OKAY The Old Fart is upgrading to AMD - need recommendations for mobo.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Thu Jul 25, 2002 2:27 pm

Got some spare money and the itch to upgrade my P3-1000 workstation.

I know there's been plenty of threads like this lately, and I'm going back through them, but I want the latest poop.

I'm probably going to get an Athlon XP 200+ CPU.

I'm planning on buying a retail CPU so I'm not really interested in recommendations on a HSF assembly unless you can recommend something that's dramatically quieter than the retail one without sacrificing cooling.

RELIABILITY is my UTMOST concern. I have NO DESIRE WHATSOVER to overclock.

I'm going with PC2700 ram and will almost certainly go with Crucial since they've been very good to me over the years, unless someone has a particular recommendation that's notworthy.

So bottom line is I need a recommendation for a rock stable Socket A mobo. Onboard Cmedia sound would be a nice option, but not necessary. I have an SBLive which has worked well for me. I won't say money is no object, but I want a good STABLE board and I'm willing to pay for it.

I deal mostly with NewEgg, but if anyone can recommend another mail order place that would be nice too.

Thanks!

PreDatoR · Post by **PreDatoR** » Thu Jul 25, 2002 3:08 pm

Iwill XP333/R or the Epox 8K3A/+. Both are rock solid boards at default or overclocked. The Iwill has Cmedia onboard and the Epox has 5.1 AC97 sound. i use a GTXP so its disabled anyways. I would highly recommend putting your own HSF on that chip. The retail one will work but your temps will be pretty high. The Dr Thermal is a decent quiet cooler also the Coolermaster Heatpipe isn't that loud either. I'm working on a review of a Powercooler PCH610T it cools really well and is very quiet and it is the easiest AMD HSF that i've installed yet. You really don't need PC2700 unless your going to be doing extreme overclocking and the boards that are out now like the KT333 you can run the ram at 166 while the FSB is at 133 but there is no performance gain at all... But if you plan on upgrading in the future might as well pickup the PC2700. I'd recommend the Samung. Haven't heard of many people using Crucial PC2700 but i have the samsung and love it. Had it running at 220FSB in windows... But the Radeon8500 didn't care for the high AGP bus speed and i had some graphcis tearing pretty bad.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Thu Jul 25, 2002 3:19 pm

Yeah I'd heard good things about the Iwill XP333 before and had it on my short list. That's another vote for it.

I also like Cmedia over AC97 if I go with onboard sound, which I might just to reduce the card count. I'm not married to the SBLive and I don't use my sound card for anything but playing games and listening to MP3s. I don't have any of the surround apps installed - just doesn't interest me. The SBlive was a bitch to get working right on this mobo - had to disable ACPI to get it to work.

I admit I'm totally un-knowledgable about DDR Ram and just assumed that faster was better, so appreciate the feedback on that. I may still get PC2700 if I it falls in the budget, but nice to know you I can use 2100 without any performance hit.

Samsung eh? I've heard Samsung recommended before for RAM. Okay, I'll keep that in mind.

That PCH610T HSF looks nice, and I like the idea of "easy to install". Some HSFs are a royal pain in the arse. I'll keep that one in mind as well.

Thanks.

Lmandrake · Post by **Lmandrake** » Thu Jul 25, 2002 3:32 pm

Soyo SYKT333 Dragon Lite

or

Shuttle AK35GT2

Why? I have always had good luck with Soyo Boards and this is a nice featured and not overpriced board. The shuttle? I have the 266A version of the Shuttle and it has been a very nice board with no quirks and surprises. Both have the CMI 8738 onboard sound.

But Pred makes good choices too.

I would vote for the Samsung too. Crucial is good, but I seem to be the only person in the universe who got a stick of Crucial PC2100 that won't go past 145 mhz. I don't see any reason to get PC2700 unless you are going to overclock OR you think you might go to a P4 platform later and want to OC. But, it looks like memory prices are going up in anticipation of "back to school."

dadx2mj · Post by **dadx2mj** » Thu Jul 25, 2002 3:37 pm

I love my Soyo Dragon+ lots of extras and for me it has been very stable. There is now the Dragon Ultra with the newer K333 chipset. As for heatsink if you want quiet get one of the AX7's or an Alpha 8045 and put a quiet 80mm fan on it.

PreDatoR · Post by **PreDatoR** » Thu Jul 25, 2002 3:38 pm

Pc2700 just means its rated mem bandwidth is 2700mbps.. DDR is just like PC100 and 133 higher number don't mean higher performance if ran on a slower system... Why they didn't just call DDR PC200/266/333/400 is beyond me... That power cooler fan in that link if you look at the bottom of the page it kinda shows the clamp mechanism... Works very smooth to get it on and off... It is a little on the top heavy side but i don't think that will pose many problems... its not near as heavy as a few of the HSF's out there.,

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Thu Jul 25, 2002 3:39 pm

A few questions:

1) How about chipset cooling on these mobos? I hear that's a concern with some of the newer mobos. I understand the fans that come with some of these boards don't cut it.

2) Checking prices on Athlon XP CPUs. I see some marked as "AGOGA" core. This anything that matters to me, or is it an overclockers thing (again NOT interested in overclocking)?

3) Anyone have a recommendation for a place to order Samsung PC2100? NewEgg only carries Samsung PC2700. I can get Crucial PC2100 512Mb direct from Crucial (and matched for the mobo) for $140

Hmmm... that Soyo Draghon Lite does look tasty, and I've had good luck with Soyo. I've been very happy with Epox as well - nice solid designs.

While I've read many ggod thinks about that IWill board, I do admit to being a bit leary of ALi chipsets. Dunno if it applies anymore but ALi made so much crap in the past.

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Thu Jul 25, 2002 4:08 pm

i'm a full generation behind on the amd stuff - but i have some exp. on the chipset cooling - my shuttle ak31 got flaky when gaming - i replaced the mobo chipset heatsink with a $7 generic blue orb with a heatpad and that was the end of the problem

i have pc 2100 in my 1.33 tbird and it runs just fine at 133 - you only need the 2700+ stuff for 150+ fsb

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Thu Jul 25, 2002 4:14 pm

Someone once recommended the Vantec Iceberq CCB-A1C chipset cooler: http://www.crazypc.com/Merchant2/mercha ... Code=51035

I suppose if I have a problem I can always buy one later.

PreDatoR · Post by **PreDatoR** » Thu Jul 25, 2002 4:23 pm

The XP333 is solid as hell and gives the KT266a a good run for its money. Overall i'd take the XP333. I actually have one but its not in my main system... The Ali MagiK chipset is a good chipset. If your going for PC2100 might as well get the crucial. svcompucycle.com sells samsung. Its on a 3rd party board but this is the stuff that i'm running and its good ram. They have Pc2100 Samsung but it isn't as good as the PC2700 stuff but i'm talkin' overclocking wise. And they ship USPS and i've never been charged more than 4 bucks to have anything shipped. As far as the Cores go AGOGA is a decent overclocker and since your not don't pay the extra lol

Lmandrake · Post by **Lmandrake** » Thu Jul 25, 2002 4:59 pm

Actually, one thing about my Shuttle AK35 does piss me off - the northbridge heatsink/fan is either glued on or attached with super strong frag tape. So I left it on because I don't like putting mainboards in the freezer and prying stuff off BGA chips scares me to death..... So unless shuttle has changed how they attach the HSF on the northbridge, this is a consideration...

I have always been afraid of Ali chipsets too, but the latest ones are not the junk we saw back in the "Super Socket Seven" era. Hmm, does anybody make a Socket A board with a PC Chips chipset?

blade · Post by **blade** » Thu Jul 25, 2002 5:49 pm

I'm probably going to get an Athlon XP 200+ CPU.

Ya mean 2000+

Here is a review on that iceberg chipset cooler.

Shuttle does make very cheap chipset fans and heatsinks and every one I've had I have had to replace what they included. Initially I just replaced their fan with an old 486 fan and that worked just fine. Doesn't look as cool as the iceberg though, but it works.

If you do get another heatsink if you get an oem chip the I suggest what pred suggested, Though I haven't tried that power cooler I have the good doctor which is a dream to install, or the tak 68. Even the AX-7 with a quiet fan does well. Quiet is one under 36db and that should pull 30-34cfm.

As for a mobo, I have an ak31a and a ak35, both do very well, but I can't seem to oc past a 140fsb, but that might be my ram. Doesn't bother me because I only o/c to test new heatsinks. The ak35 also has onboard cmedia.

If you need to order any parts other than from newegg, all the sites we link to from here are good trusted sites.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Thu Jul 25, 2002 9:49 pm

I'm using an IWill Raid card right now with a RAID stripe array, and if I decide to continue using RAID I'll probably just move that over (that way I won't have to futz with my existing partitions), but frankly I've lost my love for RAID.

I never wound up doing the amount of video work I expected t, which was the main reason I went with RAID, and I'm constantly worried about losing a drive. This system has become very mission critical and I'm more concerned about reliability over performance now.

Jim Z · Post by **Jim Z** » Thu Jul 25, 2002 10:15 pm

FP, I wouldn't recommend anything but an nforce-based board. and of those, the Asus A7N266-C is probably the best bet. Yer not paying for the onboard video (it has the nforce 415 north), but you're still getting the 5.1-channel integrated sound.

1) How about chipset cooling on these mobos? I hear that's a concern with some of the newer mobos. I understand the fans that come with some of these boards don't cut it.

Asus uses a tall passive heatsink on theirs, and on my board the northbridge heatsink only got barely warm.

2) Checking prices on Athlon XP CPUs. I see some marked as "AGOGA" core. This anything that matters to me, or is it an overclockers thing (again NOT interested in overclocking)?

supposedly they overclock better, but that's the only reason to specifically get one. don't waste yer dough.

3) Anyone have a recommendation for a place to order Samsung PC2100? NewEgg only carries Samsung PC2700. I can get Crucial PC2100 512Mb direct from Crucial (and matched for the mobo) for $140

I'd do Crucial if I were in your position.

I have stopped recommending Via chipsets at all. And ALi's track record is really no better.

I'm planning on buying a retail CPU so I'm not really interested in recommendations on a HSF assembly unless you can recommend something that's dramatically quieter than the retail one without sacrificing cooling.

The Alpha PAL8045 fits nicely on this board, and with a Panaflo L1A it kept my XP 2000+ comfy at around 41C. Nearly silent, too. The HSF supplied with the retail CPUs is a Dynatron skive-fin heatsink with the whiny 60x60x10mm fan. It works, but there's a lot better out there.

TruckStuff · Post by **TruckStuff** » Fri Jul 26, 2002 11:01 am

Dude... Dual CPUs. Its the only way to get a true workstation. I know you do a lot of work with Photoshop, etc. so you would use it. I'm sitting on a Tyan Tiger MPX S2466N with a pair of retail MP 1600+ and its been solid as hell (some problems with my RAM, but its the RAMs fault, not the board). The board has onboard 3com NIC and I think there is a version with onboard sound and/or vid. The only downside I've seen in reviews is that you have to have a separate USB card (some northbridge problems or something), but it is included. The beef is that its not a USB 2.0 card, which some other boards based on teh same chipset include. Not a big deal for me though. Just my two cents.