An Update...

I had a few questions in here recently about which IDE channels to put a new HDD and DVD writer on. In conclusion , the IDE channels weren't a problem but I think the 250W PSU was and I'm due an upgrade. When looking at new PSUs things spiralled and I decided to go on a bit of a shopping spree at Ebuyer. Any comments?

I'm getting:

Asus A7V8X-X SKT A KT400 8x AGP DDR Sound/lAN/USB 2.0

AMD Athlon XP2500 333FSB 512 L2 Cache Barton Retail Boxed Inc Heatsink & Fan

Ebuyer 512 DDR400 PC3200 Extra Value Ram

Twilight Black ATX Midi Tower 350w PSU AMD/P4 Flower Window & Blue Neon Light

High Quality Round IDECable ATA133 60cm in Yellow

The IDE cables I really wanted in blue but they're out of stock for 60 days and I got a blue/red LED fan too for the front of the case. A Ti4200 128 MB 8X and a 200 GB 8MB cache HDD will be added.

Will I really feel the difference from a P4 1.8, PC133 RDRAM, AGP 4X system. I hope you say yes cos I've bought it all now anyway... :)

You've already bought it? Drads.

Looks like a fine system I guess (shrugs at the ASUS board) Not Nforce2, which would have r0x0red....

Also, buying a processor Reail is usually a deal, but its a 5 Euro differece between Rertail 2500 and OEM 2500. If A Processor fan and heatsink are more than 5 euro, than I wouldnt worry, but just something I noticed.

Was on a bit of a budget, hence the crappy RAM, but teh processor was only a bit more than OEM and came with a 3 yr warranty which the OEM didn't. Although I've since found out the warranty only applies if I use the supplied heatsink and fan, but if I do replace that and it blows, how are they supposed toknow...

Quote:

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Originally posted by Skillian@17 January 2004 - 07:48
Was on a bit of a budget, hence the crappy RAM, but teh processor was only a bit more than OEM and came with a 3 yr warranty which the OEM didn't. Although I've since found out the warranty only applies if I use the supplied heatsink and fan, but if I do replace that and it blows, how are they supposed toknow...

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If your procecssor fails and you return it with thermal paste on it you will not get a freebie. That's how they know.

I found some paste that "doesnt void warrenty"

not used it myself or anything, i use artic silver 3 ;)

Link

Quote:

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Originally posted by johnboy27+17 January 2004 - 08:22--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (johnboy27 @ 17 January 2004 - 08:22)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Skillian@17 January 2004 - 07:48
Was on a bit of a budget, hence the crappy RAM, but teh processor was only a bit more than OEM and came with a 3 yr warranty which the OEM didn&#39;t. Although I&#39;ve since found out the warranty only applies if I use the supplied heatsink and fan, but if I do replace that and it blows, how are they supposed toknow...

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If your procecssor fails and you return it with thermal paste on it you will not get a freebie. That&#39;s how they know. [/b][/quote]
cant u just wipe the thermal paste off??lol

Quote:

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Originally posted by Lite@17 January 2004 - 09:14
I found some paste that "doesnt void warrenty"

not used it myself or anything, i use artic silver 3 ;)

Link

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Thanks.

Also, about your ram, I wouldnt worry to much, you will still be able to get a nice overclock using the 3200Ram. Atleast at its specified 200FSB.

Although, once again, I would look around for a different motherboard perhaps. I see you are going to buy rounded cables, and I know that my Epox 8RDA3+ Came with rounded cables, which i was going to buy seperately, so that was a selling point for me as well. :D


And why did you choose the case btw? Cant say I would have chose it, but I would go for something with good expandability for Fans personally. Mine only accompnies 1x back and 1x front. Thus, my air flow can only be so great. Some free fans with your case might be a good option for you to choose one over another to maximize case temps and thus CPU temp.

I&#39;m thinking an nforce 2 chipset might be best now as well. I&#39;ve got a couple of days to change my mind, so I can still look around. Had a look at that Epox but might be a little expensive for me, although I didn&#39;t find many places selling it in the UK. Can people tell me what they think of these boards as an alternative...

Gigabyte GA-7N400-L Socket A NForce2 Ultra 400 Lan, Sound, USB 2.0 FSB400 ATA133 Retail Box

MSI K7N2 Delta-L SKT A 8xAGP DDR400 Nforce2 6ch Sound LAN USB 2.0 Motherboard

edit: re the case, I must admit I was tempted by the blue neon :rolleyes: , but it includes room for a fan at the front, two at rear, one at the side and on one top so that shouldn&#39;t be a problem. I bought a couple of fans with it that I didn&#39;t mention in first post.

may i recomend this, the actual board is a biostar m7ncd, i got it a little while ago and pretty happy with it.
http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/components...?quicklinx=2Q7L
doesnt have all the fancy features, but tis got what u need.

So is it basically an ASUS A7N8X-X? I looked at that board earlier, It&#39;s the one up from the board in my first post, except it&#39;s cheaper.

edit: sorry just read you said it was a biostar, but the product description on the dabs site is for an A7N8X-X :unsure:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Skillian@17 January 2004 - 22:25

edit: re the case, I must admit I was tempted by the blue neon :rolleyes: , but it includes room for a fan at the front, two at rear, one at the side and on one top so that shouldn&#39;t be a problem. I bought a couple of fans with it that I didn&#39;t mention in first post.

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Ahh, well then, you will have good airflow atleast, so that will be to your advantage with the case.


Also Epox does have some cheaper boards, but just a suggestion.

Anyway, That biostar does look like a good board, if im not mistaken, thats the same Biostar board on newegg that ALOT of people have gotten.

http://www.amdzone.com/articleview.c...id=1370&page=9

There is a review of it.

Also, Livy, how many Ram slots does your&#39;s have? The picture on ebuyer only shows 2, but that review has a pic and specs of 3 slots.

i cant see where it says a7n8x-x

edit: it has 2 ram slots

K, I guess the Pro and Ultra versions have 3 ram slots, that is just the regular one.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Livy@18 January 2004 - 02:45
i cant see where it says a7n8x-x

edit: it has 2 ram slots

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My bad, got lost in links. Indeed it does look like a nice board. Good price too. Any disadvantages you can think of?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Skillian+18 January 2004 - 03:57--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Skillian @ 18 January 2004 - 03:57)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Livy@18 January 2004 - 02:45
i cant see where it says a7n8x-x

edit: it has 2 ram slots

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My bad, got lost in links. Indeed it does look like a nice board. Good price too. Any disadvantages you can think of? [/b][/quote]
if u aint looking for anything fancy, then it will prob be fine. doesnt have a lot of fancy features, but if u wanna knwo somethign about it just ask.

Does it include SATA? I guess that&#39;s just the Ultra version.

Also in that review it says dual channel RAM performance can only be obtained using 2 modules. Would I be better off buying two sticks of 256 rather than the 1 stick of 512 I was gonna buy?

it doesnt include SATA,
depending ont he price difference, and useage etc, on the ram.

also- the biostar baord doesnt have dual channel

Livy, what do you want the board to have.

And what is your Price limit in Pounds, or whatever. Heh, I will shop around for u.

Quote:

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Originally posted by _John_Lennon_@18 January 2004 - 04:23
Livy, what do you want the board to have.

And what is your Price limit in Pounds, or whatever. Heh, I will shop around for u.

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:huh: its Skillian that is lookin. :D

Ahh, getting lost in all the threads, righto.



BTW: The links for Ebuyer arnt working anymore.

Also, I found this.

http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/produc...productid=17205

:)

Quote:

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Originally posted by _John_Lennon_@18 January 2004 - 03:23
Livy, what do you want the board to have.

And what is your Price limit in Pounds, or whatever. Heh, I will shop around for u.

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Hey thanks. :)

My limit is about £50-60 if the board is right, but wouldn&#39;t mind paying less. Another nice board, is there much to recommend it over the biostar Livy pointed out?

diff between the epox and biostar are.
epox has firwire.
1 more memory slot.

better for overlclockign

The Firewire is only on the 8RDA3+ not the 8RDA3I, if im not mistaken.

Here is another MSI I found.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/in...oduct_uid=48751

Looks good, has dual channel memory, but you will have to spend probably about 70 to get things such as S-ATA.



Here&#39;s MSI&#39;s S-ATA board, with firewire. Its 66 dollars.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/in...oduct_uid=47974

The Epox 8rda3+ is about 2 dollars more, when you get two free rounded IDE cables. :D

Also, what is VAT, in relation to pricing in your country?

Quote:

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Here is another MSI I found.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=48751

Looks good, has dual channel memory, but you will have to spend probably about 70 to get things such as S-ATA.

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That&#39;s one of the ones I linked to earlier. I&#39;m in the UK, so that SATA board is £66, about &#036;100 I think. VAT is 17.5% here.

I think it&#39;s between the non SATA MSI board and the Biostar. Taking shipping into account, the MSI is about £13 more expensive, and an extra £2-3 if I have to buy two 256 sticks to enable dual channel memory (do I?).

Is dual channel RAM worth the extra?