TBerk said:
Is there a good recommendation for a AMD cpu (Duo Core pls) with a
motherboard that will, oh I suppose, some SATA and USB 2.0 of course.
Really the motherboard isn't really (right now) the consideration, I'm
just looking to bridge from an old K6-2 setup to something a little
more modern w/o needing to be all cutting edge and everything.
I personally built my new system with one basic thought: I want to use
the AMD 780G chipset. It seems to be a very well-rounded chipset, which
among other things has perhaps the first really decent integrated GPU.
Supports all the usual stuff well, not too hot, passive cooling, works
with most modern AMD processors.
I wasn't going for ultimate speed, more just a nice responsive system
that wouldn't be too noisy or hot, but with a bit of beef for those
times I want to do some number-crunching.
I ended up with:
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H micro-atx (about $100)
CPU: Phenom 9550 (4-core, 2.2 mhz, 95w, about $200)
RAM: 4GB of "DDR2-800" memory (about $100)
Disk: Western Digital WD6400AAKS (640MB, quite fast, about $100)
I put it in a largeish mcro-atx case apparently designed for heavier
usage, meaning that for _my_ usual usage, the fans barely turn on, and
it's almost inaudible. [Even if I max out all 4 cores, the fan noise is
quite muted.]
I'm pleased as I can be with this system -- it's very fast, very quiet,
and though I don't push the GPU right now, has some decent graphics
headroom without buying a separate video card.
Anyway, you want an Athlon, which I have no experience with, but I'd
still highly recommend the motherboard, it's very nice.
-Miles
