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critique my system

C

crafty

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 14, 2002
Messages
198
What do you guys think of this system? I'm probably going to run Linux on it and use it as a server and stuff... and just play around with it. I may overclock it too... since I hear that chip overclocks really well. What HSF should I get for it?

Also tell me if I'm forgetting anything... or there are some incompatabilities. Is that graphics card any good? I thought the FX ones were good, but its only $66...

ABIT nForce2 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "NF7-S" -RETAIL

AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2500+, 266 FSB, 512K Cache - OEM

Kingston 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - Retail

Western Digital 160GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD1600JB, OEM Drive Only

GAINWARD nVIDIA GeForce FX5200 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 64-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "FX PowerPack! Pro/660 TV/DVI Low Profile" -RETAIL

Lite-On Black 16X DVD-ROM Drive, Model XJ-HD166, OEM

Alps Black 3.5inch Floppy Disk Drive, Model DF354H121F, OEM

Foxconn Super Case Black Mid-Tower Case with 300W Power Supply, Model "1150-P4-BK" - i have an extra 350W PSU i'll probably plug into it
 
It was looking good until you got to the video card. Do not get the FX 5200, it is crap (as someone told me, it is crap for the same reason the MX440 was crap). Go ATI Radeon, at least the 9200 will give you okay performance, the 9600, 9700 and the 9800 will be the ones to look for. Even if you are running Linux, which isn't resource heavy, playing games, you will notice the lag and performance drop. Also, if going nForce2, you may want to stuff 2 sticks of 256meg in and dual channel it, that is, if the mobo supports it (to be honest, i have no idea if it does). If it doesn't, just ignore that last part... :rolleyes: . Anyway that system looks really good. Great to overclock, too ;) .
 
The ATI Radeon 9200-9600 seem more to be in my range. What's the difference between the SE editions of those and the regular ones?

[EDIT] I also heard that ATI cards and Linux don't go well together...
 
Originally posted by crafty
The ATI Radeon 9200-9600 seem more to be in my range. What's the difference between the SE editions of those and the regular ones?

[EDIT] I also heard that ATI cards and Linux don't go well together...
Click to expand...


nVidia has the better linux support, yes.
(Also, they publish FreeBSD drivers, unlike ATI. At the moment I have to reboot to windows to get accelerated 3d, somewhat irritating.)
 
If you are running linux, DO NOT BUY ATI. I actually run a voodoo3 in my linux box, and in my other i run nvidia. I've tried ati, not a good choice.
 
so what card would you guys recommend for <$100 that could be used in linux? How does the FX5200 compare to the geforce 2 MX ? Thats what I had in my old system, and this card wouldnt' need to be much more powerful than that.
 
if you arent doing much, say only server activities, throw your old gf2 mx in there.
 
then get the 5200. You're not looking for power, and it will have better performance than the gf2 mx. My friend has one, and hes able to play a good degree of games on it. He plays call of duty on the lower settings pretty good. just get th
 
Your system looks very crafty.

Seriously, toss the floppy and change the ram to Crucial. Unless you are going to over clock that thing, than get Corsair and maybe you should look at a gig. What about a burner?

Cheers,
 
Is it true that i need to have 2 sticks of ram in order to take advantage of the nforce2??
 
to take advadtage of dule channel yes. all the fetures of the nf2 exept dule chanel memory will work, but to get that to work(and it does kick up memory performance quite a bit) you need to simmaler(idealy matched pairs, hopfully same model, atleest same chips and speed) sticks
 
What are you doing with this linux box? Are you planning on running a gui interface on it or command line? On my *nix machines I only log into them remotely so I use the cheapest video card I can find. Even if you are running a gui you definetly don't need a powerful card.

Of course this is just my opinion.
 
I'm going to be running a GUI on it. I think I'm just going to get a GeForce 2 MX400 from newegg for $35.

APOLLO nVIDIA GeForce2 MX400 Video Card, 64MB DDR, TV-Out, 4X AGP, Model "Bloody Monster Geforce2 MX400" -RETAIL

Also, another option would be a motherboard with integrated video. Do you guys know of any motherboards that support SATA, have integrated video, and are still good at overclocking the Athlon XP Mobile chips.

Or, if there is any other Geforce (like the geforce 4 mx400 or something) that is better to that card but still around the $30-$40 price range, let me know. Thanks for being so helpful guys.

[EDIT]: One more question... is PC2700 with CAS latency 2.5 faster than PC3200 with CAS latency 3?
 
One more question - what are all the different nforce2 chipsets ... like the SPP, IGP, 400, Ultra 400, 150 and pro150. Which do I want? Will the performance boost from the dual channel memory be noticeable?
 
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