Game server

[Marshmallowman]

is the pin packaging is changing on athlon XP's?, its the first I have heard of it

[Tomasz]

Here's one thing to consider about the Duron: by default it runs at an external bus frequency of 100 MHz (as opposed to the AthlonXP which runs at 133 MHz). With DDR ram this gives an effective 200 MHz or 1.6 GB/s, but if you plan to use PC133, then it will run at PC100 speeds (0.8 GB/s) if you run the memory in synchrony with the processor bus.

The Barracudas are very nice drives (the quietest I've heard). Performance is normally respectable... but they suck in RAID setups. No reliability problems here for the two 80GB drives that I've had for about a year.

Power supplies: I really like the Antec TruePower series (http://www.antec-inc.com/p_truehome.html), they are very quiet and provide very stable voltages but they are also on the expensive side ($50 for 330W)

[az]

The Barracuda IV's problems with RAID arrays (was really a problem with their read-ahead cache) was corrected with a new firmware, which should be on all models that are now sold.

AZ

[Liquid Snake]

The Athlon XP is going to a new package?

Has the multiplier unlocking changed with the newer Durons? I figured I would unlock it and run it at 7.5x133 instead of 10.0x100 if it can still be unlocked.

[RichL]

I dont know about a new package, but there was a strong rumor a few weeks back that the new Athlons would have a 333mhz FSB.

[Tomasz]

Unlocking's the same: connect the L1 bridges. 7.5x133 will be much better.

[Novdid]

I personally would get a 1600+, ridiculously cheap, price performance wise. And it doesn't need a very big cooler either, this heat issue is extremely overblown.