Opinions on Upgrade

Hi guys,

Never posted in here before but I am looking for your opinions on an upgrade package that I am looking at here is the basic run down

Motherboard: MSI K7N2 Delta ILSR

CPU: AMD Athalon XP2500 (With heatsink and fan)

RAM: 512mb DDR PC2100 (not sure of the brand)

Case: Codegen Mini Tower 6032 Series

All this for €390 (about $470)

Now from my existing pile of crap I'll take

Hard Drive: ATA 80gb 7200rpm (Its a branded name just escapes me right now)

CDROM: 24x

Burner: 44x Yamaha

Modem: Cayman Netopia ADSL

Video Card: Generic (will b upgading eventually)

SoundCard: Soundblaster 5.1

Misc: Floppy, PS/2 Mouse and Keyboard, 15in Screen, All in one Epson Printer


Now as for OS this is where I need a few opinions. I also have a Thosiba Laptop running XP with 256mb and 1.2g CPU. Its a nippy little thing and does the job. But now that I have DSL and I am toying with the idea of wireless connections, where by I use the laptop for the majority of my work but try and use the above system as a "Server" (I use the term lossely), basically I will save everything I download on the net to the "Server" and use the laptop to surf the net, use it for work and such like. Also when it comes to gaming (fixed on Champhionship Manager 4 a the mo) I'll use the main PC.

oOrry if all of this sounds a bit sketchy but any questions you might have for me I'll clear them up. But firstly thoughts on the above system.....

Thanks
Ciaran

hmm, well for a server, linux would be grand......but would suck for games. if youre looking for it to do both, then you're kinda stuck with windows. IMO, 2000 pro; itl be a lot cheaper than XP (hopefully?) and its one solid system comparativly to other windows OS's

cheers thanks for that, not 100% certain I'll b running games on the desktop yet. If I do they wont be graphic intensive ie Championship Manager.

Also will it b ok to run XP on the laptop and Win2000 on the "Server"?

Also one sligh problem I dont have access to a Win 2000 cd so that could cause problems there.

Hi guys,

Never posted in here before but I am looking for your opinions on an upgrade package that I am looking at here is the basic run down

Motherboard: MSI K7N2 Delta ILSR

CPU: AMD Athalon XP2500 (With heatsink and fan)

RAM: 512mb DDR PC2100 (not sure of the brand)




don't pair a 333 FSB CPU with 2100 memory get at least 2700 to run in sync

also the mobo you posted i belive has an nforce 2 so get 2 sticks of paired memmory to run in dual channel mode. If you can afford get something like a level 2 black pcb mushkin with 2 latency across the board or equivalent memory from OCZ, Corsair etc...

don't pair a 333 FSB CPU with 2100 memory get at least 2700 to run in sync

also the mobo you posted i belive has an nforce 2 so get 2 sticks of paired memmory to run in dual channel mode. If you can afford get something like a level 2 black pcb mushkin with 2 latency across the board or equivalent memory from OCZ, Corsair etc...

Thanks for that advice Neutrino Ill bear it in mind.....Yes you are right the mobo does have nforce 2 on it. Unfortunately I dont think i could stretch the budget to the mushkin memory sticks. But I will keep in mind the 2700 type memory and two paired sticks


Actually I just noticed this from the shop I'm thinking of buying from

MSI NFORCE2 Motherboard
256mb PC2700 DDR
AMD ATHLONXP 2500+
KOATXB Computer Case (Windowed Side Panel, 350w PSU)


for about €30 more .... begining to think it might be the better option, even though there is less Ram in it

yeah mushkin sticks do tend o get pricy



an 2700 memory should work much better with our cpu since the 2100 would've just botleneck'ed it.

Actually i belive your mobo might even take up to 3200 but IMO since that is above the 333 FSB of the CPU it will not give you that much more of a performance.


also do try to get two paired sticks, its a pitty not to run in dual channell on a nforce2

yeah mushkin sticks do tend o get pricy



an 2700 memory should work much better with our cpu since the 2100 would've just botleneck'ed it.

Actually i belive your mobo might even take up to 3200 but IMO since that is above the 333 FSB of the CPU it will not give you that much more of a performance.


also do try to get two paired sticks, its a pitty not to run in dual channell on a nforce2


Yeah it wil take upto 3200....i think i wil go for the second option i posted there, its slightly pricer but ill get the second 256 2700 stick to match the one thats part of the deal...Now just to talk to the boss and see if i can get the money out of her (she is an accountant so could be tough)

For a server that you described, the best thing to do is build a linux box and use a small hard drive for the OS. Then add a large drive and use SaMBa to share it out. You can also do what I do and install another drive and run internal backups (nightly or whatever) with a cron job (scheduled task in linux). This works great for me and if I accidentally delete something, It's still on the other drive. For a server like this you need to more than a 500Mhz P!!! to server about 20-40 computers. I'd imagine that the most loads you are probably going to put on the thing would be you and all of your buddies raping your MP3s at a LAN party or something. No need for good hardware for that. Just get a good GB NIC and good hard drives and hard drive controllers, usually motherboards that old have crappy controllers that dont go beyond the 137GB cap. Good luck, and try linuxforums.com

For a server that you described, the best thing to do is build a linux box and use a small hard drive for the OS. Then add a large drive and use SaMBa to share it out. You can also do what I do and install another drive and run internal backups (nightly or whatever) with a cron job (scheduled task in linux). This works great for me and if I accidentally delete something, It's still on the other drive. For a server like this you need to more than a 500Mhz P!!! to server about 20-40 computers. I'd imagine that the most loads you are probably going to put on the thing would be you and all of your buddies raping your MP3s at a LAN party or something. No need for good hardware for that. Just get a good GB NIC and good hard drives and hard drive controllers, usually motherboards that old have crappy controllers that dont go beyond the 137GB cap. Good luck, and try linuxforums.com

Like I said, I was using the "Server" word loosely, i certainly want to set up some sort of Lan so i can transfer files between the laptop and desktop. Reason being I have no way of transfering any way of transferring large files from the laptop.

Linux sounds like a good idea but i know feck all about it. But ur idea for multiple hard drives is a good one.

I was under the impression the MSI Delta wasnt too old

For a server like that you do not need any special hardware at all. I was serious when I said 500Mhz is fine. BUT, if you are going to run a windows box as your server then you could always use more CPU power. Personally I think you should just build a windows 2000 professional box and make a few shares and apply some permissions. just make sure you patch it and run antivirus software.
Linux is great, but it's only for people that WANT to learn it, or at least are willing to learn what they have to to get the use they want out of it.
Seriously though, my backup backup server is a P3 550 with 128MB of ram. a 5GB hard drive with linux on it and a 250GB hard drive with all of my imporant stuff on it, the only expensive stuff you have to buy are a GB NIC, nice hard drive and an IDE controller. The rest of the stuff you should be able to round up between your LAN party buddys for free.

as for your question earlier; differnt OS's don't make a difference. at my houe, the server is Linux, my computer is XP pro, and brothers is XP home, and the rest of the computers are 2000; there are no network problems.

I would like to note however, that 2000 is much easier to set up a network on, it can take a little bit of digging in XP.....

and for the memory, even though the 2500+ only as a 333 fsb, I would still get the 3200 RAM, that way, if you ever choose to upgrade to say, and XP 3200+, you won't have to replace memory. This is what my brother is currently doing in his comp.

ok here is what i think I will go with......

MSI NFORCE2 Motherboard
256mb PC3200 DDR x2
AMD ATHLONXP 2500+
KOATXB Computer Case (Windowed Side Panel, 350w PSU)

The 80gb hd will do for now, but look to add a 120gb soon

Running Win2000 (Just got to get hold of a copy of it)

The network I have decided Im going to go with the wireless option, i can get everything I need for both the Laptop and PC for €150.

The laptop will be left as it is with Win Xp.

Both Pc will run Norton Anti Virus aswell

looks good; you still need a graphics card though!

looks good; you still need a graphics card though!


just going to use the stock one I have in my old PC for now, i gotta run the cost of this pass the Boss (my fiance) first....will look into a better graphics card again

haha, gotcha