best mboard/ram combo for AMD 2200XP??

[haplofxp]

i am thinking of purchasing the amd 2200, but i dont know which mboard to go with. the system will be used for gaming mainly. i dont think i will be upgrading this particular system in the future with an amd 2600+ so i dont think i will need the 400mhz fsb board's or ram for that matter.

thinking of going with corsair's xms2700 512mb stick, but i really dont know which mother board will go best with that. please help. i will go with a DDR2100 if there are better boards for that type of ram.

thx

ps. it would also be nice if it supports raid. since i have 2ibm 45gb deskstar hd's that i want to link together. i dont know if raid is good for gaming thou. so if anyone wants to clear that up

[£ogic]

The ASUS A7V-333-R is probably the best board for you. It comes with the VIA KT333 and supports PC2700 ram. It also comes with a built in RAID controller (it's an optional feature so if u get the board make sure u get it). RAID pretty much improves everything on your computer. And yes it's very good for games. I'm talkin about RAID0 btw I don't know if you were talkin about that or RAID1 or the other ones, maybe you should clarify that. Also the Abit-MAX is another nice board but comes with firewire as well.

[haplofxp]

Originally posted by £ogic
The ASUS A7V-333-R is probably the best board for you. It comes with the VIA KT333 and supports PC2700 ram. It also comes with a built in RAID controller (it's an optional feature so if u get the board make sure u get it). RAID pretty much improves everything on your computer. And yes it's very good for games. I'm talkin about RAID0 btw I don't know if you were talkin about that or RAID1 or the other ones, maybe you should clarify that. Also the Abit-MAX is another nice board but comes with firewire as well.

thx, yeah i was talking about raid 0 array. iv heard other names like soyo dragon ultra platunum(or plus), epox, gigabyte...etc...got any review sites or anything like that to help my hunting? im currently skimming through tom's hardware and anandtech's articles. also is corsairs ddr ram the best choice(gaming in mind again)?

CMX512-2700C2 http://www.corsairmemory.com/xms/xms_modules.html

the module im thinking of going with.

ps. also should i go with retail cooling or should i get something else for the cpu? and does memory need cooling?

this is the board ur talking about right?
http://usa.asus.com/mb/socketa/a7v333/overview.htm

[£ogic]

You should check out hardocp.com and tech-report.com for some reviews. if you still don't find just search at a search engine like google, surely you will find it then. Corsair is a very good memory brand but I think the memory brand will make little difference. Memory does not need cooling unless you are going to overclock it. And yes that is the board I am talking about.

[haplofxp]

Originally posted by £ogic
You should check out hardocp.com and tech-report.com for some reviews. if you still don't find just search at a search engine like google, surely you will find it then. Corsair is a very good memory brand but I think the memory brand will make little difference. Memory does not need cooling unless you are going to overclock it. And yes that is the board I am talking about.

what about cpu cooling, retail or should i buy a separate heatsink+fan?

[£ogic]

What do you mean by retail

[MiFF]

well I just recieved my Abit KX7 333 (excellent overclocking mobo) and a athlon 1600 XP from newegg which I've overclocked right now at 1.9 as you can see the 1600 is a great overclocker, might save you some $$$ b4 you purchase a 2200, as far as cooling goes, go water, you'll never look back

[haplofxp]

Originally posted by £ogic
What do you mean by retail

i mean the fan that comes in the retail package of the cpu(or maby i am mistaken).

GA-7VRXP(best at tomshardware)
http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboar.../kt333-35.html

epox EP-8K3A+, enmic 8TTX2, A7V333 follow closely

and on anand tech the A7V333 gets a silver award,but none of the boards reviewed get a gold
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1636&p=6

[haplofxp]

Originally posted by MiFF
well I just recieved my Abit KX7 333 (excellent overclocking mobo) and a athlon 1600 XP from newegg which I've overclocked right now at 1.9 as you can see the 1600 is a great overclocker, might save you some $$$ b4 you purchase a 2200, as far as cooling goes, go water, you'll never look back

thx for the cheapo tip, money dif between the setup im getting and this one isnt that great $120-270 at least for me right now(i may however use that in a following sys config), as for water cooling im scared that if it leaks all hell is gonna break loose, and then im gonna have to shoot my self and buy another system again afterwards

[haplofxp]

another thing iv noticed on all of the boards that have build in raid is that anandtech says quote:

"The final point of integration comes from the Promise PDC20276 Ultra ATA 133 RAID controller. Our biggest issue with this RAID controller is that it does not offer the ability to select different stripe sizes other than 64KB and thus limits performance tremendously (64KB stripe sizes are far from ideal for most desktop applications)."

so does this mean that if i wanted to go raid 0 array i would be better off with purchasing a separate card? since the one onboard is useless??

[£ogic]

It's not useless and you would still get a nice performance increase, I'm sure.

[ooo yahh]

dont get 2200 ! because it WONT EVEN overclock! that core reached its max! and you wasting money for nothing. you wait and get the 2400 it wont be much different in price as i saw, and it overclocks like mad! 600mhz or more!

make sure u get Revision 'B' core.

[haplofxp]

hmm, i cant see anywhere if the Gigabyte GA-7VRXP can run a xp2200, i know it can go 2100 but im not sure about 2200.

but right now its pretty much down to 3.


1.Gigabyte GA-7VRXP
2.ASUS A7V333
3.EPOX EP-8K3A+


in that order.

ahh and another thing, will the ati 9700 have any problems fitting in the ga-7vrxp(no obstructions from chipsets or ide plugs)?? if anyone happens to know?

[haplofxp]

Originally posted by ooo yahh
dont get 2200 ! because it WONT EVEN overclock! that core reached its max! and you wasting money for nothing. you wait and get the 2400 it wont be much different in price as i saw, and it overclocks like mad! 600mhz or more!

make sure u get Revision 'B' core.

its like a $30 difference. and im probably not overclocking.

when is the 2400/2600 coming out? im planning on purchasing in the next 2 weeks. plus if i am gonna get a 2400/2600 this changes the whole mboard hunt. its gonna start all over again since its DDR400 compatible and im gonna want to get the benefit of that. at 166mhz fsb with the new cpu.

[ooo yahh]

Originally posted by haplofxp


its like a $30 difference. and im probably not overclocking.

when is the 2400/2600 coming out? im planning on purchasing in the next 2 weeks. plus if i am gonna get a 2400/2600 this changes the whole mboard hunt. its gonna start all over again since its DDR400 compatible and im gonna want to get the benefit of that. at 166mhz fsb with the new cpu.

dude, that comp will serve you for at least 2 years, you will never know what you will do in that time... and because of 30bucks u gonna close that door on you? believe me, it doesn't worth it... pay more 30bucks and have a chance to overlclock it.. dont overclock it if you dont want now, but you will never know what'll happen in the future!

and it'll be out at 1st of september i believe... surely in 2weeks sicne benchmarks for it are already here...

[MiFF]

Originally posted by haplofxp


what about cpu cooling, retail or should i buy a separate heatsink+fan?

yea, you might wanna do that, but make sure you buy a tube of AS3 if you dont have any already, as far as fans go, I have a Thermaltake Volcano7+, which im pleased with, its kinda loud and big, but it does the job

[ooo yahh]

Originally posted by haplofxp
hmm, i cant see anywhere if the Gigabyte GA-7VRXP can run a xp2200, i know it can go 2100 but im not sure about 2200.

but right now its pretty much down to 3.


1.Gigabyte GA-7VRXP
2.ASUS A7V333
3.EPOX EP-8K3A+


in that order.

ahh and another thing, will the ati 9700 have any problems fitting in the ga-7vrxp(no obstructions from chipsets or ide plugs)?? if anyone happens to know?

Epox got new mobo release.. KT333 chipset ... 8K5A+ its better than the 8K3A+ one. check their webpage.. epox.com

Radeon9700 is SMALLER than GF4ti4600 so dont worry its like the size of gf3ti or so...

[walfer]

i know this isn't one of the three that you had in mined, but the "SY-KT333 DRAGON Ultra (Platinum Edition)" (www.soyo.com) is one hell of a mobo.
Optimal if you ever decide to overclock.
Don't have any review site though...

[haplofxp]

EP-8K5A3+
http://www.epox.com/html/motherboard...5A3plus&lang=1


interesting, i just dont see the difference between this one and the previous 8K3A+. 1 more dimm slot, and 1 more pci slot, thats all i see.

[haplofxp]

Originally posted by walfer
i know this isn't one of the three that you had in mined, but the "SY-KT333 DRAGON Ultra (Platinum Edition)" (www.soyo.com) is one hell of a mobo.
Optimal if you ever decide to overclock.
Don't have any review site though...

yeah i did consider that one, but the other 3 come out on top almost in all tests. it has some extra features like a usb front panel etc etc...but it really isnt worh the extra $70-75