Upgrade time...But don't get too excited

[jcoquillon]

I'm running an Abit KR7A-Raid mobo atm with an athlonXP 1800+ and 4x256 meg sticks of 266 DDR at present moment.

I'm looking to get a newer motherboard and CPU but keep the RAM for the time being, was thinking of getting an AthlonXp 2400(266) so i can keep using the RAM but need a new mobo to go with it. I'm on a budget and want to spend around 100 on CPU and Mobo but later I can get a faster CPU and Memory when I can afford to.

So my main questions are:

What is the fastest available AthlonXP which runs at 266?
What mobo would people recommened? I'm tempted to get something with onboard LAN and Stuff to save on PCI cards. I also need as many USB ports as possible and firewire wouldn't hurt, raid would be lovely as well.

[LouG]

I think that the fastest 266fsb athlon xp is the 2400+, most motherboards usually have around 4 usb ports + the ones on case front panel and also come with onboard lan. But I am not sure if there are many boards which have 4 ram slots, maybe with a bios update your board will support the 2400+?

[0iD]

You could save some money by shopping around in the 'for sale/wanted' forum. You might be able to bag a 2500+, mobo & ram for £100.

[mike_w]

Don't forget that can get a faster CPU and just turn the FSB down a bit until you get better RAM. If you're into overclocking then a Mobile Barton 2500+ (about £65 from cpucity.co.uk) would be a good CPU, otherwise a normal Barton 2500+ would be good, since its fairly easy, simple and safe (if you use your common sense) to overclock it to 3200+ speeds.

Motherboard: NF7-S, has onboard LAN and pretty decent sound. About £65, again from cpucity.co.uk, won't find a much better motherboard in my opinion.

[jcoquillon]

So would an NF7-S an AMD XP-M 2500+ and 512 stick of 3200 RAM be a sensible purchase for my requirements? tallys up at jsut over 200 pounds by my reackoning

[mike_w]

I would say that at the moment it would be good, but new CPUs and new scoekts are coming out soon, so it might also be a wise idea to wait (I would if were you).

[chrisf6969]

just get the xp2500 mobile... it has an unlocked multiplier... so you could leave the FSB at 266 and just raise the multiplier.

[blockers]

Ii would suggest as the other chaps have:
Motherboard- Abit NF7-S
CPU - xp2500

However i dont think buying RAM at the moment is a smart idea, as prices are really high. Wait for it to drop and then get it when it is cheaper.

[funnelhead]

I'm with blockers on this one - get the mobo and 2500-m now and run it with 2 of the 256 sticks. It may be slower, but at least u'll have them in dual channel to compensate (a bit).

Wait till RAM prices dip back down in summer and then ( since ur a man who likes a gig) get a couple of 512 sticks as cheap as you can.

that makes outlay of about £130 now, and that cpu is pretty smokin - 2.3ghz as a minimum should keep you going for a while.

Then hopefully a gig for about £100 when it comes back down in price. In January i got 1G of twinmos for £110, so thats a good price to aim for i'd say

and make sure your cooler is rated for higher cpu's!

Shazam

F

[jcoquillon]

I can sell 2 of the sticks of 2100 atm to raise money towards upgrading plus i have a small pile of misc hardware and peripherals i plan to sell to raise furtehr funds. I think i may just buy 512 of mem now with it and anotehr 512 later on when prices drop.