amd questions

[ozz-2005]

i am thinking of buying a few new parts for my pc. and will most likely go with amd this time around. ( though my intel experience has been very good so far.)

i have 3 main reasons for this. faster feedback while there are transformations in the scene ( weighing, simulation and such. and texture painting.
i will wait out for the videocard because the next gen cards are right around the corner ( wildcat VP )

the parts im looking at are a
Giga byte 7VRXP kt333 motherboard
athlon xp 1800+( fan+heatsink included )

1.) anyone got anything to say about this motherboard? ive read the review on toms hardware and he says its good. but i think he also mentioned a lack of thermal control on the board. knowing how amd has had its problems with heating i am a little concerned about this.
or does the XP 1800 not suffer the problem anymore?

2.) ram. i want to get about 768 ddr.

what i want to know is how much actual real world difference there is between the 266mhz and the 333mhz. and how much of a difference registered ram does.

3.)also. when it says 32x64 or 64x64 what exactly does that mean ? does it mean that the 64x64 is double sided? what would be the difference to the user ?
weird. because there is also 32x72 and 64x72.

for now im thinking of buying 3x CRUCIAL MICRON 256MB 32x72 PC 2100 DDR RAM - OEM(REGISTERED ECC)184-Pin, CL=2.5-Unbuffered. ECC 2.5V, 6-Layers

or should i get CRUCIAL MICRON 256MB 32x64 PC 2100 DDR RAM - OEM 184-Pin, CL=2.5-Unbuffered 2.5V,6-Layers CT3264Z265.16T

which is about $14 less a piece. ( as you notice i dont want to overspend here )

or....2 of these
CORSAIR MEMORY CM64SD256-2700CX2H C2 256MB PC2700 DDR RAM 333MHz - OEM CM64SD256-2700CX2H. DDR, PC2700 32x64, Non-ECC, 184-Pin, CAS2 -Unbuffered

as you can see im not too familliar with ddr ram.

any suggestions are appreciated. thanks.

[gmask]

It is my understanding that AMD's normally run hotter than Pentium's so adequate cooling is necceassary. I haven't had any problems with either of my AMD systems and all I did was to instlal the reccomended CPU fans.

As for RAM on the AMD boards I have you have to get ECC.. you should get ECC as it will elimintate possible problems and incompatiblities. Crucial is a respected ram vendor and you can probably verify wetehr or not the ram you wish to buy is compatible with your board.

[tb582]

Hi Martin,

A dude at work got the same mobo at home with the same processor. So far I heard it rocks. His ram brand is Kingston DDR though. My brother has the Crucial ECC 32x72 running on his computer and runs great with his GF2 Ultra.

AMD does tend to get hotter, but it's also because most AMD users OC their procs. Just make sure you have about 3-4 fans throughout the computer, and a really good fan on the proc in case you decide to OC. i have a Volcano 7. Does it's job. But it's noisy.

[dvornik]

I would take a closer look at fan/heatsink, power supply and case fans. After I bought mine I realised it was crazy loud. So I had to go and buy all the components I've mentioned again.

Now a have Antec True430 PS, 3 enermax adjustable fans as case and CPU and a Thermalright AX-7 heatsink (that may not fit on some boards). Now it's really quiet. I mostly followed advice from Greg Hess - a tech guy from 3dluvr.

I believe you can put more ram on the same board if you use registered ECC. I think Mushkin is considered the best.

[ozz-2005]

hey. thanks guys.

actually i think im going to get another motherboard. one by asus because its cheaper....it has thermal control unlike the gigabyte board....its completely jumperless ...again unline the gigabyte board im looking at. also this asus board doesnt have onboard ata 133 ...which is good because i already have a promise card anyway. so no point of paying for the same thing twice i still got to think about a few things before i buy anything

[dvornik]

I use Asus A7V333 (raid) and there's no problems so far. I had to adjust some jumpers to get the sound right.

I like that you can put your own logo on boot with ASUS - useless but cool.

[ozz-2005]

alright. before i go to sleep i thought id post.

you know anything about SiS chipsets? because the board i want has the same stats as that board you mention except its a Sis chipset and no raid.

[dvornik]

No, sorry. Go to sleep.

[ozz-2005]

oo oo. another question would a 300 watt powersupply be enough for an athlon xp 1800+ ?
i dont plan to overclock it at all. that and a geforce 2 card. should be enough. no ?

[gmask]

Yeah that should cover it unless you plan to add a SCSI RAID later..

[tb582]

I was using a 350Watt power supply but upgraded to 400. Also, I wanted to add raid and OC. Alot of power supplies out there claim to pump the # of wattage on the box, but in reality, don't juice out as much. Not sure what the good brands are.