buying a dually p3 board

Ebola · Dec 13, 2001

I think there are a few problems with my motherboard. its old and it doesnt want to run inspec. I have a lot of good components and I want a new board that supports 1 gig of sdram (i have 1 gig of crucial sdram).

I'm thinking of going to a dually machine. The epox ep-d3va board supports dually p3's and up to 1.5 gigs of sdram. i know its via so the memory bandwidth isnt as good but it also has agp 4 and ata 66.

http://www.epox.com/html/english/products/motherboard/ep-d3va.htm

for processors all i would need is to match speed and stepping right. i have a 1000E cdo right now.

if anyone has one contact me in january.

so if you have any other recomendations let me know. also would running two 300w psu's be enough or should i buy one 400w psu.

thanks.

funnyperson1 · Dec 13, 2001

any 100fsb FCPGA PIII you get rigth now is cDo.....

Pinky · Dec 13, 2001

Epox make good AMD boards, dunno about their Intel line... I know the tried and true performer of choice for dualies is the VP6. Besides bandwidth issues, any other reason you don't want to go this route?

Ebola · Dec 13, 2001

thanks for the heads up pinky. i missed this one when looking at abit's site. the epox board looked pretty good from the reviews i read. plus it has an isa slot. i still have an isa card.

and funnyperson1, i know there is only one option for the p3 1000E cdo but i was more concerned if i could not find two of these. looks like less online vendors are carrying it.

Kingslayer · Dec 13, 2001

Why 1000E's? Why not go EB and get the better bandwidth off the bat?

Ebola · Dec 13, 2001

I already have one 1000E. but your right. i'm looking at pricewatch and not very many people are even selling the 1000e. I might be better off selling my p3 and buying two new 1000eb chips.

btw kingslayer what size psu do you have?

Kingslayer · Dec 14, 2001

Cheap DEER 300W. Runs the whole system below. 2 CDROM's, 3 hard drives, fans, and neon light.

300W is plenty for a dually PIII system.

Ebola · Dec 14, 2001

thanks for the help kingslayer. financial aid comes in january so i think i'm gonna go with the vp6 and two p3 1000EB chips.

funnyperson1 · Dec 14, 2001

i would buy the 1000E right now because finding cDo Ebs will be a chore and these 1000E aree much better opcers...but you knew that of course

dr0p0ut · Dec 15, 2001

if u are consider abit vp6, u might want to check out ecs d6vaa

its around 60.00 and have less bios option then abit board.
however its stable and tweakable with service bios. but if money
is not an issue, supermicro P3TDDE would be nice to play with

dr0p0ut

Kingslayer · Dec 15, 2001

The other boards out there are new to the dual CPU business and just dont have the history that Abit does. That is why I will recommend the VP-6 over any other board, except a Tyan.

The board is only $130 and with that you get piece of mind and better overclocking options.

Don't waste your time on the 1000E. Yes, the E's are notoriously better overclockers, but 1200 is about tops for the PIII anyways. The 1000EB's should do that without alot of stress, and you will be running a higher FSB which is increased bandwidth anyways. Why run a 1000 at a 120Mhz FSB when you can run a 1000 at a 140Mhz FSB.

muddocktor · Dec 15, 2001

Star-components still has the cD0 1000E procs for $135. That is who I bought my 1000E from. I'd say go with the 1000E procs and overclock them to 1330/133.

EDIT: BTW, the cD0 procs are much better at oc'ing than the cC0 procs and it's not unusual to get a 133 fsb with proper cooling.

Ebola · Dec 16, 2001

yes i know the 1000E is a good chip I have one right now.

But the vp6 is a via board. Memory bandwidth isnt the best on via boards. the p3 1000EB would produce much better memory scores on this board. I have a gig of pc 133 cas2 crucial ram. stability is a good thing.

phantom punisher · Dec 16, 2001

im out of the loop right now but i do know the vp6 and i do know the "E vs EB" debate and you dont have the whole storie yet. the vp6 , like many other boards, has the option of running the ram at the fsb +pci. that means a 100mhz fsb with a 1/3 dividor pci (33mhz) can run the ram at 133mhz. it gets crazy with the 1/4 dividers on the vp6 but basicly look at where the chip is likely to overclock to and then how much mhz your ram can handle. then look at your two options. i myself would be unable to get the 1030 with EBs. i havnt done the math but id hate to see you throw out your E to go with the EBs and end up with a lower ram speed in the end. good luck. the vp6 rules

Ebola · Dec 17, 2001

Learn something new every day. I'll see if the 1000E's are still available at the end of next month. If I cant find one I'll settle with EBs.

Kingslayer · Dec 17, 2001

phantom punisher said:
im out of the loop right now but i do know the vp6 and i do know the "E vs EB" debate and you dont have the whole storie yet. the vp6 , like many other boards, has the option of running the ram at the fsb +pci. that means a 100mhz fsb with a 1/3 dividor pci (33mhz) can run the ram at 133mhz. it gets crazy with the 1/4 dividers on the vp6 but basicly look at where the chip is likely to overclock to and then how much mhz your ram can handle. then look at your two options. i myself would be unable to get the 1030 with EBs. i havnt done the math but id hate to see you throw out your E to go with the EBs and end up with a lower ram speed in the end. good luck. the vp6 rules

The VP-6 doesn't give you the option to run FSB+PCI. It only gives two options FSB and FSB-PCI. That's minus. What that means for instance on mine, I run a 167 Mhz FSB. Thats 167Mhz minus 1/4th that amount, or approx 128 Mhz. It's actually UNDERCLOCKING my PC-133.

This is great for overclocking cheap memory that can't handle the extra FSB. But is a bandwidth killer if your running Crucial memory that can actually take a 167Mhz FSB.

Ebola · Dec 17, 2001

I'm glad I asked the questions. I think I might still go with the EB chips. I'm not looking to overclock the machine. oh I said it. dont ban me. haha.

phantom punisher · Dec 17, 2001

the vp6 has three setting for the sdram clock
1. hstclk + pciclk
2. hstclk
3. hstclk - pciclk

you can access these by pressing the "delete" key during boot up

Kingslayer · Dec 18, 2001

phantom punisher said:
the vp6 has three setting for the sdram clock
1. hstclk + pciclk
2. hstclk
3. hstclk - pciclk

you can access these by pressing the "delete" key during boot up

What bios are you running? I only have two options. hstclk and hstclk-pci.

And I'm running the YT bios...

phantom punisher · Dec 18, 2001

ur,wk,yt , theyve all had the option on this screen

buying a dually p3 board

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