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Help me configure a low budget AMD system

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i810 Forever

i810 Forever

Member
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Joined
Apr 6, 2002
OK- another change of plans.

If anyone recalls I am stuck on a poor HP celeron 600 @ 750Mhz w/ PC-133 @ 125Mhz. I originally did not have the money to get the budget system I was planning on, but after an odd turn of events I will have $200 to build something, and since just about anything newer than what I have will be a great deal faster, I want to stick something together that can hold me over till Hammers, or whenever the next big jump in technology is. I've never used anything but Intels, but a P4 is simply out of the budget, and an XP1600+ is every as fast as a 1.6A, but only costs $50?

I have picked out:

AMD Athlon XP 1600+ OEM - $54
Epox 8KHA+ (KT266) refurb- $41
256MB Mushkin PC-2700 CAS2 or PC-3000 CAS3 (which is better performance wise?, I will be unlocking the chip and overclocking as much as I can) - $89/90

That will total $184, under my $200 budget.

I will be pulling the Hercules 3DProphet 4000XT 32MB PCI from my HP, since a faster video card isn't in the budget, but I Santa should bring me a Radeon 9500 this Christmas. :)
I have an 80GB Seagate hard drive already, and will pull a CD-ROM and floppy from another machine.

For cooling I will use a Thermosonic Thermoengine w/ 60mm Delta fan & AS3 which I have already, and I am pondering the idea of making a pop-can waterblock as seen on the front-page so I can make a really cheap water cooling setup in a month or so.

I have $100 in cash to get an Antec case & PSU locally, so that will be taken care of.

Is the 8KHA+ a good overclocker? Is it capable of hitting a 200Mhz fsb with a stick of RAM (Mushkin PC-2700 CAS2 or PC-3000 CAS3?) that can handle it? lol, I'm also praying I get a decent AGOIA-Y chip since I will be ordering the mobo & processor from NewEgg.

I'm asuming this system will be a LOT faster than what I've been working on due to the faster ATA, DDR RAM, faster processor & simply more Mhz.
 
Yes it will definitely be faster because of the bandwidth when unlocking. There's no such thing as CAS3 in DDR. CAS2.5 is the slowest you can go. Mushkin will be fine, they seem to be a pretty respectable ram manufacture. Be 100% sure you are buying the Epox 8KHA+ because that's the Via KT266A chipset and the non + is the KT266 chipset (Buggy). If you want to make the best of what you paid for, shell out another 18 bucks on the Abit KX7-333 (59.00 shipped) or shell out 14.00 more for an Epox 8K3A+ which is the 8KHA+ upgraded with the KT333 chipset (1/5 divider). You most likely won't be able to get to 200fsb because the Via KT266A has a 1/4 divider and you'll be running very high buses at 200fsb (50 PCIBus), and it'll cause the system to go FUBAR. The boards I mentioned for you to buy (KX7-333 and 8K3A+) have a 1/5 divider making that 200fsb possible and get more out of your ram ;)

Everything you selected was good.

PS: If you're looking for a case, Antec SX1040 is a good buy.
 
re: I have trouble pushing the 8KHA+ past 172MHz fsb. This is close to the end of the KT266A life. I would look for a KT333 board. Newegg had Abit KX7-333 refurbs yesterday but they come and go.

I don't know about Mushkin but Samsung CTL PC2700 can go to 215MHz fsb. Here is a thread I started about ctl availability at newegg:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,4505181~root=ocusa~mode=flat

AGOIA XP1600+ is the best value around. I got some week 13 2002 at newegg that do 176-178MHz fsb. The next ones I got were week 12 2002 and only do 166-168MHz fsb. This place lists AGOIA week 13 2002:

http://queen.pricewatch.com/search/search.idq?qc="AGOIA"*+AND+@totalcost>0&cr=agoia&ne=6422&l=6376

I ordered from them. I'll let you know how they run.

Harvey
 
Thanks for the quick reply!

Yup the PC-3000 is CAS2.5. So, do I get:
256MB Mushkin PC-2700 CAS2-$89 or
256MB Mushkin PC-3000 CAS2.5 $90?

The 8KHA is indeed the + version, so its the KT266A. I checked the KX7-333 in the newegg refurbs section, for $59, but its out of stock :( . Any other places that have it for that price?

As for the 8K3A+ (I could just go with the version w/o RAID because I probably will never build a RAID), the refurb is $69 at newegg, which is $28 more than the 8KHA+, where can I find a 8K3A+ board for $14 more?

Being able to hit 200Mhz fsb would last me longer, and things would definately run better even though I'd have a PCI video card until Christmas.
 
You can wait... or go for the 8K3A+ which overclocks very well for 69 bucks.

Go for the PC3200 ram... Look at it this way:

PC3000 will do PC2700 at CAS2
PC2700 will PC3000 at CAS2.5

Best to guarantee you can do CAS2.5 at PC3200 speeds than CAS2 at PC2700 because that's a given in this situation.
 
With some $90 RAM (whichever speed it will be) it'll run me $210 if I get the 8K3A+.

Yorums- which brand PC-3200 are you referring to?
 
I think he was referring to your PC3000 you were talking about, I think the 3200 was a typo. My total from Newegg.com came out to $184, too :p

EPoX 8K5a3+
Thermalright AX-7
Vantec Tornado 80mm 84cfm

If I were you, i'd go with that 8K3a+, the PC3000 ram and that 1600+, hopefull you'll get a good stepping on the 1600+.
 
i810 Forever said:
With some $90 RAM (whichever speed it will be) it'll run me $210 if I get the 8K3A+.

Yorums- which brand PC-3200 are you referring to?
Click to expand...

My bad, I was following up your question about Mushkin PC3000 which I typed at PC3200 (Thanks for the correction Morbid). I'm guessing it'll let you run around 190-195fsb with that board depending on how that ram holds... Mushkin is a respectable ram manufacture so I'm guessing it should do fine.

If you got extra cash the Corsair XMS PC3200 - CAS2 is a very good buy.
 
lol Morbid, same price

The Corsair is only $16 more than the Mushkin.

So if I went for the Corsair XMS3200 CAS2, 8K3A+, and an XP1600+, my total would be $230. Not bad really. I'd like to get that combo for the overclocking capabilities (if I get a good chip, and with watercooling, think I could hit 2Ghz? :D wishful thinking...)

I am going to see if I can put together the extra $30 to get the better board and RAM.

/me runs to bank to cash plastic cup full o change
 
i810 Forever said:
lol Morbid, same price

The Corsair is only $16 more than the Mushkin.

So if I went for the Corsair XMS3200 CAS2, 8K3A+, and an XP1600+, my total would be $230. Not bad really. I'd like to get that combo for the overclocking capabilities (if I get a good chip, and with watercooling, think I could hit 2Ghz? :D wishful thinking...)

I am going to see if I can put together the extra $30 to get the better board and RAM.

/me runs to bank to cash plastic cup full o change
Click to expand...
With that, 1750mhz is a given, even on air. You'll have a reasonable chance of 1800-1850 on air, and a reasonable chance of 1900 on water. 2ghz is not unknown with water cooling, but don't expect it.
 
i810 Forever said:
lol Morbid, same price

The Corsair is only $16 more than the Mushkin.

So if I went for the Corsair XMS3200 CAS2, 8K3A+, and an XP1600+, my total would be $230. Not bad really. I'd like to get that combo for the overclocking capabilities (if I get a good chip, and with watercooling, think I could hit 2Ghz? :D wishful thinking...)

I am going to see if I can put together the extra $30 to get the better board and RAM.

/me runs to bank to cash plastic cup full o change
Click to expand...

Might want to hold your temptations abit longer till Hallen gets his order from there which would be an AGOIA "Y" 0213 which is the best stepping. I've heard Newegg giving some crappy steppings as of late.
 
I read about a few crappy steppings also...got me a little worried now. I probably won't be ordering till Friday, or even Monday, so we can find out what Hallen gets.
 
My Friend built an AMD Duron Machine at 1Ghz (over clocks to 1333mhz with ease), 9xMb R.A.M., Gforce2, and K7S5A board with integrated audio (I don't know the details). It's powerful for what he paid for the parts (Under $300). He bought specials locally and online.

I also made a similar machine, but not as cheap.
 
I was considering doing a K7S5A system originally, but after all the troubles I've heard people having with them, and the fact that theyre not good overclockers has turned me away. Plus, I can afford DDR now, and I will be getting an AGOIA 1600, so I'd like to have the overclocking capability.

The 1600+'s are listed as "AGOIA Core" now, so I'm assuming I won't have a problem getting a good overclocker?
 
i810 Forever said:
I was considering doing a K7S5A system originally, but after all the troubles I've heard people having with them, and the fact that theyre not good overclockers has turned me away. Plus, I can afford DDR now, and I will be getting an AGOIA 1600, so I'd like to have the overclocking capability.

The 1600+'s are listed as "AGOIA Core" now, so I'm assuming I won't have a problem getting a good overclocker?
Click to expand...

Yea the K7S5A is a very basic board, but it can support a wide range of CPUs. It hasn't given me any problems (except for the fact that I can't push it any higher than 133mhz without a hack). My next board might me an ASUS or a Gbyte.
 
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