[SanDRocK]

I'm dissiding on a new cpu/mobo config and have in narrowed down between 2 choices i'd really like feed back on which you guys think is better....

1.= Asus A7A266 Socket A MB with 2 DDR dimm slots and 3 SDR dim slots with a AMD Athlon TBird 1200E (266MHz FSB) PGA CPU

or

2.= FCPGA - Dual PIII - S370 - Abit VP6 with 2 PIII 700's

prices are just about the same with a $100 or less dif

 

[cluthu]

Are you using an OS that supports multiple procs and doing alot of math-oriented tasks in applications that support SMP? If so, then the two PIIIs. In all other cases the TBird.

 

[Betamax]

If youre going for the dual processor you'll need windows 2000

 

[cluthu]

>If youre going for the dual processor you'll need windows 2000
Or SMP-friendly Linux (2.4.x), certain versions of Solaris, or IRIX.

 

[CDBuRnOuT]

or BeOS...

 

[CDBuRnOuT]

Concerning Win2k, programs have to include SMP support as well, not just the OS..

 

[SanDRocK]

i already have win2k i'm running it now......

 

[SanDRocK]

which cpu/mobo config do u guys think is better tho?

 

[bobotns]

The Athlon system is the best!! (why not a 1,33 GHz one?)
BTW, the motheboard must have an AMD-760 or VIA KT266 Chipset, all others are not that fast!

 

[CDBuRnOuT]

Umm, no...

You should only need to grab those if you want DDR SDRAM, the KT133A chipset is fine... Not to mention SiS's DDR Chipset owns the AMD760 and KT266

 

[SanDRocK]

whats wrong with the A7A266 MB it no good?

Spec Summary

Socket A for AMD® AthlonTM / DuronTM 550MHz ~ 1GHz+ CPU

ALi® M1647 266MHz FSB chipset with ALi® 1535D+ South Bridge

266/200MHz Front Side Bus

2 x DDR DIMM Sockets Max. 2GB PC2100/PC1600 DDR SDRAM
3 x SDRAM DIMM Sockets Max. 3GB PC133 SDRAM

1 x AGP Pro/AGP 4X/2X/1X
4 x PCI
1 x PCI/AMR Shared


2 x UltraDMA/100

2 x USB Ports
1 x Parallel
2 x Serial
1 x PS/2 Keyboard
1 x PS/2 Mouse

Two Headers Support Additional 4 USB Ports
20-pin ASUS Panel
ASUS® iPanel Connectors
SIR (Integrated Serial Infrared)

 

[Phuzzi]

The A7A266 uses the ALi MAGiK1 chipset, although it's been proven to be fast when streaming from memory, it has high latencies built into it which hurts game performance badly. If you can't wait, the best AMD DDR RAM chipset atm is the AMD760, else try and wait for a SiS 735 based mobo, it smokes everything so far.

SiS 735 reference board review: http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/sis735preview/default.asp

And remember retail boards normally run faster than reference boards

 

[SanDRocK]

any1 know what the price's gonna be on the SIS board?

and is it really gonna be that good?

 

[SanDRocK]

oh ya forgot, any1 know when the SIS 735's gonna be out?

 

[Phuzzi]

Firing Squad only had a reference board, but apparantly SiS have said several motherboard manufacturers are in the design stages. So you'll be waiting quite a few months for retail SiS 735 based boards to ship. If you can't wait, AMD760 is a good performing chipset.

 

[SanDRocK]

i can wait, was just curious is all

 

[sxamiga]

The Athlon, definately the Athlon. The T-Bird processor you mention is either the same as the one I have, or very close to it. Mine is also a T-Bird 1200 266FSB. It is a fantastic processor. I have seen performance increases everywhere. I highly reccommend that you go w/that one.
sincerely,
sx/amiga