Suggestions for a stable, low cost, decent performing PC....

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dick Malchik
  • Start date Start date
D

Dick Malchik

Hello group!

I was in Europe for two years, and left an old Abit-BP6 based desktop
system behind in the U.S. When I built it in 2001, it was a good(not
great) performer with 512 mb and dual celeron 500s.

For a couple years in Europe, I've used a laptop with a P-4 2.2 ghz.
I also had a 2 ghz celeron based system on a giga-byte board in Kiev
the last year.

Back home in the US now! My old twin 500mhz BP6 is slower than
molasses! Video files skip, Agent takes forever to sort/update new
groups, so on.

What's a good performing board/CPU/memory configuration at a
reasonable cost? I've been out of touch with new developments in
hardware, and the number of selections are overwhelming. If possible,
I want to salvage as much old equipment as possible.

Needs/system:

Not into games, but I do some amateur video editing with large files.
Also, I often work with/analyze large data files for research. WinXP
preferred OS.

Current equipment I hope to salvage: ATX case/power supply, Matrox
Marvel AGP 4X TV video, 2 WD 80 GB EIDE/ATA 7200 HDDs, Turtle
Beach/Voyetra Fiji sound card (ISA)

Suggestions?

Thanks,
 
Hello group!

I was in Europe for two years, and left an old Abit-BP6 based desktop
system behind in the U.S. When I built it in 2001, it was a good(not
great) performer with 512 mb and dual celeron 500s.

For a couple years in Europe, I've used a laptop with a P-4 2.2 ghz.
I also had a 2 ghz celeron based system on a giga-byte board in Kiev
the last year.

Back home in the US now! My old twin 500mhz BP6 is slower than
molasses! Video files skip, Agent takes forever to sort/update new
groups, so on.

What's a good performing board/CPU/memory configuration at a
reasonable cost? I've been out of touch with new developments in
hardware, and the number of selections are overwhelming. If possible,
I want to salvage as much old equipment as possible.

Needs/system:

Not into games, but I do some amateur video editing with large files.
Also, I often work with/analyze large data files for research. WinXP
preferred OS.

Current equipment I hope to salvage: ATX case/power supply, Matrox
Marvel AGP 4X TV video, 2 WD 80 GB EIDE/ATA 7200 HDDs, Turtle
Beach/Voyetra Fiji sound card (ISA)
Click to expand...


Sound card is trash; isa is long dead. The power supply isn't likely
to work very well in a modern system, chuck it and replace with a good
one. Drives are okay, unless they have a lot of use on them. A drive
over three that has been used for a lot of hours would be suspect at
best. If your requirements aren't that great I'd probably buy a nice
board from Epox, Asus or similar with an amd xp 3000 chip and a gig of
ddr-400. The performance increase will be worth the money. Throw in
a good Antec power supply of around 450w, a nice Seagate sata
drive(Last time I looked Seagate was the only one with the five year
warranty) and you should be good to go.
 
Chris said:
Sound card is trash; isa is long dead. The power supply isn't likely
to work very well in a modern system, chuck it and replace with a good
one. Drives are okay, unless they have a lot of use on them. A drive
over three that has been used for a lot of hours would be suspect at
best. If your requirements aren't that great I'd probably buy a nice
board from Epox, Asus or similar with an amd xp 3000 chip and a gig of
ddr-400. The performance increase will be worth the money. Throw in
a good Antec power supply of around 450w, a nice Seagate sata
drive(Last time I looked Seagate was the only one with the five year
warranty) and you should be good to go.
Click to expand...


Not AMD XP 3000 but AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (or better) on a MSI or Asus
(or ASRock) board, otherwise FACK - may be OP keeps the 2 WD HDDs.
A problem, indeed, is the ISA sound card...

Roy
 
Sound card is trash; isa is long dead. The power supply isn't likely
to work very well in a modern system, chuck it and replace with a good
one. Drives are okay, unless they have a lot of use on them. A drive
over three that has been used for a lot of hours would be suspect at
best. If your requirements aren't that great I'd probably buy a nice
board from Epox, Asus or similar with an amd xp 3000 chip and a gig of
ddr-400. The performance increase will be worth the money. Throw in
a good Antec power supply of around 450w, a nice Seagate sata
drive(Last time I looked Seagate was the only one with the five year
warranty) and you should be good to go.
Click to expand...


This helps narrow the choices considerably.

TYVM!

Rich
 
Not AMD XP 3000 but AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (or better) on a MSI or Asus
(or ASRock) board, otherwise FACK - may be OP keeps the 2 WD HDDs.
A problem, indeed, is the ISA sound card...

Roy
Click to expand...


This helps, thanks!

Rich
 
Not AMD XP 3000 but AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (or better) on a MSI or Asus
(or ASRock) board, otherwise FACK - may be OP keeps the 2 WD HDDs.
A problem, indeed, is the ISA sound card...

Roy
Click to expand...

I meant 64/3000. I'd also consider a Sempron if the apps aren't all
that cpu intensive. . I'd rather have an epox than MSI; last msi
board I had was problematic and I never once saw a bios upgrade for
it; It'll be a while before I buy their stuff again.
 
Not AMD XP 3000 but AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (or better) on a MSI or Asus (or
ASRock) board, otherwise FACK - may be OP keeps the 2 WD HDDs. A
problem, indeed, is the ISA sound card...

Roy
Click to expand...

Sempron 3000/3100 are lower in cost than AMD64 3000 but with almost the
same performance, higher performance when oc'd. And the 754 socket
Semprons are SSE2, 32/64bit processors.

Frys/Outpost.com has weekly sales of Sempron 3000/3100 cpus plus
ECS motherboard (10/100 lan, 5.1 audio, 4-6 2.0 USB) for $90 with another
$20 for the cooler. 350 watt would work, 380 watt insurance, 450 watt
overkill.

ATI X700, nVidia 5500 or better.
 
Sempron 3000/3100 are lower in cost than AMD64 3000 but with almost the
same performance, higher performance when oc'd. And the 754 socket
Semprons are SSE2, 32/64bit processors.

Frys/Outpost.com has weekly sales of Sempron 3000/3100 cpus plus
ECS motherboard (10/100 lan, 5.1 audio, 4-6 2.0 USB) for $90 with another
$20 for the cooler. 350 watt would work, 380 watt insurance, 450 watt
Click to expand...

Depends on how much stuff you add later and how much manufacturer is
lying. I wouldn't touch another ecs board with a 10-foot power cable.
 
Depends on how much stuff you add later and how much manufacturer is
lying. I wouldn't touch another ecs board with a 10-foot power cable.
Click to expand...

I like them. I'm on my second, an ECS 755-A2 and the other is the
infamous K7SA5, v1 I think. I did the bios update thing on the K7SA5
while they were putting out updates. But I don't have problems with these
boards. I missed the nforce version of the board by a week and I would
have liked a boxed AMD64 3000 but with the $20 CoolerMaster it keeps that
box quiet.
 
I like them. I'm on my second, an ECS 755-A2 and the other is the
infamous K7SA5, v1 I think. I did the bios update thing on the K7SA5
while they were putting out updates. But I don't have problems with these
boards. I missed the nforce version of the board by a week and I would
have liked a boxed AMD64 3000 but with the $20 CoolerMaster it keeps that
box quiet.
Click to expand...

Still got a K7S5A in one of my computers and, despite all possible,
available BIOS updates, it still loses its BIOS settings once in a
while. Fortunately, I've had to reset them enough times now to know
them off by heart. :)
 
Peter said:
Still got a K7S5A in one of my computers and, despite all possible,
available BIOS updates, it still loses its BIOS settings once in a
while. Fortunately, I've had to reset them enough times now to know
them off by heart. :)
Click to expand...

<waving hi> mine too.
 
Hello!

From the replies, I've learned I should shop for an ASUS that uses
AMD64, and will accept my Matrox Marvel GTV-400 AGP-4X card. My audio
and 3Com cards are un-needed because of being obsolete. A gig of
Corsair or Kingston memory should do., 400 FSB or faster.

Thanks to all!
Rich
 
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