AthlonXP or P4? Motherboard help!


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Okay... I'm orderin some hardware on the 20th (or around that date) and I need to know which is better...

I can get an AMD AthlonXP 2000 or a Intel Pentium 4 1.8GHz... all I want it for is some gaming (GTA3 sucks on this 866MHz P3) and Photoshop, Premiere, and After Effects.

Which would be better? I'm thinking about the XP 2000, since it is one of the fastest out there (yeah, i know about the clockspeed, but knowing all about that, clockspeed doesn't always equal performance)

I don't want to overclock... I just want a good stable system that works quickly.

I have a Radeon 8500LE (128MB DDR-SDRAM w/Video Out) so I would transfer that out... I also have a DVD Drive and CD Burner.. I would move the DVD over to the new PC but get a new burner (something around 24x or 32x or hell, maybe even 40x).

Now...

Motherboard Problems... It's not what to pick, but how to install them! They seem so hard with all their jumpers and cables, etc. that it seems like it's a huge hassle! Are these relatively easy to install? I'm not new to PC's (been using them since I was 5... I'm 15 now) and I know all about installation of cards and drives, etc. but not the motherboard... think this would be a hard task?

Thanks everyone!

- Casey

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Originally posted by Bling3k12

Motherboard Problems... It's not what to pick, but how to install them! They seem so hard with all their jumpers and cables, etc. that it seems like it's a huge hassle! Are these relatively easy to install? I'm not new to PC's (been using them since I was 5... I'm 15 now) and I know all about installation of cards and drives, etc. but not the motherboard... think this would be a hard task?

I've been doing my own upgrades for years but only did my first motherboard/cpu install about half a year ago. I was intimidated like you are now. But seriously, its really not hard. My advice is to follow the manual. Its very concise and will tell you exactly where everything should go.

You'll have it installed in no time.

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Okay... I'm 75% sure that i'm going for the AthlonXP 2000+, and I'll look into that LiteOn 48x burner...

Any good AthlonXP motherboards for $100 or less? I can't go over $100... I do want DDR (3 slots preferred) but NO integrated audio or video...

Thanks!

- Casey

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every mobo out there will now have intergrated audio.. it's so cheap now that everyone does it. Simply just use your card and disable it in the BIOS.

As for motherboards... well here..

EPOX EP-8K3A VIA KT333

http://www.bzboyz.com/pricewatch.htm

AsusTek A7V333 VIA KT333

http://www.ussa.com/

got that list from here...

http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.ht...html?i=1649&p=2

the Shuttle board is pretty good to and so is the Gigabyte and the MSI but i'd choose the epox. I have an Abit AT7 board and it ROX!

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AMD! don't be 75% sure, be 100% sure!

Athlon XP 2000+ is a very good choice.

i said to a friend to buy a ASUS A7V333 mobo. it has a sound system 5.1, USB 2.0, ATA 133, AGP 4x Pro, 3 DDR 333.

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The best piece of advise I can give you about putting together your system (besides making sure to put the heatsink/fan on properly ;)), is to make sure you put the PCI cards (network cards, sound card, etc.) in the right spots.

Many people don't realize the significance of where you put the cards. This *dramatically* affects stability and performance. I know when I got my Abit KT7A-RAID motherboard and Athlon 1200, I studied various forums, and constantly saw people with the same setup having difficulties with stability and/or performance, that could have been solved by proper installation of their addon cards.

Read the manually carefully. It will tell you specifically which PCI slots share interrupt request lines (IRQL). There are only 4, and some cards *have* to share. That is a limitation of today's architecture. Just be sure to find out in the manual which slots share, and try to give sensitive cards their own request line.

In my system, for example, the AGP slot shares with PCI slot 1, so nothing goes in slot 1. The graphics card needs its own line. Slots 2 and 3 share, so I put my sound card (a really sensitive item) in one of those slots. Slot 5 shares with the RAID controller, and I want that by itself. The last IRQL is shared by slots 4 and 6, so I put my network card in one of those. The result is that my machine runs rock solid.

ALSO, make sure you study up on the proper BIOS settings for your mobo, from a newsgroup or forum where others have the same one. BIOS settings are absolutely critical to the stability and performance of you system.

Good Luck, and have fun! (And buy AMD, they kick ass!)

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Okay... 100% sure i'm getting Athlon... now I gotta pick out the motherboard... I found one, but I can't get the link right now (at a friends house) but will provide it later for you guys to see if it's pretty good...

- Casey

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http://www.asus.com.tw/mb/socketa/a7s333/overview.htm#

That's the link to the motherboard... I think it's pretty cool... what do you guys think... sounds like a good one to me!

and here's the link to the heatsink i have been lookin at...

http://www.thermaltake.com/products/heatsink/v7.htm

so hows it lookin?

- casey

edit... changed heatsink decision... keep on reading to see the new one picked...

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AMD ! AMD! AMD! :D

It rocks all the way!

...but if you have lots of money go for Northwood P4 2.53 ghz! :D

AMD AthlonXP still my favorite choice ;) :cool:

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Not bad, but the HS, well, I try to stick with the actual HS all one metal, preferably copper, as it's a very good conductor

But...it's your money, and your system.

Look at anandtech or Toms Hardware, they have some good articles there

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yea, definitely go athlon if you're on a tight budget, my roommate and i just built new pc's, he got a p4 1.6ghz and i got an athlon xp 1800+ w/ the msi k3 board... mine's faster :) also, i have the same fan you're looking at, it's not bad at all, pretty quiet, but was a bitch to install... just make sure you use a screwdriver to push down on the little piece it has on the connector, took a while to figure it out, but was easy afterwards... just don't push down too hard and don't let the screwdriver slip, i almost ****ed up the motherboard w/ it... anyway, good luck

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Originally posted by JnCoKiLLa

ok get the 1.8a P4 cause you can OC up to 2.4 gig if ya want and it runn ver stable

On the othe hand you can get the 2000Xp and not have a clue

I don't want to overclock... I just want a good stable system that works quickly.

Boy, glad some people can pay attention. :right:

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LOL...if you REALLY have the money to space..and i mean REALLY have money you could buy an all gold heatsink...best conductor ever...

then again it will cost a pretty penny...do they make gold heatsinks though?:right:

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you could probably make one... or have someone make one for ya...

also... what would be a good power supply? i was looking at 400W but if 350 is good, I can go for that too...

here's the one I was looking at.... http://www.sofistic.com/cgibin/webc.cgi/st...-19102481500.18

is it XP2000+ compatible? it just says "Up to 2 GHz"

- Casey

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