Building a New System!!..Your Answers Needed

[scarecrowdr]

Wow! your All here today, that's Great...Thanks...
It is Allways Appreciated to here the comments & suggestions from U ALL...THANKS....

Can't afford a Pentium Bistro....Wish i could!

Do agree that Dual Channel Route is the way forward...But hardest part is which Slot/Socket do we chose!!...I chose Socket A because it's what i'm use to...But i think they be doing away with it soon!!!!Yes?

I'm running an "ABIT KG7-Lite" with 2x 256Mbt DDR Ram PC2100 with a NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX/MX400 graphics card.....It is Good enough but i am looking n needing a Better Faster system, not for games as I only occasionaly play Unreal, but for my Photography n DVD n Music.....I use PhotoShop 7 an Awfull lot these day......So If U Think that the System I have chosen is way over the top, then Please say so n give me a Recomendation....
I do know there be quite a few things in that board that i will not Ever Use.....(Remember, This Board was recomended to me by a friend who says it's the Best since sliced bread)!!!!!n it's ready for the Future...

So then PhotoLady, @ what does the 2600 run @!! is it 1.8Ghz or near...A 2800 is what i think will be appropriate.......What does anyone else say!?

THANKS for Putting my Brain back into Gear by explaining the ATA...Thought I was right but was not sure....

Bistro----Thanks for Explaining that in an easy way...I knew that was kind of correct but still find it all confuseing...lol..

So to itterate a little (if that's the word)....Please pop in n Recomend something else if U wish it will Help Me.....

ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe (or should i go for) ASUS A7N8X-E
2 sticks of Corsair or Kingston DDR333 256Mbt PC2700 @ £49.00p each in Lockal ASIS Shop......OR...
2 sticks of DDR400 256Mbt PC3200 memory @ £52.50p each.
Graphics Card...either a XFX-GF FX5200 AGP8X 128MBT DDR DVI/TV-OUT.......OR......RADEON 9200 ATLANTIS 128MBT DDR AGP8X DVI/TV-OUT..OR...whatever U recomend..lol
Maxtor 120Gbt or 160Gbt or an (120 + 80) works out cheeper than a 200 hard disk....Lite-On DVD-Rom 166S----
Already got a Floppy with card readers...n a NEC 2500A DVD Writer, plus PCI USB2.0 card if needed.......
Now then, I Don't Need SATTA or PATA (they Confuse the HECK outa Me) or a Nic Card ...Plus RAID Just Addles my Brain because I don't Understand it nor can Fathom out why anyone would want to Run 2 HD as One with a copy of everything on the other.....Sounds like a Waste to Me!!...I do DO Backups n I do DO a Copy of my System on another Drive....That's enough in it!?
Over To U lot then......Thanks..

[rbc1100]

Model: AMD Athlon XP 2600+
Core: Barton
Operating Frequency: 1.9GHz
FSB: 333MHz
Cache: L1/64K+64K; L2/512K
Voltage: 1.65V
Process: 0.13Micron
Socket: Socket A

Model: AMD Athlon XP 2800+
Core: Barton
Operating Frequency: 2.08GHz
FSB: 333MHz
Cache: L1/64K+64K; L2/512K
Voltage: 1.65V
Process: 0.13Micron
Socket: Socket A

I have a 2800+ in my sons computer, it runs very well. Just buy a good PSU (Antec, Thermaltake,Enermax, Fortron ect..)350 watts or more, and ram (Kingston, Crucial, Corsair) are good trusted names. You will have to do some research on video cards to find one that suits your needs. I would look at FX5600 or better if you could. just my .02

[scarecrowdr]

Hi rbc---Thanks for replying.....
So there's not much difference between those 2 processors really!!..Iwon't be able to tell the difference between them!!..
that Graphics card looks nice but is too pricey for me @ £95.00p

So its juggling the pennies around n now seeing what fits within that price bracket...Gota choose between those two Processors n either stick in 2 sticks of 256Mbt ram....or..1 stick of 512Mbt..
That's the only two I gota make my mind up on....
Graphics card is gona be the Radion I recon!........
Thanks for the detailed breakdown of those Processors....
Catch ya later....

[rbc1100]

you won't see much difference between the two cpu's at all. ATI is a good choice for video card. If your going to buy a dual channel main board then you would do well with two identical 256meg sticks of ram pc 2700 would match either of the cpu's or pc3200 if you plan to oc. You could always but another 512 meg stick later on to put in empty slot if you feel the need.

[photolady]

Since you are not going to be playing all those high end games and only want this for you photography. My GeForce FX5200 works fine for now, since photos are 2D and not 3D, it does the job. I don't use nor have I ever used a Radeon cards but most people who do say they are the gaming card, so you might take this into consideration when choosing. Any benchmarks you find on graphic cards are meant, I believe, to show gamers/video users what they can do.

And just a suggestion on the memory, if you only get one stick, and if that stick should cause you problems, you have only one to see which is bad. And if the one stick should go bad, your computer is down until you get another good stick.

Two harddrives are better than one, at least in my opinion, since you use PhotoShop it will tell you to put your scratch disk on another hdd or partition.

[scarecrowdr]

Thanks rbc-----Thanks Photolady---
my graphics card is a choice between the one U got Photolady n the one I mentioned...Just gota make me mind up.....

One last question for now-----Which is THE Best to go for---
2 sticks of 256 Mbt Ram or 1 stick of 512Mbt....In other words, which will run the Best..Or is that 'neither here nor there'!!..
Thanks All....Allways Appreciated..

[photolady]

Okay RAM if installed as dual channel, like your board supports, and using two sticks, may have some gain in performance. But overall, either will still only give you 512mb RAM.

[Spooky Man G]

Right now, buying 2 sticks of 256 may save you a few bucks. It will take up 2 RAM slots. But think down the road when you want to upgrade. Youll have a better chance of keeping the 512 single stick down the road instead of the 2 256's. It uses less RAM spaces, and down the road, you probably end up dumping the 2-256er's when you upgrade, costing more money down the road.

[scarecrowdr]

That's what I was Thinking Spooky man...Thanks for puting my mind at rest....
n That is True too, Photolady....
THANKS for Your Help.....Will let ya All know when I got it up n running...Be a few weeks yet though......Take Care All...
Thanks EveryOne....

[Spooky Man G]

Glad you could decipher what I said. I looked back and was thinking "What the ...?" As people, the performance gains of Dual Channel RAM are weak. Good luck and Merry Christmas