Need suggestions on mobo/cpu

[ElChupa]

I have decided to replace my motherboard and processor. This will be mainly for gaming and internet surfin. I would rather have reliability and stability than a slightly higher performance.

I am open to AMD or Intel and I have a budget of 300 american dollars. Here are the components I will be using:

BFG Asylum GF4 ti4200 128mb
512mb(2 sticks of 256) DDR266 RAM
WD 100gb 7200hdd
WD 20gb 7200hdd
Windows xp home
Soundblaster 5.1

Any suggestions on a good mobo/cpu mix would be wonderful.

[RenegadeKing]

I would suggest:

Athlon XP 2500+ and an Asus A7N8X.
or
P4 2.53ghz and an Asus P4PE.

[TwoRails]

I'll second the 2500+ (or there-abouts) and the A7N8X.

[glc]

And I'll second the Intel recommendation.

[HAL9000]

Of course I'm biased to the Intel and second the recommendation, but the AMD combo would be good too.

[ElChupa]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have only owned AMD products but I think I will try out Intel.

What is the deal with the AMD having less mhz tho? Of AMDs and Intels of same price, Intels always have more mhz.

[TwoRails]

Hi ElChupa,

Good luck on your Intel build. Either is really a good choice.

I'm Not trying to dissuade you from Intel, but I have to admit that AMD's naming scheme is pretty accurate, but is confusing to GHz number watchers. If all other things are equal, for example, a 2800+ AMD will win it's share of benchmarks compared to a 2.8 gig Intel. Just because the GHz is lower doesn't mean that AMD should be penalized because it is more efficient. I like V8 engines, but if I raced a 4 cylinder car, and it won five out of ten times, then I'd have to say that it's basically as fast as the V8. Swap the word "races" for "benchmarks" and you have Intel versus AMD.

With todays speeds, you need benchmarks to see a difference, as most real world usage will not reflect any.

TwoRails

[Hazydeth]

I have the 2500+ A7N8X and I would Reccomend it as well.

[ElChupa]

Thanks for that explanation on the AMD speed thing.

I went to check out prices on the XP cpu's and the only 2500 I could find was called "Barton". Is this a new version or what? If so, does a motherboard have to be "Barton-ready" or something like that?

[TwoRails]

A "Barton" is just an XP with a larger builtin cache. So, if you had an 2800+ "regular" XP and a 2800+ Barton XP, the barton has a bigger (512) cache, but still a slower GHz rating than the regular XP !!! I believe that the only 2500+ made is a Barton.

Also, all Bartons are 333 FSB units, where regular XP don't start 333 until some 2600+, then up.

So, the only thing you need to run a Barton, or XP 2600+ and higher at full speed is a 333 FSB mobo, like the A7X8N and others.

HTH

TwoRails

[ElChupa]

Thats about all I need to find out. Thanks for the info TwoRails and everyone!