Need advice on new processor/MB combo

[Nebuchadnezzar 0]

My hardware is getting pretty long in the tooth and I'm thinking about upgrading my processor and motherboard (currently I have a o/c'ed Celeron 400 (to 500) on an Abit BX6 Rev. 2 motherboard).

 

I was looking at getting an Athlon Thunderbird 1000 or 1100 Socket A on an Abit KT7-RAID Motherboard.

 

A few questions:

 

1. I have about half a gig of PC100 SDRAM and I'm not really ready to upgrade it all to PC133 SDRAM (especially with RDRAM coming out on the market) - can I still use this stuff or no?

 

2. Is the performance of the 1100 over the 1000 worth the price increase?

 

3. Is this even a good idea to be doing this now? I know there is always something bigger and better on the horizon but my budget for this project is about $500, and I wouldn't be able to afford the latest and greatest anyway.

 

Thanks for the help,

 

 

 

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- Neb

[EM 0]

Depends on what you are doing with your computer as to what the upgrade of choice should be. What is the fastest cpu your current board will support? Would it be wiser to use the board you have and just get a faster processor?

 

Also keep in mind you can get a couple of PIII 700e's and an ABIT VP6 for less than $500 and most likely will be able to put those cpus at 1gig. If you run Win2k (after all this is NTCompatible) then you will see a definite improvement in the general "feel" of the system with two cpus. With the VP6 you can set your memory speed to run at 100 while the Cpus run at 133 fsb.

 

Just a couple of options.

 

Ed

[Down8 0]

EM has good suggestions.

 

As for the RAM/KT7-RAID issue: The KT7 is not going to take your memory above 112MHz anyway, so your same memory will be fine. The KT7A does have support for 133MHz memory, so that may be a way to go if you want/need PC133. Although, I have a stick of PNY PC100 at 150MHz right now [along with some Hyundai PC133, both @ CL3], so I wouldn't worry about your current memory.

 

-bZj

[Brian Frank 0]

That memory will work fine with T-Birds with the 100MHz (x2 DDR).

Go with whatever cpu is best priced or what you can afford. Just remember to invest in a good heatsink fan combo. If you do go with the Abit board, make sure that the HSF can fit on the board, as some larger ones cant fit due to components being too close to the socket. The Asus A7V and A7V133 have no problems with any HSF that Ive heard of.