Help! Which Mobo and Processor

[Beachbum 0]

I like to upgrade my System, but do not now what type of Motherboard and Processor to buy.

 

I have access to the following Manufacturers and Types.

 

AMD & Thunderbird Socket A

AMD Athalon Slot A

Pentium 4 Socket 423

Intel Chipset

Celeron PII, III & VIA

 

ABIT, ASUS, CHAINTECH, EPOX, GIGABITE, INTEL & SUPERMICRO

[Bursar 0]

First up, don't bother with the Slot A AMD stuff unless it's very very cheap (or free). You'll end up having to replace it all next time you do an upgrade.

 

A similar thing could be said for the P4 as Intel will be changing the socket layout.

 

The P3 is a fairly decent bet, but the new P3s (Tualatin) might also require a new mobo.

 

So the best thing to do really is go for an Athlon socket CPU. If you get a decent mobo, you should be able to upgrade to a Pally when they're released.

 

I've just bought the Epox EP8K7A+ board and an Athlon AXIA 1GHz CPU. The CPU should easily clock to 1.4GHz, maybe higher, but it was cheap as I'm planning on a Pally.

 

It really depends how much you want to spend, and what you want to use the machine for.

[BladeRunner 0]

It's worth noting that although a lot of the current AMD motherboards will accept the forthcoming Palamino chip, they aren't going to make use of it's advanced features.

Sure, you'll be able to use these higher clocked CPU's, but to get the true performance out of them you'll need to replace that motherboard for one with the newer chipset on.

 

PIV's with DDR support should be available by the end of the year.

PIV's with RIMM's, well that's your call really.

RIMM prices have dropped by a lot just recently, but they are still about double the price of SDRAM.

[Bursar 0]

The P4 with SDR will be a no go. The peformance is awful and AMD will slaughter Intel if they try to get people to buy it.

 

As for the Pally, you may be right, but the fact the CPU will physically fit the board is a huge bonus. Upgrades can be done a step at a time. CPU this month, RAM next month, mobo the month after.

 

As things stand at the moment with the Intel stuff, you'll need to replace the whole lot in one go.

[Brian Frank 0]

Keep away from Chaintech and Gigabyte. Epox is pretty good from what I've heard, and Abit and Asus are definitely ones to keep in mind.

Personally, I'd also consider MSI in my search as they put out pretty good boards if you see them around.

Oh, yeah, slot CPU's seem to be dead in the water in both parties.

I would say go with either Asus or Abit and a T-Bird or Palimino.

Asus has a board or two with both DDR and SDR support, the A7M266 I think. Abit has a DDR with an AMD chipset the KG7-RAID, and I'd look into that too.

If you want to overclock, Asus or Abit hands down.

 

Personally, I'd say to wait until things smooth out since it's a wave of new cpu's, chipsets, and RAM at the same time.

Nothing's wrong with AMD or Intel, but I'd would be nice if Intel wouldn't change the CPU formfactor everytime they release a new generation of CPU's.

[BladeRunner 0]

I'm in full agreement, the Intel changing of socket format's can get very annoying.

The new PIII's for example not being compatible with the current 815 chipsets is both annoying and really silly (Hopefully powerleap will be able to produce the converter they were talking about).

The next generation PIV socket should be around for a little while as Intel have already stated they are going to take that format up to 2.5Ghz and above.

I shall certainly be taking a close look at the next PIV's in dual-CPU format and with DDR - sure, clock for clock it wont be as fast as the AMD's, but the Intel chipset based machines do have a high tendency to simply 'run out of the box' without the need to tweak, download and install little drivers here and there.

[Bursar 0]

Isn't the ability to run out of the box based on the motherboards stability rather than any other component?

 

There are plenty of duff boards out there that will accept Intel chips.

 

It's like most things though. If you buy from a well known manufacturer, you'll have less problems, or the problems will be shorter lived. The better manufacturers have the resources to spend on R&D and tech support so BIOS problems or mobo drivers will be patched and re-released as problems are found.

[BladeRunner 0]

Not really a problem with the motherboard, rather AMD.

Even now the AMD & VIA chipsets still have problems.

The need to install the 4 in 1's, the compatability updates for MS Windows etc.

This is the main reason why most companies stick to Intel based systems, open box, set-up, attach network cable, log onto network job done.

Sure an AMD system will come pre-configured, but if ever a re-installation is required it's a lot more hassle than simply 'insert Win2k CD, install, job done'.

There are also other little issues, take the SB Live! problems.

When it comes down to it, it's the AMD users who are having a problem with this card under Win2k - Intel users aren't.

 

I also feel that AMD have the wrong attitude towards 64bit OS's and applications - but that would be the subject of another thread.

[ThC 129 0]

Ive never had a problem with my Athlon Processor at all, either in 2k or in XP. With or without my SB Live! card. The problem isnt with AMD anyway the problem is with VIA. Don't go blaming AMD for a problem that doesnt pertain to them. VIA is the worst maker of north and southbridges in a chipset ive ever seen. Its just sad how they can't even make a decent chipset. The only reason intel chipsets work so well is because intel pumps large amounts of money into MS so they will make damn sure it runs fine on their OSes. As for 64 bit OSes and Processors, the time isnt right to even go down that road. Once the road is 'paved' so to speak it might be worth going down but there is no reason wasting R&D money on a platform that has no support for it yet.

[Bursar 0]

Have to agree with ThC there. It's the VIA components that are slightly dodgy. They are getting better though. There are also a few other sound cards around apart from Creative ones.

 

AMD are learning about this though, and they are helping the motherbaord and chipset manufacturers much more than they used to. AMD are producing their own chipsets for reference boards which the other manufacturers are working from.

 

Some production boards still have AMD chipsets on them in addition to a VIA one (the Epx board I mentioned is one example of this).

 

If you get a mobo for an Intel CPU, the board will ship with a CD that contains all the relevant drivers for the IDE ports, onboard sound, onboard networking and so-on. AMD based boards are the same.

 

Install Win2k

Install drivers from mobo CD (or updated ones from the web)

Job done.

 

This procedure is the same regardless of the brand of mobo/CPU.

[HELLBRINGER 0]

Yeah but once you work the kinks out of VIAs chipsets everything works great!

 

I would get an Athlon/Duron system hooked up. Just review every motherboard and processor and decide what you want. That's what I did and I am very happy how it turned out.

[CrazyKillerMan 0]

I was asking this very question about 2 months ago.

 

I decided on a AMD 1.2GHz and an ASUS A7M-266 (has the AMD 760 chipset in the northbridge) only supports ddr...it runs like the wind man. Its unbelievable. I priced out an intel system also with a P4 1.5GHz at the heart, and that system was almost $700 more!!!! The funky thing is....my computer hammers on the intel one...in benchmarks and 3dmark2001.

 

At work...we just got same setup, but a 1.4GHz cpu...and its amazing fast (granted there is an asus geforce 3 in it) but wow man. Cannot go wrong with amd. And so what if you have to install 1 or 2 patches. Its not like you have 400 computers you gotta take care of. Just download, install, then take 10 mins time and document this, then burn to cd-rw. DONE!