Suggestions on my PC upgrade

Damok

Ok I've recently decided to upgrade my system. But being a student i don't want to spend a lot of money on it. Here is what i plan to buy from Komplett.ie:

114489 AMD Athlon XP2700+ 2.167 GHz
118267 Abit NF7 V2.0 Mainboard for Socket A DDR nForce2SPP/MCP/Ultra 400,ATX,USB2.0,LAN
118497 TwinMOS PC3200 DDR-DIMM 512MB Dual Pack Kit w/two matched PC3200 CL2.5 DDRs
119402 Spire CPU-Fan WhisperRock IV Socket A
301412 Fortron Powersupply ATX-350W OEM
300418 Q-Tec Midi tower ATX TL-MD2, Silver transparent, without powersupply

Now i plan to take my hard drive, monitor, keyboard, mouse, graphics card and CD drives from my old computer, and i will update the hard drive at a later date.

This should all come to a total of 342.99! (plus postage of 20)

Can anyone see any problems with the compatibility of any of the parts, i didn't see any areas that might cause any problems, but what would i know. :rolleyes:

Also i'm wondering if i should get a motherboard with SATA instead of just ATA. Is it worth it for the small increase in speeds? Also can anyone tell me if it's wortwhile getting an nForce2 motherboard?

Any feedback welcome, good or bad.

Col_Loki

Parts look grand, might go with Corsair Value Ram or Crucial stuff as ive had some problems with twinmos of late.

The motherboard is a decent one. SATA is going to be taking over with IDE being phased out, mabye its worth the bit extra up to you. Definetly get a Nforce2 board.

I would prob get a 2500+ and some Corsair/Crucial Pc3200 Ram......

Damok

Oh right, good point. Thanks
With the RAM, would you say that having dual 256mb would make a difference for this system, or should i just get a single 512mb RAM?

Jammer

dual doesnt really matter much with AMD systems IIRC.

i have that motherboard, and its fine. I run it with a 2500+ and it has built in overclock facility to make it a 3200+.

I have that whisper rock fan on my 2800+ and it isn't great. But does the job on keeping it cool enough. Would recommend the Aero 7 lite or the Aero 7 plus for the extra few quid. esp. if you would be getting the 2500 up to 3200.

I have 1 stick of 512mb pc3200 twinmos and it hasnt given me a bother. my brother has 1gb of the stuff in his P4 and its never given him a bother either.

Damok

Thanks Jammer.
I think i'll take my chances with TwinMos, see what happens. Col_Loki what kinda problems have you had with it? Was it overclocking stuff, coz i don't think i'll be wanting to overclock my RAM. (Unless i could be convinced otherwise)

Also Jammer what is the difference between the Aero 7 Lite and the Aero 7+ coz the specs seem the same to me? The only difference i can see is the prices, Aero 7+ is nearly 3 times as much!

Another thing i've noticed is the difference between Thoroughbred and Barton Athlons. Bartons have 512kb caches while the Thoroughbreds have 256kb cache. What difference would this make? Which ones are you guys using, coz your signatures don't say?

tman

i've got one 512mb stick of that twinmos ram in my NF7 v2.0 and haven't had any problems for the past 5 months.
i'll be buying another stick of it soon, its great value ram if you're not planning on overclocking it.

unklerosco

AFAIK the Aero 7 has a copper heatsink and the Aero7 lite has a Alu heatsink with a copper insert...

I used to have the lite on my old 2500 system and it was grand, kept it cool and quite at 3200+ speeds. No point in spendin more for the std aero 7

tman

Aero 7 lite should just about do the job for running an xp2500+ at 2.2...

i've got one myself and the temps are perfectly acceptable... i'd prefer to have a proper Aero 7 to shave a few degrees off though

Damok

Great well that's solved the cooling problem, thanks.

But what about the processor? Should i go for 256kb cache or 512kb cache, or is there any noticable difference at all?
If there is no difference, i'll be buying the XP2700+.

Also i think i should probably buy some overclockable RAM. Just in case i ever want to overclock the whole system. I hear that AData is good for overclocking for the price. I've seen 512mb of AData for Eur105 on shop4memory.com. Or i could buy two 256kb AData modules for Eur47 each! Is that a good investment, or should i stick with the un-overclock-able stuff?

Col_Loki

ADATA is excellent overclocking Ram for Intel or AMD64 systems where they are capable of high FSB. ADATA generally has loose timings but will hit high speeds. On the AMD XP systems go for Ram with slightly tighter timings, as thats most important with XP's........ Pc3200.

If you are overclocking then definetly get the Xp2500+ , the extra cache does make a diference and its a great overclocker provided you have your system setup nicely (ie Pc3200 Ram and decent cooling). Tis your choice wheather to go with the 2700+ or not either way you will prob be happy.

Dr Bolouswki

I read on overclockers.co.uk that some twinmos memory chips don't like nforce 2 chipsets... however, and its a big however, it was only certain twinmos sticks...

the board is great - the 2500 is easy to clock on it, the 2700 might be more money for minimal performance difference...

cache is memory built into the cpu - the more of it you can get the better - major difference in performance

the aero 7 has a big fan on it - might need a big case to ensure clearance between heatsink and psu (the aero 7 is the jet engine one right?) - my aero 7 i sitting inthe cupboard until i get a new case - can't get it to fit unless I carve some of it off!

Damok

Thanks everyone. The 2500+ seems like the way to go, especially for the price! And then i have the option of overclocking it.

But in that case I should definately get a decent cooler. Can anyone make a good case for getting an Aero 7+ over an Aero 7 lite?

And i'm thinking of getting a Zalman powersupply, simply because Komplett don't have any Fortron's in yet and won't do for a while I'd say. How does a 300W Zalman sound for some light overclocking? There's one of jes-computers for around Eur50.

And at the risk of sounding stupid or annoying, what type of timings are tight? I'm a bit confused about the whole RAM rating stuff. What RAM would you recommend for tight timings?

Jammer

As mentioned above, the Aero 7+ has copper, and the Aero Lite has aluminium (sp?)...so, as we all know copper is a better absorber (sp?) of heat so should have it a few degrees lower. I use a smallish ATX case (Antec Lanboy) and its well clear of the side.

The setup i have now is quite like the one your getting, and for the money, its excellent. The Abit NF7 V2 is only 65euro now, thats a steal (was a 110ish when i got it not too long ago). When you pop in a 2500+ into it, it has an option to automatically overclock it to a 3200+ (although i had to up the vcore a slight bit iirc)! I've used this option since ive had the chip (about 4 or 5 months) and never had a shakey moment! I have 2 more 80mm fans on my case (one sucking, one blowing) and it stays at a nice temperature!

The sound on the montherboard is 5.1, and is grand for playing games and stuff. I used it for a month or so while i gathered a few quid for a sound card. The only reason i got a sound card was for recording purposes.

The RAM has served me well too (512mb stick of PC3200 TwinMos), i play all the latest games and loading times arent too bad, although come HL2 and Doom3 i'll be throwing another stick of 512 in i think!

[EDIT] As a side suggestion, check out elara.ie for cases. They have some nice Antec cases that come with PSU's. If your looking for a quiet case then the Antec Sonata (140 euro with a very good, almost silent 380W PSU), a few members on boards have it, and ive only heard good things about them. It comes with a 120mm fan too, so it should stay cool enough! If you live in Dublin you can collect, if not delivery is resonable enough! If the sonata isn't your thing, then check out the Lanboy (great case, i have two!) it has a window and all that kinda jazz, and they are very well made. With a 350W True Blue Antect PSU they are around 110 i think. [/EDIT]

Col_Loki

Thanks everyone. The 2500+ seems like the way to go, especially for the price! And then i have the option of overclocking it.

Good choice. The NF7 is a fantastic board, i love it. The NF7-S is pretty cheap on jes and comes with better sound, SATA and firewire....... might be worth keeping in mind?

But in that case I should definately get a decent cooler. Can anyone make a good case for getting an Aero 7+ over an Aero 7 lite?

The Aero 7 lite should be fine, the Aero 7 is just too expensive and isint worth the extra IMO as its too close to the price of a thermalright (last time i checked).

And i'm thinking of getting a Zalman powersupply, simply because Komplett don't have any Fortron's in yet and won't do for a while I'd say. How does a 300W Zalman sound for some light overclocking? There's one of jes-computers for around Eur50.

That or the Tagan. The 300w Zalman should power your system no problems, and will handle the overclock aswell. It produces alot more than its rated for and is very quiet.

The Sonata is a good choice either, great PSU and build quality.......... depends on your taste's.

And at the risk of sounding stupid or annoying, what type of timings are tight? I'm a bit confused about the whole RAM rating stuff. What RAM would you recommend for tight timings?

The tightest timings are 2-2-2-5 . Good timings would be 2-3-2-7 , decent would be 2-3-3-7 etc etc ........ the closer to 2-2-2-5 you get the better. The last figure doesent really make any difference for the AMD XP's so dont worry too much about that.
Mushkin Level 1 Ram is very good but im not sure if its worth the extra. With Pc3200 Ram that should do perfectly for an overclock of up to 2.2ghz (Xp3200+) but will perform slightly worse than the Mushkin would at the same speed.