Slot 1/Slot A/FC-PGA/FC-PGA2/Socket 370/Socket A... help! :)

[aa_koch]

I am looking to buy my sister and her husband a computer, to replace their old Pentium 100 system which has given them problems from the start (weird errors and reboots, malfunctioning hardware, etc.) and has gotten too slow even for the applications they run. They do not use it to play games, and the machine is really gonna be used as a workstation (think of at it as a deluxe typewriter), but it would be nice if it could play DVDs without having to install a hardware DVD decoder. I'm interested in getting something in the 500MHz - 700MHz range (I assume that should be enough, right?), but without spending hundreds of dollars on the mainboard/CPU/RAM combo alone. So what I'm looking for is yesterday's technology, but the kind that isn't going to be outdated tomorrow. (Basically, it should support PC-133 RAM, ATA66, and that kind of stuff -- I don't expect ATA133, RAID, PC-2700 DDR, etc. etc.)

Anyway... I think the kind of CPU I am looking for is either an Intel P-III or AMD Athlon (early Socket A type). But I am not at all familiar with Intel processors anymore (last one I used was a P60...), and I'm not sure what I should be looking for. I read things such as 600E, 600EB, etc. etc. and I haven't a clue what is compatible anymore. (I know it's got to do with .18 micron and bus speeds and stuff, but I'm not sure if or how these are compatible.) Also, I've noticed that there are Slot 1 P-IIIs, but also FC-PGA P-IIIs in the same range. It would be nice if I could do a CPU upgrade in 12 - 18 months' time or so, and not have to replace the mainboard and RAM at the same time, so that's why I thought I should go for FC-PGA processors if I choose Intel. But while surfing the Internet, I found that there are converters that allow you to run FC-PGA processors on Slot 1 mainboards. Are these an alternative to the more expensive FC-PGA (Socket 370?) mainboards, or do you really get what you pay for and (say I want to upgrade to a 1GHz P-III later) will only give you so much more?

Taking into account the cost (money's an issue, but I am willing to pay a bit more if it means it's got more "CPU headroom"), should I be looking for Slot 1 mainboards, or is it worth investing more money in a reasonably up-to-date mainboard? I know P-IIIs are not gonna be around much longer, but if spending $30 more today on a FC-PGA mainboard allows me to upgrade to a 1GHz P-III or whatever without too much trouble (basically I just wanna replace the CPU), that's worth it to me. (I wanna save as much money as possible, but not at every cost. ) Any suggestions for an Intel CPU/mainboard that holds promise?

Last but not least, considering P-III mainboards... are there chipsets I should make sure to avoid? (I've seen a few cheap ones with i820 or i810 chipsets and such, but exactly because they are so cheap I'm worried there are problems with them.)

 

[pamf]

If I was going to be building a low cost machine for someone, I'd look for a gigabyte ga-7zzm board and a duron cpu. The gigabyte board has decent onboard video and sound (saving you some cost there) and could easily take athlon cpus (although I don't know if it can handle the athlon xp's) so you have some upgrade options there. Durons are dirt cheap (about $40 us for an 800mhz) and are excellent performers. for a hd, i'd get a maxtor 5400 rpm drive in the 20-40gb range. these are about $60-80. a dvd drive is about $50.. $120 for a 15" monitor, $60 for 256mb pc133, and maybe $150-200 for the other parts (case, keyboard, mouse, speakers, heatsink+fan..)

so about $500 for an entirely new system. you could probably pick up an ok used one, check the classifieds.. but with a new one you know you've got warrantied parts and all. of course you can salvage some stuff from their current one, like monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard ..

hope that helps

 

[aa_koch]

Well, I'm hoping to "recycle" as much of their current hardware as possible. I doubt the HD will suffice (I think it's only 2.1GB, maybe even less), but they've got a decent monitor, and if the soundcard (SoundBlaster 16) has a PCI interface, they won't be needing a new one just yet. The video card I'm not sure of (I think I installed a Matrox Millennium II a few months ago, replacing a 1MB card that originally was installed), so maybe I'll upgrade to a better Matrox (because they don't need 3D power). Speakers they've also got, and all the other regular stuff (mouse, keyboard, CD-RW, ...) is all there. It's really just the CPU, RAM, and mainboard, and a DVD-ROM come to think of it. (They could upgrade just the CPU on their current system, but I don't think they'll notice much difference between a P100 and a P200... )

Anyway... I'm probably gonna get some second-hand or refurbished items, if I can find them at a good price. Maybe I should consider AMD more than Intel, because they keep changing sockets and stuff. (I'm glad I told my neighbor to get an Athlon XP instead of an Intel P4, because I read three weeks later that to upgrade he'd have had to buy a new mainboard already!)

Thanks, and keep the info coming!

 

[minendo]

If you want to look into some cheap barebones systems visit Infinity Systems Plus. I know I didn't write the best review for them on the AnandTech ratings page, but I just completed a second transaction with them and everything went fine.

I was really worried about ordering from them again, but I needed a cheap system for my girlfriend because her Compaq crapped out just shy of a year.

 

[bunker]

Another thing you'll want to consider in recycling from the old machine. You will need new power supply. A p100 didn't need anywhere near as much juice as newer processors.

 

[aa_koch]

Power supply... oops. I kinda forgot about that.

Guess I'll just have to buy a whole new case, because cases without power supplies are pretty cheap, so it wouldn't be worth using the old one. At least I'll have the advantage of being able to pick any mainboard to my liking, because the size won't matter anymore.

Talking about mainboards... anybody who can recommend a simple mainboard (no on-board sound, raid, network, etc. etc. required) that will allow me to install a P-III/500Mhz, and upgrade to 1GHz in a year's time or so?

Btw... I can't buy online, because I'm in the Netherlands.

/edit

Just found out about the Epox 3PTA, which is based on the i815 chipset. It's sold for only 90 euro (~$78), and supports P-III/500 through P-III/1000 (Tualatin core). I found one review, and although it doesn't come with many features, it's stable and it said the i815 chipset is very good. I think I may have found piece one of the puzzle...

/edit

 

[pamf]

A P3 will get the job done, but if you want a fairly wide open upgrade path I'd look into a socket A board. You can put everything from durons to athlon xp's in them, ranging from about 700mhz to 1.66ghz and rising.

I have no complaints about my KT7A (3 of them in the family actually).. it has no onboard sound or video, and one isa slot in case you need to stick something old into it (the reason i bought it actually, since my $150 usr 56k modem was like brand new and we didn't have dsl at the time ~)

If you do go for the kt7a/duron/athlon combo, make sure your KT7A is at least revision 1.3. revisions lower than 1.3 don't support the athlon xp, so i've heard. That would only limit you to 1.4ghz though

Aside from that, yea, you'll need a new atx case.. id get a 300w ps if you go with the athlon, and you should be able to recycle everything else that you don't upgrade

Good luck