Motherboard advice

[MARKBLACK]

Hi, I am looking to buy a new machine complete, there does seem to be a lot of motherboards about, plus you don't get much of a choice of motherboard when you buy complete, anyway the other day I seen a machine with a Soltek SL75KAV board with a Athlon 2000XP + 266 mhz ddr cpu, don't know what the (+ 266 mhz DDR) is all-about.

just wondering if anybody has one of these boards plus the shop is selling this machine with 98 instead of XP, when I asked why the guy said windows 98 gives no problems.

[Budfred]

The "266 mhz DDR" is about the speed of the CPU bus and the type of RAM, these are 2 different things. The speed of the CPU bus is how fast the CPU communicates with the rest of the computer. DDR RAM is a faster type of RAM and it is typically more expensive that SDRAM.

I don't know about that particular board, but someone else will.

Win 98 is easier to set up, but it is also CHEAPER, so that is probably why they are including it. XP can be a pain in the behind, but it is more stable and it will not be obsolete quite as soon as Win98. If you do get it, at least make sure it is the latest version of Win98.

Budfred

[MARKBLACK]

I was really looking to be moving onto XP as 98 getting a bit old.

Ive heard though XP can be set to look like 98

[Budfred]

If you want to move to XP, I would urge you to buy from a dealer who will give you the software disks and who doesn't try to give you 98 instead. To buy the full version retail will cost you about $200 US, so probably even more there. You can get an OEM copy for about $100 US over here, but if you are paying for Windoze anyway when you buy the system, you may as well get what you want up front and not pay Windoze twice.

Budfred

[saphalline]

Ok, quickie here. I looked up that motherboard, and guess what? It's a KT133A board! :eek: FYI, we're up to KT400 boards now.

That means you'll be stuck with dog-slow SDRAM instead of DDR RAM. And considering that DDR RAM is about 2-3 times faster than SDRAM, well... you get the picture. It's not the best board to get. More like the third-best board to get. :( On the plus side, SDRAM is at least dirt cheap right now, but if you have any notions of playing games on that system they'll be that much slower. But at least it's cheap! :rolleyes: