Upgrading my old, old PC, need you guys help :)

[vlsi54199]

I'm upgrading my old Celeron 500 PC now.

I have already got a Antec SLk2600 with 300W power and I want to go for AMD this time.

What I have:
1) 300 power (new)
2) 2x512MB PNY PC2700 RAM (new)
3) one 10G ATA100 HD (used)
4) One 80G Maxtor ATA133 HD (used)
5) Plenty fans @ 80mm

What I think (budget limited to $300)
1) XP 2500+ mobile ($95 or $93)
BTW, what's the difference between this two:
a) http://www.excaliberpc.com/product_info.php?products_id=3660
b) http://www.excaliberpc.com/product_info.php?products_id=3512

2) ABIT NF7-S $87

thanks for any input

 

[vlsi54199]

help please....

 

[mechBgon]

Do you plan to overclock it? If so, you may want 1) some faster RAM, unless you just plan to OC by raising the CPU's multiplier; -and- 2) a beefier power supply, assuming it will end up with two HDD's, two optical, a mid-to-high-end video card and an OC'ed CPU.

That sure will be a sweet change from a 500MHz Celeron

 

[vlsi54199]

What brand of psu do you suggest? I'd like a quiter one. I'll update my RAM later b/c the prices are so high now.

 

[mechBgon]

Yeah, the RAM prices are pretty wild

For a quiet PSU, I've seen good remarks about some of the Fortron units that have a single 120mm fan on the CPU side. Antec TruePower units tend to be pretty quiet, I don't know how they compare to the Fortrons. Antecs have a 3-year warranty and that does probably raise the price some. Enermax has some models particularly built to be quiet and I would trust Enermax too (I have one Enermax 365-series, two TruePower430's, and our work fleet has about 30 TruePower330's and about 6 SmartPower350's, aka SL350).

One of the other things about the PSU in your case is that it's the SL300S with one fan, and I believe the fan is a sleeve-bearing model, so that means it's more likely to wear out and begin chattering (or simply stall). The aftermarket SmartPower units don't have an S on the end of their name and use dual fans with ball bearings. So if you need another incentive... yeah. You could always keep the SL300S as a spare/backup unit.

 

[Zebo]

Duron 1.8 Ghz $40
Use your ram
Heatsink fan-Cooler Master Copper "CP5-6J31C-01" $9
Shuttle MN31N/with sound strom and GF4mx graphics $80


Set FSB to 166 = 2250Mhz

$130 done.

 

[vlsi54199]

"Overclockers are at the best skilled tweakers, at the worst straightforward cheapskates: the crux of the art is turning lead into gold, tortoise to hare, bottom-of-range to turbo deluxe"

Like your signature

 

[vlsi54199]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Yeah, the RAM prices are pretty wild

For a quiet PSU, I've seen good remarks about some of the Fortron units that have a single 120mm fan on the CPU side. Antec TruePower units tend to be pretty quiet, I don't know how they compare to the Fortrons. Antecs have a 3-year warranty and that does probably raise the price some. Enermax has some models particularly built to be quiet and I would trust Enermax too (I have one Enermax 365-series, two TruePower430's, and our work fleet has about 30 TruePower330's and about 6 SmartPower350's, aka SL350).

One of the other things about the PSU in your case is that it's the SL300S with one fan, and I believe the fan is a sleeve-bearing model, so that means it's more likely to wear out and begin chattering (or simply stall). The aftermarket SmartPower units don't have an S on the end of their name and use dual fans with ball bearings. So if you need another incentive... yeah. You could always keep the SL300S as a spare/backup unit.

Yeah, will definately check the PSU. I believe I need one and I'm going to OC a little bit.
Thanks!

 

[vlsi54199]

How about this PSU: Fortron FSP550-60PLN 550W EPS12V PSU

 

[mechBgon]

I see that one has "EPS" in its name. EPS is different from ATX. Its main power cable has 24 pins, and it has two secondaries. They're for heavy-duty server motherboards, so pass on that one, you want ATX.

 

[Fern]

Take a look at the Enermax Noisetaker series too.