Topic: MOBO questions (SATA/Chipsets/etc)

[Nick in Edinboro]

Thought I'd ask here.

Looking at getting a new board and processor.  Have the processor picked out AMD XP 2500+ or AMD 2600mobile, and now just need some help in choosing what I really need in a mobo.  The MOBO should be OC friendly, as I plan on unlocking the 2500 and running it at near 3200+ speeds (a jump of 700mhz) if stable (which I read it is).

Would SATA onboard be any faster then a SATA card later added to a PCI slot?  I dunno if PCI would be a bottleneck or not.

Here are the three I'm aware of, seems as if every time I look I find another though that meets my requirements.  I'm a true bargain shopper, what was the best last year is probably what I'm looking for--no need for todays technology.

Albatron KX18D ProII $89 -- What I'd really want but out of my price range ideally.  SATA, Firewire, USB2, 6 PCI slots, etc...it's all here plus more...nForce2 400 FSB chipset, etc.  If anyone knows of something between this and the Shuttle in terms of features that's cheaper I'm all ears.

Shuttle AN35N-Ultra $54 -- This is a "bare bones" sorta board, which I don't really mind--the only thing it lacks that I might want is SATA.  The bonus with this board is the nForce2 chipset and that it's easily overclocked thru the BIOS (if anyone knows other budget nF2 chipset based boards good for overclocking let me know).

Soyo SYKT600 Dragon Plus - $37 A real steal of a price on what looks like a sweet board.  The SATA on board and 8 USB2.0 ports is nice, as is the active cooling on the northbridge.  However it uses the Via KT600 chipset which is slower/seemingly less well regarded as the nForce2.  Apparently it can't be overclocked easily either, requiring changes to jumpers.  This was initially my main choice but since been nearly removed from the list after reading up on chipsets/overclocking.  Just as a note, if anyone is interested in a Slot A board and has no interest in Overclocking this would be an extremely good buy/upgrade.

Any intellegent opinions/suggestions highly appreciated!

[mirth]

Maybe take a look at/for some of the other DRAGONs that support your processor. One nice thing is that the onboard sound chip is the same one used in various bit-perfect soundcards....

Soyo makes good stuff, as does Asus. Its been a while since I've worked with a Shuttle board so I can't really comment on that. I've never heard of Albatron, though.

[nic]

why do you need to overclock?
you're only running the risk of breaking the equipment and possibly voiding any applicable warranties.

if you need a 3gh cpu(why, beats me), buy a 3gh cpu, not a 2.5 or whatever it is

[John Kelly]

Why would you even need a 3GHz?  I mean, compared to the 2.5 (or whatever clock speed the AMDs actually run at), it can't be that big of a jump in performance.  I guess you're trying to get 150fps in Quake 3 instead of 140???

That said, I have a Soyo Dragon Plus in my PC and it's been great.  I'd definitely recommend one of their boards.

[Nick in Edinboro]

Calm down calm down.  It's just a hobby boys.  Just like some of the nut jobs on gearslutz would rebuild the D/A in a CD player or DVD player I like to get the most out of a processor as a hobby...  It's just intriguing to me.

For instance, maybe check out this article detailing why the Athlon XP-M series is just begging to be overclocked (extremely low vcore, unlocked multiplier, etc. etc.).  This chip can gain (with stability) about 800mhz with a FSB of 400mhz

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Features/XP-M/

[John Kelly]

Yeah I used to be into that whole OC thing.  I had a 1.4 Tbird overclocked to 1.8 GHz...  I also had *shock* case lights in my pc.  What a fuckin waste of money...

You'll get over it soon.

[mirth]

Also, most processor chips are identical between the speeds its just that the ones sold as 'slower' just didn't pass QA for the higher speeds. So, you're not really 'overclocking' just using it to its fullest potential.

[Diggin]

the 2500 is not the best for overclocking since a lot of them are locked by amd.
I have always like ASUS for overclocking AMDs since they seem to build the BIOS knowing people will do it

[mirth]

I plan on unlocking the 2500

[Nick in Edinboro]

I'm going to use an Athlon XP 2400 Mobile, come unlocked and with a much lower vcore requirement making them a prime chip firstmost (just hand tested best out of the normal XP lots that will run @ 1.44vcore) and it's multiplier is unlocked for their "PowerNow!" technology out of the box.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) my girlfriend has talked me into going to AllGood which means that the few hundred going to this has been rerouted to tickets/etc.  A few more paychecks and this might still come to bear fruit