Which CPU ?

[CHHAS]

I'm putting together a system for a friend of mine, he's a student and kinda short on funds, so I'm working on a really limited budget.

The system will mainly be used for general Windows work (Word processing, ect.), but a few games will sneak in.

I'm down to the following options:

1) K6-2 450 with 128 mb ram

2) K6-3 400 with 128 mb ram

3) Celeron 433 with 64 mb ram

The rest will be something like this:

10,1 GB IBM Deskstar
ATI Rage 128 16 MB

(both spare parts I had left over from previous upgrades )

Any suggestions ??



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P3 500@560, 192 MB ram, G400 16SH

[Nuno]

For general windows use and word processing, a cpu with strong integer performance and plenty of RAM is what you need. The K6-3 can´t be beaten in that. A celery would do better in games, but 64 Megs would be drawing it back.

[HollyBerri]

...and depending on just which games your friend will be playing (all of them don't require the horsepower that say...Unreal Tournament will call for)... the K6-3 will be just fine for those as well.

And you'll save enough money to get the "next big thing" when it comes around.

<u>MAKE VERY SURE</U> to get a good, solid mobo for any 3DNow! chip, though.

Try Index@Materiel and The Super7 Hardware Guide for some reviews and tips... my suggestion would be the Epox SS7 boards, which I have heard nothing but good things about.

-----------------
Holly

[Surfwienix]

i wouldn't buy a k6-3 , because it's too expensive and only a littlebit faster than a k6-2 (which is very cheap for his performance!)

buy a k6-2

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\\ Surfwienix //
(German)

My System:

AMD K6-2/400 non-o/c
Epox MVP3C-M Super7
128MB SDRAM(PC100)
-&gt; G400 MAX (PD 5.30+TGL1.0+DX7a) non-o/c
Terratec DMX Canyon3D
6,4GB Maxtor HDD (UDMA33)
ASUS 50x-CDROM (UDMA33)
Realtek 8019 Ethernet (ISA)
19" Monitor CTX-VL950T (95khz)

[Compton]

Keep in mind that if you get an AMD K6 your upgrade options are very limited. If you go slot1 you've got a lot more potential for upgrades. But maybe that doesn't matter to him. I'd say get a Celeron 366 put it on a slocket and o/c it to 550 (or higher). Oh yeah, and contrary to the beliefs of some, 3DNow doesn't accelerate the paperclip man in Word.

[Dyre]

True Compton, the celery gives you upgrade possiablitly, but the small amount of cache makes them dogs in Windows compared to the K6-2's and 3's. If he insterested in cheap, fast 2d/Windows, and web surfing go for the k6-3 and 128 RAM. That should be succience for his uses... Till he starts playing games and gets addicted.. Then hell have some money left over for a gaming rig in a couple of months.

------------------
PIII 450 @ 504
generic BX motherboard
G400 MAX : )
Maxtor 13 gig UDMA 33
Maxtor 13 gig UDMA 66
Creative 36x CD-ROM
HP 2x2x6x CD-RW
64 megs PC100 RAM
128 megs PC133 ECC RAM
NetGear 10/100
Soundblaster 32 AWE
Diamond SupraExpress 56k
Logitech Wireless Desktop (best $50 ive ever spent)
1 92mm Sunon Fan
4 80mm Sunon Fan's

[Alfie]

K6-3 is the solution here.Can't be beat in 2d and windows(business applications)is acceptable in gameplay,as well.
Right now the price is quite low for the 400mhz.
Just make sure you put it on a good mobo.
Epox comes to mind.

[Himself]

Go for a lower speed Celeron than the 433 (300a's come free in CrackerJack boxes I think), overclock it, get a decent BX board and the 128MB of ram, that is the cheapest route in the longer run, and when it comes time to upgrade, the BX board with either still work with a faster cpu or be sellable to somebody else. Especially go with 128MB of ram. Get used parts if you can for more savings, quite a few people locally are dumping Celeron stuff. If you buy a SS7 board now, don't expect to sell it or the cpu. Of the two AMD cpus, the K6-3 400 is faster than the K6-2 450, the retail versions are slightly overclockable, the oem versions barely at all. We all know the Celerons overclock quite well. Any Celeron will be faster than the K6-2, the K6-3 is within hailing distance of it due to the onboard L2 cache, at the same clock speed that is, but the K6-3 has been discontinued, it's replacement will be the K6-2+. If you/he had a SS7 board already I'd say go for the K6-3, but if you have to buy a mb+cpu combo, go low rent Celeron and overclock it.

[Compton]

Yeah!!! Tell em whatsup Himself!!

[paulcs]

I bet he can pick up a PII 400 MHz for a song. I hear they're making a comeback lately.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[KvHagedorn]

i wouldnt mess with anything but a BX motherboard (well maybe GX or 840, but we're talking budget here )

Go with some kind of Celeron for now and spend the cash on the board. Forget SS7. That way, he can upgrade to something better later, like a coppermine.

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Kind Regards,

KvH

[Himself]

Got this in the mail today from http://www.stupidcomputers.com/

Superfly Combo:
Celeron 300A (OEM) + Abit BF6 Soft CPU III Mainboard $232.79 in canadian currency, probably $140 in US.

No idea if that's a good deal or not.




[This message has been edited by Himself (edited 29 January 2000).]