Recommend A new motherboard and processor.

[goldballs]

Going to build a new system am looking for some advise on what motherboard and video card to buy. Th e machine is for gaming and family use.

Considering
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe or A7N8X-E Deluxe
AMD 2400 - 3000
not sure what video card to use
memory type?
harddrive i have 80 gig
case?

Budget 400 +/-

 

[simpleman]

i like epox mobos but asus and abit are great also
for the vid card a geforce mx440 or a 5900 fx
memory 3200 crucial is good but it limits my OC
for the cpu a 2500 barton even if it's locked you can jump up the fsb to 200 and get a 3200

 

[CCW]

Abit NF7 Rev2.0
Athlon XP 2500+ Barton - has extra level 2 cache so 3d apps such as games will benefit from this
2 x 256MB PC3200

simpleman, you couldnt have picked two other cards with such a big difference between them. One is a completely rubbish for gaming budget card, the other a moderately fast near high-end card. Id be ionclined to pick a Ti4200 (GeForce 4) or Radeon 9600Pro. These are the best of the mid-range cards available. I wouldnt touch the FX with a barge pole. They support Dirext 9.0 but their performance is appauling, lesser to the Ti4200. The NF7 is the best socket A board available so id suggest you stick with it, its proven to be a great all rounder and overclocks very well out of the box. Case? Chieftec, you cant beat the quality, you can get the same quality from Antec as they also use the design for mnay of the cases. They are sturdy, plenty of room for expansion and fans for good airflow, secure (lockable front and side panel) only bad thing is no removable motherboard tray but i personally would never use this

Craig

 

[Sp1k3]

I wouldnt touch the FX with a barge pole. They support Dirext 9.0 but their performance is appauling, lesser to the Ti4200.

i have heard from multiple ppl that the fx series is horrible. why is it, i own the 5200 fx, it seems to be alright. but it has no fan, like the radeon 9600 has. so dont know what makes it such a bad card

 

[CalsonicGTR]

i have heard from multiple ppl that the fx series is horrible. why is it, i own the 5200 fx, it seems to be alright. but it has no fan, like the radeon 9600 has. so dont know what makes it such a bad card

Well, the FX series isnt horrible per se. The 5900 series is very popular and the 5700U has been pulling in some decent results. However, most of the rest of the FX line is generally considered crap. The FX's aren't as DX9 compatible as any on the more modern Radeon DX9 cards (any 9xxx card with the expection of the 9000 and 9100). I think it had something to do with Pixel Shader 2.0 compatibility. The reason people think that the FX5200 is a bad card is because it is the bottom feeder on the nVidia totem-pole. Plus, I believe the FX5200's are still based on the technology of the GeForce2 MX's (or did that stop with the GF4 MX?)

Anyway, for a system I would recommend

NF7 2.0
Barton 2500+
2 x 256 Kingston ValueRAM
Radeon 9600 (go for the Pro version if it fits the budget, avoid the SE versions)
Compucase LX-6A19 with a 300W Fortron PSU and a couple of silent 120mm fans

 

[CCW]

i have heard from multiple ppl that the fx series is horrible. why is it, i own the 5200 fx, it seems to be alright. but it has no fan, like the radeon 9600 has. so dont know what makes it such a bad card

The FX5200 is a GeForce 4 MX440 but with a FX GPU. The 5200FX and MX440 run at exactly the same clock speeds 250/200 (Effective 400 DDR) so basically the FX5200 is a ramped up GeForce 2

They create a hell of a lot of heat, look at the coolers on the FX series compared to an equivalent Radeon card (well their isnt an equivalent Radeon Card as the Radeons are so much better)

Craig

 

[Balrog]

Another vote for the ti4200 if you're on a tighter budget ~ $100 and if you can wait a little bit some of the FX5900 are dropping in price to around $200 which makes them a decent buy. In between this an ATI 9600Pro would be good.

Regards, Balrog

 

[bettsr]

goldballs,

IMO I would recomend the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe mine was very easy to put together. This was my first comp that I have built and was very pleased with this product.

IMO try to get yourself a ulocked Barton something under week 39 I believe I've been reading here that it should be unlocked.

Good Luck with staying within your budget, oh ya, Welcome To The Forums

 

[CCW]

IMO I would recomend the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe mine was very easy to put together. This was my first comp that I have built and was very pleased with this product.

If this person wishes to overclock at a later point though, this is not the board to go with.

Craig

 

[bettsr]

Can you tell me why?

 

[CCW]

Why certainly, the A7N8X do not overclock very high via the FSB, the NF7 seems to be the best board for overclocking with, The new DFi Lan Party board also does high FSBs but I know little about it yet. The AN78X however needs voltage mods and extra cooling to get any where near a high FSB whereas the NF7 does it out of the box.

Craig

 

[bettsr]

I thought about getting the NF7, It was on my list before Made my choice of the ASUS maybe my next project I'll try using The NF7, by the way what kind of fsb are you running at currently?

 

[CCW]

Currently I am running at 200FSB on my 8RDA+ which needs a BIOS flash but my NF7 has arrived today, Ive unpackaged it and had a quick look. Will have a proper play with it this evening.

Craig

 

[bettsr]

"LUCKY YOU" I think my 2700 RAM holds me back.Some day in the near future I too will be the proud owner of some pc 3200. Running 180x12.5=2250 but I keep it a little slower than full blast.

 

[TimWest]

2.5 Barton ($90)
nforce2 MB ($53 Biostar - $130 )
nforce2 IGP ($65)
Kinmax PC3500 Ram ( 512 @ $78 each, or 256 @ 42 each )
ati 9700 Pro $219
ati 9100 $65 (faster then MX440,FX5200 Ultra,9000 pro, 9200)

90+53+84+219 = $446 2.5G,512MB RAM, 9700 Pro
90+53+84+65 = $292 2.5G,512MB RAM, 9100

90+65 (IGP Board) + 156 = $311 2.5G,1024MB RAM, Integrated video (MX440 like performance)....Nice system to put a FX5900 card when you they come down a little more and you save enough to get one....

Just some idea's, Prices are from NewEgg

 

[CCW]

"LUCKY YOU"

Sarcasm? LoL

Well without a BIOS flash, the Epox 8RDA+ I have is stuck at 200FSB as thats the highest the current BIOS it has allows me to go. Still, this NF7, my 1700+ and PC3700 should giveme some fun later.

Craig

 

[Quailane]

I've had a 9600 256mb overclocked to pro speeds in my dad's computer for about a month, and in my stepdad's computer, we just got a 5700 ultra last week. I'd have to say I like the 5700ultra better. (both the comps have the same motherboard, an35n ultra, and processor, 2500+) The 5700ultra pulls slightly better frame rates in all of the games that I play. Also, when I installed ATI's drivers, I kept getting tons of artifacts and the computer kept crashing about every 5 minutes in games. I installed the latest drivers off of their website and that fixed all of the problems. Oh yeah, the 5700ultra isn't overclocked.

 

[bettsr]

Sarcasm? LoL

Well without a BIOS flash, the Epox 8RDA+ I have is stuck at 200FSB as thats the highest the current BIOS it has allows me to go. Still, this NF7, my 1700+ and PC3700 should giveme some fun later.

Craig

No Sarcasm intended.