What motherboard to get

[Greybeard]

Ok, here is my problem. I am going to be getting a whole new system and am not sure what platform to go to. Whether that platform is the DDR or the SDR memory is one question and of course the next is what motherboard versus what platform.
Here I think are my logical choices for Memory which is what I will base my decision against. The newest of the pack of course is the Corsair 2400 memory that was just reciently introduced by Corsair which according to some test blows away most other memory as far as stability and top speed.
http://www.ocprices.com/index.php?command=view&ID=434 and also http://www.fullon3d.com/reports/corsair/pc2400/pc2400.kevin.shtml
The part number being CM64SD256-2400-C2. This would be my choice of memory for a DDR board and I have based most of my time researching DDR based boards and memory until I talked to a salesman at OCR who sells OCable chips with guarantees on what chip stepping you get. Link for them is http://ocz.safeshopper.com/
Anyway when I talked with the guy there he mentioned that with the DDR
you are only gaining 10% versus pc133 and that you could and should be able to run pc166
memeory at 150 FSB speeds and get equal if not better performance with that. He also said that he suggested to use a 1GHz processor with the stepping of AXIAR and that with that stepping you should reach 1.55Ghz on average out of a 1Ghz proc which is about 50 bucks cheaper than a 1.33Ghz proc that only reaches 1.66Ghz on average. see
http://www.athlonoc.com/newsteppings.php
and one reason he suggests the 1Ghz above the 1.33Ghz is that he says with the 1.33Ghz that you may not get above 1.5Ghz if you are using a 300Watt Power Supply and he recommended using a 400Watt Power Supply for 1.3Ghz Athlons and above.
That is now my question.
1.> Would I want to go with a DDR based or a SDR based system and why???

2.> If going with a DDR Setup what board would you choose a MSI K7 Master or a EPox 8K7A and why?

3.> If going with a SDR Setup what board would you choose? Iwill kk266??? I didnt research these at all so any input here will help.

4.> Any suggestion on a good case that is not extremely expensive and that either allows for your own power supply (in the case of 400Watt) or allows 400Watt PS in it.

Sorry for so many questions but I hope I provided lots of info to go on and I certainly respect your experience with OCing. Thanks in advance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Coligeon]

It's clearly the right choice to go DDR if you're building from scarth. It is the same Price as PC133 ram now anyway, and does offer ebetter performance, 5 to 10 percent more give or take, but it will help in the long run with nwe applications coming all the time. If you are decifing to do DDR, then I'd wait for the month of July, all the new KT266 chips are coming out, should be interesting, if you have to buy now, the 8K7A is a good choice, another one might be the Shuttle Ak31, it is really cheap and beat out all the opponents, Amd760, at Cluboc.net, I tihnk that's the link. Anyway, I'd wait and see how the KT266 chip comes along.

 

[Coligeon]

Edit, double post sory.

 

[Darkluck]

I am going to answer your questions directly and then break them down....

1) DDR...for several reasons: DDR prices aren't much more than pc133 prices now ($5-20) depending on manufacturer and where you get it from; For the price vs. performance gain, DDR will be very beneficial as new software is developed because the new software will be more memory intensive and more memory bandwidth intensive; DDR will more than likely become the industry standard soon because most MB manufacturers have adopted DDR into their MB designs, etc etc etc.....

2)As for which board to choose, you need to ask yourself a bunch of questions on what you want out of your MB: Do you want raid? Do you want scsi? do you want a CNR slot?(If you don't know already, CNR slots are pretty much worthless and the difference is 5 PCI slots and 1 CNR on the Master to 6 PCI slots on the 8K7A) What about price? Are you looking for rock solid stability?

If you want raid get the 8K7A+. If you want SCSI get the K7 Master-S. If you don't want a CNR slot and want the extra PCI slot get either the 8K7A or 8K7A+. As for stability, they are both really stable, but the K7 Master I believe has a three phase power system(? don't know for sure) which provides more stability than a two phase power system which the 8K7A has(Basically the 3 phase provides cleaner signals across the MB and should be more stable, don't know if its true or not). Prices around $130 for 8K7A, $175 for 8K7A+, $140 for K7 Master, $230 for K7 Master-S. I'm sure you can find better deals out there, which is why I said around. Personally I'd suggest the 8K7A, I have one, it's been running since I got it (for 7 days straight so far) and hasn't crashed or errored once.

3)I am fairly inexperienced with overclocking so I don't know how much weight my logic will hold here. I'd say either is pretty much good unless you plan on running scsi with a bunch of drives, in which case I'd say get the 400W, otherwise a 300W should do fine; you should also consider price whether bundled with a tower or without, a 400W ps will be fairly expensive. As for a tower it would depend on how much you want to spend and how big you want it. Everyone is raving about the Enlight 8902 and it looks great on paper, but it is expensive(at least $150). Otherwise I wouldn't know what case to recommend specifically.

I hope all of this helps you and your decision making. If I've made any terrible oversights or blunders, please forward correspondence to cauthon@verinet.com.

 

[HansXP]

As others have said, DDR is the way to go. If you're building a system right now, the best boards to get are based on the AMD 760 chipset. Out of those, I'd recommend the Asus A7M266 or the MSI K7 Master. I've been using the A7M266 for the last few months and the performance/stability has been great.

If you're going to be waiting a month, some new versions of the KT266 chipset will be appearing that may offer better performance. And if you're waiting until fall, you can expect nForce to own both the AMD 760 and KT266 chipsets

 

[AppleTalking]

Yep, definitely go with a DDR setup.

If you're buying now, I can recommend the Epox 8K7A. It has rock-solid stability, a great price, 6 PCI slots, and has top-notch performance. If you're looking to buy later, wait for the nForce (expensive, but with plenty of bells and whistles) or the SiS 735 (cheaper, but fewer features) chipsets to come out this fall.

I have not had any problems running my 1.2GHz. Athlon (AVIA core) on the 300W power supply that came standard with my Enlight 7237 case. I got it from tcwo.com for $62 + 6.95 shipping. If you have a lot of extra drives and PCI cards, or you just want to be on the safe side, you can get a 400W power supply and stick it in there. I personally don't like to waste electricity.

I have not heard any problems regarding 300W power supplies and Athlons at 1.33GHz. and above, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

Good luck!
Nick

 

[NelsonMuntz]

I think Darkluck said it all, have fun!!!

 

[Greybeard]

Guys thanks so much for all your input. Being a nerd of sorts, as far as integrated sound and ethernet is concerned I would want to see it to believe it that you are getting QUALITY sound etc from a single chipset configuration. I will have to go look at some good reviews of both the chipsets as like you guys I am not entirely thrilled with the performance that we are getting with DDR. BUT God save DDR as RAMBUS needs to die!!!! sorry for the ranting!

Anyways again thanks!!! Think I will wait for the new chipsets/mobo's to come out and maybe even have to use the single chip selection....though SIS performance was looking pretty good.
I am not sure why I would have to have RAID.....but.....you know if its available then It is always a fun thing to play with!! and I love playing around!! Thanks agian!

 

[greenpoint]

I decided to build a Duron 900 system.
Is a DDR mobo justified runninig at 200, regarding a future upgrade?