My first system (pending) specs...any advice?

[Tokumei]

Ok, here's the the specs for my new system.

CPU: AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1.4GHz 266MHz Bus Socket A PGA Processor

Mobo: EPOX EP-8K7A AMD-761 + VIA 686B AGPset

RAM: (2) KINGSTON KVR266X64C25/256 256MB 32x64 PC2100 DDR RAM

HD: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40GB 60 Ultra DMA 100

GPU: Visiontek Geforce2 mx400

Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live 5.1

CD-RW: TDK VeloCD 24x10x40

So, what do you think? Will this system work out? Any recommendations?

[zangler]

if you can, wait a week or so for the palomino, and i would get the 8kha. it is so stable, if you plan to overclock (you are on this forum) check out the reviews at www.epox.com. also the 8kha is the only board from epox that is recommended at www.amd.com for 1gig and higher. other than that, have fun building the system! make sure you shell out for a good hsf. i suggest the
sk-6, which also works well with the 30cfm delta, as well as the 38cfm. i choose the 30cfm (5500rpm), so i dont have a hairdryer in my box.

[zangler]

it is my job to talk you out of it! j/k. it is just a newer board, and has all the same options, with a few more that can be done, plus it is jumperless, which is great. i just prefer to go with the recommended.

[Tokumei]

I'm on a budget here... $112 for a 1.4 ghz T-Bird is a great deal... I'm also very impatient. It's because of these two reasons that I've made the choices I have. I think I can wait until the Athlon XP (Palamino) goes down in price.

[zangler]

they are both great epox products, but check out the reviews! they rave! about %95 or higher on almost all of them.

[Tokumei]

Uhm... what are jumpers and why do people prefer a lack of them?

[zangler]

jumpers are switches that allow you to change things on your motherboard, such as your cpu clock multiplier. people prefer a lack of them, because you have to open your box everytime to change them, if you can do the same thing from the bios, you don't have to do that. jumper-less is just easier.

[!-=sky=-!]

Originally posted by zangler
they are both great epox products, but check out the reviews! they rave! about %95 or higher on almost all of them.

both are great and each has its own good function

the 8kha is jumperless so you don't have to take apart the computer just to change some settings but when you screw up on some setting you will have to reset cmos which gets kinda annoying as you have to re set all the settings you had before

the 8k7a has jumpers but the board has the 2.2v voltage out of the box so it's great as you don't need to do a vmod. it is kind of impossible to do the vmod on a 8kha and i heard a few people screwed up already

[Tokumei]

Would71: I think I'm gonna go with the combo you have. It sounds like a good deal. It'll give me a few extra bucks to save up for my ELSA GLADIAC 920, nVidia GeForce3 processor. 3.8ns, 64MB DDR RAM. What? A guy can dream, can't he?

[zangler]

abit is not epox. think of the 8kha as a slightly improved 8k7a. that's all. it is by the same company, just newer. trust me, i was going to get the 8k7a, but read the reviews and took a chance. i could not be happier. my board was only $100 after shipping, and is the best part of my system. plus i got my 1.4 up to 1.53 no problem, and im going for 1.6 soon. read the reviews.

[zangler]

the 1.4 with the 8kha is only $226 on price watch, and the 1.4tbird is far better than the duron for gaming and the like, if that is what you are into. if not, go duron and save some money.