hey, how'z everyone?

well- where to begin? i've had this computer for a few years now & while she's a real warhorse (lol) it's probably about time to do a serious upgrade. what i'm thinking about is buying a new motherboard & processor (i'll have to buy ram too) & just using the old case/ harddrives etc. currently i have a pentium 3 1gig processor and an ecs elitegroup motherboard (sorry -don't know exact model off hand) i'm thinking about switching to AMD. also- i've heard that the 939 sockets boards are on the way out- so i was kicking around the idea of using an AM2 socketed board. (i guess that's the way of the future...LOL) so what i figured i'd ask here is - any suggestions on what a guy should buy? been looking on newegg.com for ideas. not looking to break the bank either- but am willing to invest some cash in this.

additional system details & future plans...

2 hard drives (one running windows ME (i know- go ahead..laugh)
(other running slackware 10.2- will upgrade to 12 once computer is rebuilt..)
looking in the future to install a 3rd harddrive- possibly running ubuntu...
have an older nvidia gforce in here- will eventually upgrade (no hurry atm) want to stay with nvidia. soooo- if the new motherboard happens to have a newer gforce in it- (that runs well on linux..) that might not hurt- if not- no biggie...
have a newer soundcard (ie upgraded from the one on the board) will eventually get a m-audio card designed for multitrack recording (hear they work on linux- but for now not worried about it... off in the future yet)

so- anywho- not totally green on upgrading hardware- but not an expert either.. so since i'm looking for stuff that runs good w/ linux i thought i'd give a shout out here.

any comments, suggestions or ideas on what would be good for a person to get? looking to stay away from non-friendly satanic hardware, looking on newegg.com... thinking dual-core... um..ya..

well thanks for your time! let me know what'cha think!

Depending on what you are wanting and the price you want to stay in, the options are endless. I can, however, give you an idea of what I designed for a client (given he wanted the best of the best):

XFX nForce 680i LT SLI NVIDIA Socket 775 ATX Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40GHz Socket 775 OEM Processor
4x Kingston HyperX 2GB 800MHz DDR2 Non-ECC
4x 750GB Seagate Barracuda SATA-II Hard Drives
2x NVidia GeForce 8800GTX 768MB PCIe Video Card
RocketRAID 2310 Controller 4-channel PCI-e to SATA II RAID-5 Controller
2x Sony ATAPI EIDE 18x DVD+RW, Internal
2x NEC MultiSync - Flat panel display - TFT - 24" - widescreen - 1920 x 1200

Workstation will run RHEL 5, Vista Ultimate and OpenSUSE 10.x (VMware Server)

-- Michael

Depending on how old the power supply is in the case, you may have to replace it. They have added another power socket (besides the 24pin one) that is needed by most new motherboards. Most of the new video cards also need more power than the socket can provide, another special power socket. Power supplies are the last place you want to skimp. The problems an iffy power supply can cause are all over the place and extremely difficult to diagnose. After years with antecs, I have sworn off them due to poor quality. I have replaced (under warranty) eight antecs in two years out of two machines. The seasonics I have, run on the same power and have had no issues.

Hi spamhippy -

have you come to any conclusions, or found any good suggestions? I am interested in doing the same thing as you, replace mobo/proc/RAM.

and like you, I have no problem playing around with hardware, but I'm not a guru up to date on the latest details -- looking at the hardware review sites and trying to pick a combination out of the mountains of hardware and model numbers is dizzying.....

anyone else have any good resources for Linux-friendly setups with new(er) hardware?

Thanks!

Spamhippy, why are you considering AMD? That seems a bit counter-intuitive at this time. I have always preferred AMD over Pentium 4 or Pentium D but when I get to choose between a Core 2 Duo and an AMD x2, you can rest assured that my money is going the Intel way. Core 2 Duos are faster (a lot!), suck less energy and run cooler (I can overclock my stock 2.4Ghz to 3.6Ghz without needing more than decent air-cooling!). And these things have gotten pretty affordable by now (it makes me want to cry seeing that they now cost less than half what I paid last Summer...).

As for a mobo, I'm using an ASUS P5B . There may be fancier stuff out there but this is far from bad and at least everything works well with Linux.(ironically, it was XP that gave me headaches until I found a way to hack one of the drivers). If you intend to re-use one or more PATA disks, there is something that you should be well aware of, both with that ASUS board and most other ones: recent mobos have only one PATA connector because PATA is on its way out, and fast too.

Now, Windows ME... well, I'm not laughing. I used that one myself for quite a few years. It was working well enough for me and I didn't really fancy one of those ridiculously expensive retail versions of XP. But I have some serious doubts whether you'll have much fun using ME anymore. I mean, hardly any hardware manufacturer is making drivers for ME nowadays. As far as I know, ATI and Nvidia may be the only ones and then only for video cards that can't be bought in shops anymore. If you want to continue using MS, it may be time to upgrade. Just bear in mind that Vista is a glutton and that it may be more interesting to get XP(64); I haven't tried it myself but I know plenty of people who have nothing than complaints until they finally put in a dual core and 4GB of RAM.

For something a little more best bang for buck range, here's what I got a couple of years back and what I've just upgraded in it:

Socket939 Athlon64 3000+, Lowest non-cache-cripped processors are the best B/B.
PCI-E Nvidia 6600 (nonGT), low-midrange then and now, but full DX9.0c means no missing out on pretty effects, not fantastic resolution options-matches last min. 17"CRT replacement.
Both those slots were with a future upgrade for this box in mind, screw AGP! IIRC Gigabyte mobo died, MSI replacment.
512GB 3200DDR RAM, decent brand (Corsair) value range, no point OCing any of this kit, check reviews from back then and now, not worth it unless all high end components!

First to upgrade was the RAM, HL2 really liked 1GB, now other things are liking 1.5GB. Remember 2GB is a 32bit wall at least for XP per program.
Athlon64 X2 3800+, the least needed upgrade at this time, low Athlon64s are getting to be low-average single threaded performance, no need for dual core yet, thought AMD were stopping the socket939s at Xmas.
NVIDIA 8800GTS 320, BEAST of a graphics card, no longer a student, definitely a last year's games fan. Eats through max settings on my new...
1680x1050 20" LCD Not quite 1900x1200 for fitting HD and 1600x1200 4:3 games, but check the prices!

Decided to keep the Antec case, but upped the bundled 380W PSU to a 430W 80%+ efficient new one, has better connectors, PSUs work best 50-75%loaded, check the sites, screw 500W+ unless SLI, just always have enough 12V Amps.

Investing in the 939 socket now is not cost effective. You can get the 939 motherboards cheaper but if you price the total (motherboard+cpu) the AM2 socket is more cost effective and leaves you with the option to upgrade in the future.

Linux is not windows. You can run up to about 3 gig (on 32bit)without doing anything special. If you want more than 3 gig you will usually have to use a PAE (?) kernel, which are readily available.

hiya...

well- don't you hate it when things pop up & slow down from the fun things you wanna do? LOL. ahhh-finally I get to reply.

current power supply is 250w with a 24 pin. still seeing lots of 24 pin boards- especially with the AM2 chipset. seeing lots of 250w power supplies- in short- thinking i'm OK on that for the moment with the old one?- thoughts?

Not planning on going to a 939 chipset- the board is on the way out. I know...

looked at intel chips and are currently running about twice as much there AMD counterparts. also under the understanding that the AMD chips are wired differently i.e. gigs aren't as big on AMD- but their multi core proccessors
are faster at talking to eachother. i could be wrong (Lol) but this is what I was told. Am trying to look at the long run, not the present so much. Kinda get the feeling intel will change proccessor models so much in the next couple of years that i could end up with a board with a funky chipset no one will uses anymore. LOL. -but hey! i'm actually pretty neutral on this! (no flame wars please! lol) am using intel at the moment. in short- looking at AMD because it's cheaper atm and a AM2 chipset board i'm thinking will have a longer self life.

have a friend that swears by asus -but i keep seeing bad posts about their customer service & how they've gone "down hill" lately. currently have an elitegroup board- so these are the 2 companies i'm looking at for motherboards, only 2 i really have any first hand knowledge about...

have no plans to upgrade from windows ME. in the future i'm either going to use ReactOS as a windows replacement (if they ever get it to version 1.0 & it works well...) or getting off of windows all together. their is no windows future for this box- windows support is being discontinued. lmao.


well- thanks for your comments. additional ideas.thoughts welcomed. thanks for your time. not the type of guy to rush into things- so i'll probably to looking for awhile before i finally pick something up.

thanks again....

Well, yes, AMD doesn't make a bad choice at all. I'd just like to point out two misconceptions:
- it's the Core 2 Duos cores that communicate faster with each other (because of the way the cache is implemented), not the AMD cores. AMDs have traditionally been better at communicating with RAM but this advantage is really obscured by the overall power of the C2Ds.
- AM2 is no more future-proof than Core 2 Duo/socket 775, on the contrary. Over the last two years AMD has released S939, S940 and AM2. And in a few months we can expect their Barcelona, with AM3 and probably DDR3. It seems that it really is AMD that can't make up its mind. I have an s939 AMD that I bought only a year ago and that I had been intending to upgrade about this time. Well, unfortunately, s939 has as good as disappeared and so has s940 (my mobo can easily be converted from s939 to s940). In short, I can forget it unless I get a new mobo and new RAM. Which is rather more expensive than what I'd like to spend on a 2 year old computer.
Sorry If this sounds like an Intel commercial, lol. Like I said, AMD is great as well. The point I'm trying to make is that you'd better get the right AMD the first time round. Don't buy anything with the prospect of upgrading this or that part in two years because chances are that you won't be able to do so when the time comes round.

Spam

As long as your powers supply has the two extra new style power plugs in addition to the 24pin power plug. If I remember correctly the one that goes to the motherboard is a six pin and the one to the newer video cards are a 4pin both hale an L shaped form. Most of the new power requirements are causing a overload only on the 5v rails. Just make sure you have enough 5v amps.

Edit: Memory is not so good. The extra motherboard plug is 8pin and the video card is six pin. Here is a link to some pictures:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowIm...upply+-+Retail

What do you mean, "spam"? I just don't like any decisions taken on the basis of inaccurate information. As I have both, I'm alright with people using either AMD or Intel. Apparently not everyone is.

His name is spamhippy I just shortened it to spam to reply to him. It had nothing to do with your post, nor did I reply to anything in your post (that I can see).

Ah cr*p. I should give up the booze . Sorry.

I just noticed that the HP a1744x I bought from CompUSA is now $150 less than when I bought it a few weeks ago. Socket AM2, and the processor in mine is an AMD 5200+ (instead of the adverised 4600+). The CD/DVD burner supplied works with cdrecord to burn a 16x DVD+R disk in an hour or so.

Greg

There must be something wrong with your setup. My x2-3800+ with a fairly old $30 LG dvd burner burns DVD+rw (usually much slower than +r) in less than 15 minutes.

Jay

Poor word choice on my part as well (did not think). Sh@t happens and nothing splattered.