but for your purposes, the info they provide should be fine. They also don't cover the NV7-133R. But basically, they're all excellent boards, so its basically a matter of checking their features and price.

 

[subxeon]

I was thinking about getting this case with front usb ports:
LINK

I am wondering how one would wire these ports, does the motherboard have special connectors or something? Can someone tell me if these motherboards provide a way to connect those front terminals. thanks for your hlep !

MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU (MS-6380E) Via KT333
or
Asus A7V333