A budget P3 build?

[JonMichael]

So heres the deal. I am really interested in that generation of CPUs right in the socket 370 range. Ive had an old Celeron from that era for more than five years an it hasnt failed me yet.

What I wanna do is build a cheap dual P3 setup. Ive already thought through a few CPUs, and I decided on two of em between 900MHz and 1GHz. From what Ive heard, they need to be Tualatins or something to that affect. Im kinda new to this dual stuff, so I dont know what Im really looking for.

Board wise, I wanna stay right around $100 if possible. Lower than that is fine, you dont have to get me any links or anything... I just need a few specs. I know most boards require registered/ecc RAM for these types of projects. I am sure I can get my hands on that, but board+CPU wise I need to know what is nice and all.

Thanks for your time, and have a nice evening.

 

[Vertigo Acid]

RAM-wise, you'll spend about $120 for a gig in 2x512 of ECC PC-133 on e-bay. Look to spend about $100 for a pair of 1ghz coppermine P3s (The tualatins require board specifically designed for them; the coppermines work in any dual P3 board). For the board itself, the only dual P3 board i've ever used was a supermicro 370DLR, and I can't say anything bad about it. Anything in the Supermicro 370Dxx line would be my recommendation. They go for less than $100, and have various options for onboard vid, SCSI, etc. Just depends on what you're looking for

 

[JonMichael]

Yeah, thanks for your input on all of that. You hit the specs I wanted almost exactly perfect. Seriously though, thanks for taking your time to do that.

 

[lithium726]

depending on the board, you dont need to have ECC... should you get a board that doesnt require it, that should cut down your cost of ram a bit.

if you want tualatins *more expensive!! make sure you get the -s (512kb cache) if you get this core* instead of coppermines (they run cooler, take less voltage, and have 512 cache) you will have to get a dual board with the i815 b-step (max 512mb RAM), or Via Apollo Pro 133T (sdram) / 266T (DDR) chipset.

ive got dual 1.4's on an MSI Pro266TD Master-LR with a Gig of pc2700, that might be a bit more than you are willing to spend tho...

 

[JonMichael]

Yeah, probably. I want to spend $250, or a max of $300 for the board, memory, and CPU.

After a little bit of shopping, I think I have the board and CPUs planned out. Now is just need to find some 164 Pin PC 133 Registered ECC SDRAM.

Board: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=G7ESZ-BULK-R&cat=MBB
CPUs: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=PIII933FC&cat=CPU

Thanks again guys.

 

[lithium726]

yeah, then go coppermines. the 1.4-s tualatin chips go for as much as 250 each on ebay, and i just happened to get a great deal (130$ for the pair) on mine. the MSI is pretty damn hard to find too, i got lukcy with 98$ shipped when its going for like 180 on ebay last time i checked.

a dual coppermine board and a pair of coppermines will be much easier to get ahold of, in fact, i might be able to get ahold of some of that stuff for you...

 

[JonMichael]

If you get the board and CPU, and then shipped it to me... I would most def pay you for it man.