Open to Opinions

[Aussie Knightmare]

G'Day,

I have recently decided to upgrade my computer, I'm currently using a 233Mhz with 128meg ram and a Nvidia TnT2. Time flys, and I have been meaning to upgrade for quite some time. I mainly use the computer for games, Work and research and these days my present system just is not cutting it.

To upgrade my CPU I need to upgrade my motherboard, Ram, Power supply & Cooling system, once I throw in a new hard drive I will almost be buying a new computer, With a larger monitor and better video card to come in the future.

I have been scowering the internet for reviews, benchmarks, comparisons and so fourth as I suspect many others in my position are also doing. I have decided on an AMD Thunderbird 1.333Ghz/266 and have tried to base my other components with that in mind. Needless to say I have made good use of the AMD website's recommended MB/power supply/Cooling solution pages and another great site with loads of reveiws and benchmarks.

My list so far is

AMD Thunderbird 1.3/266 - CPU
Global Win WBK-38 6800rpm - Fan/heatsink
Gigabyte GA7DXR - Motherboard (AMD 760 Chipset)
256meg DDR-Dimm DDR/266 PC2100 Nanya - Memory
Codegen 400watt ATX - Powersupply
Seagate 20GB 7200rpm Barracudda 3 ATA100 - Harddrive

A few questions I have are as follows.

Is Nanya a good RAM manufacturer? suggestions on others?

Should I buy 1 x 256meg Dimm or will 2 x 128meg dimm's speed up my memory accesing by spreading it out?


I have choosen these components largely due to reviews on their performance and stability as well as their elleged compatibility with eachother.
I understand I will be able to run my bus at 2x133mhz with this processor and motherboard But are there other things I should consider?


any comments, suggestions or critiques will be greatly apreciated.

Sorry this was a bit long winded,


Regards,




[This message has been edited by Aussie Knightmare (edited 08-13-2001).]

[yawningdog]

I've never heard of Nanya, and I generally don't trust names I've never heard before if I don't have to. I recommend Crucial or Apacer memory.

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Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him to use the net, and he wont bother you for weeks.

[Zimfun]

I haven't heard of Nanya memory either , get Crucial if you can . I would also go for a single stick of 256MB DDRAM , it won't be any slower than two sticks of 128 and it will leave you with a spare slot when you want to upgrade your memory size ( a case of simply adding another module rather than having to remove one and have that one "spare" )

I would also go for a bigger HDD , 20Gb may sound huge but once you start storing a few MP3's etc ( most full installs on newer games are not too far short of 1Gb too ).
A 40GB drive would be fine and not too much more expensive .
Some decent case chassis fans are a must too , at least one sucking in cool air at the front and another blowing the hot air out the back , those 1.33 Athlons can generate some serious heat !!

Otherwise , sounds like a good setup , mine is very similar ( 40Gb IBM hard drive , Asus A7A motherboard )

Good luck and have fun !!

[iisbob]

Pretty much have to agree with the previous posts; except that the GA7DXR uses the 761 chipset-not the 760 ( simple error, nothing major http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif ).

You didn't say what kind of video card you are going for; may i suggest the Georce3? currently it's a bit expensive, but right now it is the only card on the market that allows you to run all video game visual options to the max ( ATI and Nvidia of course have newer cards on the way ), but the G3 will certainly last you another 3-5 years. If you want to go cheaper, then a Radeon or Geforce2 mx400 would be relatively good inexpensive choices.

As Zimfun noted, Athlon's run some serious heat-so make absolutely sure you don't skimp on the cooling. Good luck on your system. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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iisbob
"Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run."

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." --Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

[Paleo Pete]

Nanya (http://www.nanya.com/e-htm/abc-01.htm) has been around since 1995, I've heard of them but didn't know much about the company. Being around that long, I'd say their memory might be fairly good, but don't have any firsthand knowledge to go on. Then again I haven't heard any complaints.

This Review (http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/memory/ocz/256mb_nanya/) gives Nanya a very good rating, and it's oriented toward overclocking, so the average non-overclocked system should have no problems with it.

This Article (http://www.siliconstrategies.com/story/OEG20010319S0036) says that as of March, Kingston cooked up a deal to ship Nanya DDR. It also says Nanya was the first company in Taiwan to start shipping DDR in volume.

So, from what I've seen so far, with Nanya being the company that developed DDR in cooperation with IBM (check the top link above), I'd say their memory might be pretty good...

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[Aussie Knightmare]

Just a quick post to thanks everyone for their help and answer a few queries.

Zimfun: I am actually hoping to make use of my two 6GB hard drives from my old system. With the 20GB and the 2 6GB I should be set for a while, both 6GB drives are close to full but I have much to get rid of. My only concern is that my old motherboard was 66FSB but I have read that the gigabyte motherboard supports UDMA ATA66/100 IDE. I am hoping this means I can use my old drives but if not I will probably be able to network my old system up to the new and do it that way.

iisbob: I was thinking that a AMD 761 north bridge & VIA 686B south bridge actually constituted a AMD 760 chipset. (im new to this mind you)
I have largely been basing my system off reviews, so if your right, I hope the 761 performs like the 760. But then again, I choose the motherboard from it's own review, not the chipset review, so I guess im still getting what I was looking for.

As for video card, after I buy the stuff I have listed so far, money will start to become harder to find. With that in mind I am considering either buying a high end Geforce2 or a low end Geforce3. Perhaps somone could offer an opinion on this? I myself think a top range Geforce2 would probably be better then a low end Geforce3 but I havent reasearched it.

Zimfun & iisbob: As for cooling, I was hoping to keep my original case with the new power supply and the cpu cooler but from what you say and the other things I read I may have to modify it or buy a new case.

Any suggestions on an atx case (midi tower pref) that has the kinda cooling I am going to need?

Paleo Pete: Thankyou for the info, research and great links on your part. I just may stick with the Nanya Ram.

Regards,

[Zimfun]

Hi there

Your old Six Gb drives should be fine in your new system , just remember that if you have them on the same IDE channel as your new drive ( probably ATA100) they will all run at the speed of the slowest drive (ATA 66 in your case) .

I would definately go for a Geforce3 if you can , once games come out that have been optimised for it (DirectX 8) it will be awesome ! and as
iisbob says it will last for a good 3 years . There really is no such thing as a "low end" GF3 , it is still relatively new so while there are differences in price the performance of all the different cards are pretty similar . Have a look here http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1507
for a review of pretty much all the cards on offer .

As for cooling , depending on what your old system was you may be able to use the same CPU fan . Have a look at http://www4.tomshardware.com/cpu/01q2/010521/index.html
and see what will suit your system/budget best .

Also have a look at http://www.overclockers.com.au/
for reviews and supplier links closer to home .

Good luck and have fun