Time for an upgrade...

[chuckerants]

I have a ABit BP-6 Dual Celeron I built over 3 years ago that is just dragging lately and I want to upgrade to something at least on THIS side of the century.

I've always liked AMD CPUs (cuz they were cheap) so I thought I'd stick with them.

The MoBo, I was thinking of the ECS K7S5A, again cuz it was cheap.

But, I'm wondering, is there any real noticible difference in the XP 1500 ~ XP 1800 CPUs?

I suppose I'll eventually start tweaking things a little, but for now I'm more interested in getting something faster.

Thanks all.

Chuck

 

[Revx]

well there is a difference in clock speeds so basically you look through and find whats most cost effective to you.

 

[lonewolf1983]

theres not a huge difference in clock speeds
if you are planning to overclock later,id go with the 1500+ as it will probably go to 1900+ level and save you the $$'s

the ECS has lots of fans,but make sure you get DDR and check out the ECS forums for problems you may encounter

if i lived in the states id be after a system like your old one
duallies rock!

 

[chuckerants]

Clock speed diff I can understand, but the 1600 is 1.4 Ghz and the 1700 is 1.47 Ghz.

Just how much of a performance diff is there in such a small setup up? Noticible w/o O/C? Or is one easier to O/C than another?

Thanks.

 

[chuckerants]

Lonewolf - Since I built my BP-6, I got married and took up 2 new expensive hobbies (cigars and home roasting coffee), AND hoping to start a family.

Right now, cheap is starting to sound better and better.

Sounds like my new system will consist of the ECS and the Athlon 1500 or 1600 XP.

Chuck

 

[nihili]

I think by the time you overclock, there won't be a huge difference. Having said that, I do want to point out that while the ECS board is stable and a good performer, it is very limited in overclocking abilities. If this is going to be your main rig, I'd look at the Shuttle AK31 or AK35. Theyre great performers, cheap, and very overclocker friendly. The Epox 8kha+ has also come down a lot in price recently and is worth considering as well.

good luck,

nihili

 

[chuckerants]

I've been checking out the AK31 as well. The version 2 meaning the BIOS version 2? I see that the newest is BIOS version 3.1?

Also, any recs for an affordable HSF?

HOw's the ThermalRight?

 

[nihili]

Version 2 runs on the KT266 chipset, version 3.1 runs on the KT266a. Get the version 3.1 if you get one.

For heatsinks I recommend checking in the cooling forum. There's some new contenders out there that are affordable and good. I'm afraid I'm a bit out of the loop on them.

nihili

 

[chuckerants]

BTW, is there any performance issues between OEM vs Retail CPUs?

 

[nihili]

BTW, is there any performance issues between OEM vs Retail CPUs?

Not that I'm aware of.

 

[chuckerants]

Well, the HS and Fan for my to be ordered PC is the Thermalright AX-7 with a Delta 68 CFM 80mm fan with a rheostat.

 

[-=UR=- Ranger]

Well, the HS and Fan for my to be ordered PC is the Thermalright AX-7 with a Delta 68 CFM 80mm fan with a rheostat.

Good choice, but you might also wan't to get a reostat for the Delta, as it is quite loud at full speed, and you don't really need the CFMs.