Advice please

[Builder?]

Attempting my 1st build and need advice, hopefully getting Radeon 9800 pro
128, Athlon XP3000 400mhz, 1Gb 400mhz memory.
Wondering what motherboard would meet my needs at around £40 - £50? Also
what case should i be looking at, wattage and so-on?
TIA


--

 

[Barry]

Attempting my 1st build and need advice, hopefully getting Radeon 9800 pro
128, Athlon XP3000 400mhz, 1Gb 400mhz memory.
Wondering what motherboard would meet my needs at around £40 - £50? Also
what case should i be looking at, wattage and so-on?
TIA

You might consider the MSI KT6V-LSR. I recommend this as I just switched
out my old GA-7VTXE mobo for one and it's working great. Personally, I
picked this to give me some upgrade room in the future (can upgrade my
XP2000+ to a 3200+ and my DDR266 to DDR400 and my AGP-4X to an 8X plus
it has SATA support). It also has onboard LAN and the choice of stereo
or 5.1 audio and 8 USB2.0 ports so that cuts down on the extra cards you
need to buy. You should be able to get one for around £45.

I would mention though, that if I was building from scratch at the
moment I'd consider spending a bit more to build an AMD-64 socket 939
system, which will give more potential for future upgrades.

 

[Ruel Smith]

Attempting my 1st build and need advice, hopefully getting Radeon 9800 pro
128, Athlon XP3000 400mhz, 1Gb 400mhz memory.
Wondering what motherboard would meet my needs at around £40 - £50? Also
what case should i be looking at, wattage and so-on?

First of all, why not a Radeon X700? They should be out real soon and
are faster than the 9800 Pro, and should be cheaper.

Second, if you're spending so much for all that memory and the XP 3000+,
why not Athlon 64? When XP-64 gets released, you should pickup a 20%
increase in speed from switching to 64 bit software alone.

I highly recommend any Antec case in your price range, and get at least
350 watts.

As far as motherboards go, there are tons out there that are good. I
highly recommend Asus, personally, but that's just MY opinion.

 

[JK]

You might consider the MSI KT6V-LSR. I recommend this as I just switched
out my old GA-7VTXE mobo for one and it's working great. Personally, I
picked this to give me some upgrade room in the future (can upgrade my
XP2000+ to a 3200+ and my DDR266 to DDR400 and my AGP-4X to an 8X plus
it has SATA support). It also has onboard LAN and the choice of stereo
or 5.1 audio and 8 USB2.0 ports so that cuts down on the extra cards you
need to buy. You should be able to get one for around £45.

I would mention though, that if I was building from scratch at the
moment I'd consider spending a bit more to build an AMD-64 socket 939
system, which will give more potential for future upgrades.

A socket 939 Athlon 64 3000+ with a motherboard is probably $300+
in the US. A socket 754 one with motherboard is around $240.
A socket 754 A 64 3200+ with motherboard is around $265. An
Athlon XP 3000+ with motherboard is around $160. These prices
are for use with a decent quality motherboard (without many frills.
There are more expensive motherboards). If the pc is to be used
for business software, then the Athlon XP would be a good choice.
If it is also to be used for games, Photoshop, CAD or other demanding
software, then an Athlon 64 would be a better choice. At the moment,
the Athlon 64 socket 754 chips are are a much better deal than the
socket 939 ones, as the 939 cpu itself is around $40-50 more than the
socket 754 one, and the socket 939 motherboard is around $30 more
than the socket 939 one. The $70-80 price difference will probably
pay for a new motherboard when you are ready for a new cpu.
One could also choose a socket 754 Athlon 64 3200+ for less than
a socket 939 A64 3000+. I would probably go with a socket 754
Athlon 64 3000+ if I would be building a pc now. This choice
might change in a few weeks though if the socket 939 chips and
motherboards drop in price quite a bit relative to the socket 754
ones. As the supply of socket 754 Athlon 64 chips is used up,
I expect the prices to rise(and/or prices on the socket 939 ones to fall).

 

[Matt]

An
Athlon XP 3000+ with motherboard is around $160. These prices
are for use with a decent quality motherboard (without many frills.
There are more expensive motherboards).

Please show proof. Please state whether a CPU cooler is included and
whether all parts are new and whether shipping is included.

 

[JK]

Check www,pricewatch.com for prices.

Please show proof. Please state whether a CPU cooler is included and
whether all parts are new and whether shipping is included.

 

[Ruel Smith]

Check www,pricewatch.com for prices.

And end up getting ripped off or waiting forever for you part to be
shipped by some fly-by-night company. Stick to good merchandisers like
NewEgg and ZipZoomFly, instead.

 

[JK]

There are other good vendors as well. Just exclude those with poor
ratings on www.resellerratings.com.

 

[David Besack]

Attempting my 1st build and need advice, hopefully getting Radeon 9800 pro

128, Athlon XP3000 400mhz, 1Gb 400mhz memory.
Wondering what motherboard would meet my needs at around £40 - £50? Also
what case should i be looking at, wattage and so-on?
TIA

Needed wattage will depend on more than what you posted. For example do
you plan to have more than one hard drive? The 9800 PRO is a little
power hungry. You could probably live with a 350W minumum, but if you
want future upgradability, I'd go with maybe 450W.

 

[Matt]

Check www,pricewatch.com for prices.

Matt wrote:

Worthless reply.

There is no retail-boxed shipped XP 3000+ withOUT motherboard to be
found under $155.

 

[JK]

Worthless reply.

There is no retail-boxed shipped XP 3000+ withOUT motherboard to be
found under $155.

There are a number of Athlon XP3000+ motherboard combos on
www.pricewatch.com starting at $116. There is an interesting
one with an nForce 2 Biostar motherboard for $140($135+$5 shipping)
http://www.partspc.com/store/product516.html

One doesn't have to buy a retail box processor.

 

[Matt]

Matt wrote:




There are a number of Athlon XP3000+ motherboard combos on
www.pricewatch.com starting at $116. There is an interesting
one with an nForce 2 Biostar motherboard for $140($135+$5 shipping)
http://www.partspc.com/store/product516.html

One doesn't have to buy a retail box processor.

Right, but it looks like the bundle you indicated comes with only a
15-day warranty.

I find this item at that partspc URL:

Biostar/Amptron M7NCD Socket A DDR MB with Athlon XP 3000+ (2.167Ghz)
333FSB CPU & Fan
SKU: M7NCD@3000
$134.86

Elsewhere on the site I find:

* All Products come with 15day OEM warranty unless mentioned
otherwise, exceptions can be made.

And:

CHOICE OF LAW AND FORUM
These Terms of Use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with
the laws of the State of California, excluding its conflicts of law
rules. You expressly agree that the exclusive jurisdiction for any claim
or action arising out of or relating to these Terms of Use or your use
of this site shall be filed only in the state or federal courts located
in the State of California, and you further agree and submit to the
exercise of personal jurisdiction of such courts for the purpose of
litigating any such claim or action.

 

[Matt]

There are a number of Athlon XP3000+ motherboard combos on
www.pricewatch.com starting at $116. There is an interesting
one with an nForce 2 Biostar motherboard for $140($135+$5 shipping)
http://www.partspc.com/store/product516.html

As you suggested, I checked resellerratings.com and found that partpc's
ratings are abysmal:

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1959.html

So I think we are still waiting for an example of a $160 bundle of mobo
and XP3000+.

 

[JK]

Here's another vendor at the same price.

http://www.bzboyz.com/store/product4865.html

 

[JK]

How about this Asus A7V combo for $154?
http://www.compu-terra.com/store/product1179.html

 

[Matt]

How about this Asus A7V combo for $154?
http://www.compu-terra.com/store/product1179.html



Matt wrote:

That company has only eight ratings in the last six months at
resellerratings.com. Their warranty page is blank. Their "Contact Us"
page is blank.

Still waiting for the $160 mobo/XP3000+ bundle you keep talking about.

Please don't bother pointing to any more vendors unless a prudent person
would consider buying from them.

I guess it would be best if you just drop the wild claims and find the
best price you can from a decent vendor. Okay?

We can find this thread in the future by googling for the string
JKsFalseClaimsOfCheapXPs.

 

[Matt]

Here's another vendor at the same price.

http://www.bzboyz.com/store/product4865.html

Matt wrote:

resellerratings.com gives horrible ratings to both of the outfits you
have mentioned so far. In fact it looks like they might be run by the
same people. Compare:
http://www.bzboyz.com/service/faq.htm
http://www.partspc.com/faq.htm
The pages obviously came from the same place.

Still waiting for the $160 mobo/3000+ bundle you keep talking about.

 

[Gary Newman]

Nice summary