New Sys, ThinkTank

Status
Not open for further replies.

ShoobieRat

Fully Optimized
Messages
2,932
I think I have everything planned out for my new home system. I want to run the hardware list by you guys to see if anyone notices any problems, trouble, or has any thoughts, before I buy.

(New Stuff)
- MSI "K7N2 Delta2 Platinum" NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400
- AMD Athlon XP 3200+ "Barton", 400MHz FSB, 512K Cache Processor
- Thermaltake SILENT BOOST for AMD AthlonXP up to 3400+
- Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model ST3120026AS, (Quantity: 2)
- Corsair XMS 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200
- 500Watt Power Supply

(Existing Stuff to be Used)
- Pioneer DVD-ROM
- Lite-On CDRW
- Creative Soundblaster Live Platinum 5.1 (w/ live-drive)
- Floppy
- PNY Geforce-3 64mb Graphics Card (to be eventually replaced by incoming 6800GT)

So far, I think only the geforce3 will give me initial problems, just because it's old. (Anyone else think that'll be a problem on this sytem?) I'm replacing it with an NVIDIA 6800GT 256mb after I build the system. I'm waiting for the price to drop a bit on the vid card and for my system to be stable before I put it in. (I hate doing the plug-n-try style of building a new machine when one of the components is a $400 graphics card that could get fried!)

So...Good? Bad? Thoughts?
I'll be putting in the orders probably by the end of the week.
 
(IMO) I would not buy anything built by MSI (at least not anymore). If you want maximum stability, ABIT is the way to go. And take my advice, stick with VIA for the bridge architecure. The SATA HDDs were a very good choice. You will be pleased.

P.S.: Do u mind giving some more details on the XMS?
 
As for the mobo, I couldn't find an Abit (or an ASUS, or a Giga-byte, or a Soyo, or a Chaintech) that matched up with the MSI for all the features. I usually had to sacrifice one or another (or more) if I went with another brand. (If you could prove me wrong, I'd be happy to switch.)

As for the PS, I think (now) that I'm going to go with an Ultra 600W PSU. I could use that extra 100 watts.
 
Sounds good. ABIT is usually JAM PACKED with all sorts of features. I'll look into finding one that is compatable with your CPU - if u'd like! :)
 
The reason I didn't recommend MSI is because that is the brand I hear about most when problems occur. Either they burn out quick or become defective.
 
Any comparable boards would be fine. I've never had an MSI at home before, so I'm taking warnings carefully.

This is what the MSI board I'm looking at has:

CPU
• Supports Socket A for AMD® Athlon™/Athlon™ XP/Duron™/Sempron™ processors @FSB 266/333/400 MHz
• Supports up to 3200+ processor or higher


Chipset
• nVIDIA® nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset
- Supports DDR200/266/333/400
- AGP 8X and PCI Advanced high performance memory controller

• nVIDIA® nForce2 Gigabit MCP Chipset
- Integrated Ethernet MAC
- Integrated Hardware Sound Blaster/Direct Sound AC97 audio
- Ultra DMA 66/100/133 master mode PCI EIDE controller
- Supports USB 2.0
- Integrated SATA Interface


Main Memory
• Supports six memory banks using three 184-pin DDR DIMMs
• Support Dual channel PC3200/2700/2100/1600 DDR SDRAMs
• Supports both 64-bit and 128-bit DDR SDRAM
• Maximum memory size of 3GB
• Supports 2.5v DDR SDRAM DIMM


Slots
• One AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) 1.5V 4x/8x slot
• Five 32-bit PCI bus slots (support 3.3v/5v PCI bus interface)


BIOS
• The mainboard BIOS provides "Plug & Play" BIOS which detects the peripheral devices and expansion cards of the board automatically.
• The mainboard provides a Desktop Management Interface (DMI) function which records your mainboard specifications.


On-Board IDE
• Two IDE controller on the nVIDIA® nForce2 Gigabit MCP chipset provides IDE HDD/CDROM with PIO, Bus Master and Ultra DMA133/100/66 operation modes
• Can connect up to four IDE devices


Serial ATA Interface
• Integrated SATA Phy, supporting up to 2 ports
• One SATA controller, supporting two drives in master mode


NV RAID (Software)
• Supports 2 serial ATA plus 4 ATA 133 Drives
- RAID 0, 1, 0+1, JBOD is supported
- Booting from RAID
- Cross controller RAID support
- Rebuilding on the Fly
- Spare Disk Allocation
• Supports Windows 2000 and later versions


In-Chip IEEE1394
• Supports up to 3* 1394 ports (via external bracket). Transfer rate is up to 400Mbps.


Network
• On-Board 10/100/1000 Enternet
- A 802.3 NVIDIA MAC for 1000 BASE-T/100 BASE-T/10 Gigabit/Fast Ethernet/Ethernet
- RGMII for Gigabit/Fast Ethernet/Ethernet


Audio
• Chip integrated (5.1 channel H/W audio)
- Direct Sound AC97 audio
- 6 channel analog output
- Digital SPDIF out signal compatible W/S-Bracket


USB Interface
• 8 USB ports
- Controlled by Gigabit MCP southbridge
- 4 ports in the rear I/O, 4 ports via external bracket


On-Board Peripherals
- 1 floppy port that supports two FDD with 360KB, 720KB,1.44MB and 2.88MB
- 1 serial port
- 1 parallel port supports SPP/EPP/ECP mode
- 1 Audio jack (5-in-1), coaxial/fiber SPDIF out
- 3 IEEE1394 connectors (via external bracket)
- 8 USB ports (Rear x 4 / Front x 4)
- 1 D-Bracket2 pinheader
- 1 RJ-45 jack

---------------------------------------------
Basically I want:
Support for AMD Athlon XP 3200+
Support for NVIDIA 6800GT
SATA (at least 2 devices)
(at least) 4 IDE devices
USB support
Firewire support
dual channel DDR RAM 3200
gigabit LAN
at least 4 PCI slots
....and...probably more things. If I wasn't busy ATM, I could think of others...
 
I believe this is a close match isn't it?
The only differences I see are the memory banks and it only supports 2gb of ddr400. Sorry the link didn't work looks like newegg doesn't have it in stock anyway.
 
Found it! This motherboard is great and is packed with features. It is very stable and is built for overclocking (the northbridge even has a fan on it).

I am currently using an Abit - And it is the best motherboard that I have ever used, and I have gone through many. I will continue to use Abit for the rest of my life... that's how impressed I was by there quality and reliability.

I chose this version of the Abit for you, because of the bridge, and its ability to support dual channel...:

AT7-MAX2_lg.jpg


Abit AT7-MAX2 Overview

This motherboard is compatible with SATA and is capable of RAID 0/1/0+1.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom