Budget isn't a concern but you're not ready to just throw money out the window either - what processor are you buying, and what motherboard do you want to put it in?

My BIOS announced this morning that it was extremely unhappy..it's been acting up for the last week or two (I think the drive controller is about to kick out on me). Figuring it's not long for the world, I'm starting to read up on advancements since I last put this system together.

Currently I've got an AMD Athlon 1400 in an Asus motherboard w/ 1GB of 266mhz ram.

I've been running AMD processors for the last 3 years and have been really happy with their price/performance. However, I'm not against looking at Pentiums this time around.

The fun part, do I have enough time to read up and make a decision before this system craps out!

I've just had a custom built web server built for me to fit into a 1U rack and I went for:

• Intel S845WD1-E P4 entry-level server mother board
• Intel P4 1.8GHz 478 pin 512KB processor

Running Debian on that with Apache, yes, it's probably an overkill but I'm pleased with the results.

- wil

Aww I'm really please with my AMD.....it has served me well :)

I'd recommend:

AMD Barton XP2500+ CPU $265
Asus A7N8x-DX $210
512 MB DDR 333 $90

Prices are in canadian dollars (divide by about 1.5) from our local computer store.

Edit: oh, this is assuming it's for a desktop/workstation. If you are looking for a server, that would be different.

Cheers,

Alex
--
Gossamer Threads Inc.

This build will be my home work station/kill evil aliens, nazis, or terrorists in my spare time machine.

I do like the ASUS boards and the A7N8X Delux does look interesting. Checking pricewatch looks like the prices are right in line with what you found...and that's not too damn shabby.

Have any experience with their onboard LAN?

Bump up in USD to 2600 at $219, 2700 $253, 2800 $364, and 3000 at $560.

I am more comfortable with AMD so I'll probably lean that way.

Thanks for the recommendations.

Never had a problem with onboard lan. Had more problems with 3com cards then the onboard ones. =)


Make sure you get the Barton rather then the Northwood chip (meant to be significantly better). They are pretty new, so you may have a bit of trouble finding them though.

Cheers,

Alex
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Gossamer Threads Inc.

So far I'm having good luck with the motherboard & chip, plenty of Barton 2500+ running around. But seems to be a gap and then you find 2800+ and 3000+ versions. At those prices I'll probably just stick with the 2500.

The big problem is picking memory. I want run a min of 1 GB of some decently reliable silicon and get that dual channel benefit. CAS 2, heat spreaders, fun stuff!

Know anybody who's run GeIL memory? What memory are you putting in your servers these days? The last memory I bought was Samsung.

We buy all our server memory from Crucial, and have never had a bad one yet. I'd highly recommend it.

Cheers,

Alex
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Gossamer Threads Inc.

Same here....not on the same scale of course, but my RAM is from Crucial and I've had no issues.

I'm pondering purchasing a 1GB set (TWINX1024-3200LL) of matched Corsair PC3200 DIMMs.

Linky: http://www.corsairmicro.com/main/PR_twinx.html

Read some very positive reviews, trying to decide of the added expense is worth it. At the moment I'm inclined to think it might be.

Added benni? Corsair says they're tested on an ASUS A7N8X board. I'm a sucker for a well written press release.

greetings. I've just picked up an ASUS A7N8X deluxe, and after weeks of scouring through minutae, i've decided on the corsair TwinX1024 400 memory. lots of people seem to have had problems installing improper memory with these Dual-Channel boards.... so if the ad says it's been tested in the same board i have, i'm sold. also, i'm thinking of getting the new serial ATA seagate drives, since the board's compatible. anyone own a Barton processor? yea or nay on them?


ASUS A7N8X DX
Barton 3000+ AMD
1GB 3200 DC corsair
ATI Ratheon 8500
...so far

I just set mine up. Updating the BIOS makes a huge difference. Memory setup can be bit tricky at first, if you have some spare DDR sitting around - keep it handy as you may need it until you can get into the BIOS and change a couple of things.

I now own a barton, the baby of the bunch (2500+). So far so good. Haven't gone to SATA yet. My old 80 gb drive isn't even half full.

Best resource for BIOS settings with the Corsair memory & the A7N8X Deluxe is this Corsair support forum. I'd suggest read through of their FAQ, it will save you some headaches.

Best of luck,

hey, thanks! i'm looking forward to when it's finally finished. last components i'll get will be the drives, maybe i'll make up my mind on those crazy matched 80G 10000RPM models by then...

can you help out a noob and enlighten me as to what type of forum this is?
ASUS A7N8X DX
Barton 3000+ AMD
1GB 3200 DC corsair
ATI Ratheon 8500
...so far

We've got a A7N8X Deluxe board running here in the office. Originally, it was used to run Linux - with problems to no end with network controllers flaking out, and even eventually hard drive corruption. It was RMA'ed, and the replacement worked for about a week before flaking out with the exact same problems. However, we switched this new board over to a Windows machine, and it's working perfectly - networking works great, and there's been no hard drive corruption.

So, if you're using Windows, by all means go for it - but under Linux, steer clear away! On another note, I'd recommend staying away from nForce boards completely under Linux - nvidia released their own special binary AGP drivers which make it impossible to use any graphics acceleration with any non-nvidia graphics card. (Sounds a little like Microsoft, doesn't it?)

Regarding CPU's, if possible try to get a 2700+ or 2800+ (NOT Barton) as then tend to perform a little better. AMD over-infalted their model numbers a little with the Barton's - the 2800+ non-barton tends to win out over the 3000+ barton much of the time. On the other hand, with the lesser (2800+ and 2500+) barton's, it's hard to say exactly where they fit into the scale of things.

Or, if you're in for some fun, order one of those thoroughbred B 2100+ (1.73GHz) CPU's, and overclock it to get an Athlon "3100+" (2.4GHz) like I did ;)

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Jason Rhinelander
Gossamer Threads
jason@gossamer-threads.com