Whats A Good System

[GregHess]

Epox Motherboard for AMD, Socket A Processors,
Model EP-8K9AI
Specifications:
CPU Supported: AMD Athlon/Athlon XP/Duron
Chipset: KT400 Chipset + VIA VT8235

Replace the motherboard with an nforce2, either Abit or Asus. Avoid the Epox Nforce2 boards, as they've had some issues. Via's already come out with the KT400A, so you'll want to avoid the KT400 at all costs.

The nforce2 boards are also the only ones to claim support for the upcoming 400 FSB Barton processors.

Most people would agree that if you can avoid via, do so, as there are a variety of issues with certain combinations of soundcards/components, which though may not be blamed directly on via, do exist, and do cause issues. I'm a bit biased in this regard, due to just recently having to replace two KT333 boards due to various stability issues.

So once again, I put in my vote to avoid epox, and avoid via. Go with an nforce2 motherboard.

(I hear Redeon 9700 Pro and then I hear Geforece Nvidia 4600) Which is better or recommend one (but I want it also for games also but more on the animation side)

This is dependent on apps. If your using 3dsmax, you'll want to go with an nvidia accelerator. A ti 4200 is plenty fast for most individuals, but you can easily upgrade to a ti 4600 without problem.

The Radeon 9700's (9800 pro's avail now) are great gaming cards, but tend to have a variety of issues with 3d apps. If your going to be using a system for a variety of tasks (3d/games/other) then the best solution will be nvidia for the budget your quoting.

Then memory, does it matter for the brand such as Crucial or Kingston and the 2100, 2700 etc.

Brand name memory (crucial, corsair xms, and mushkin) tends to be more stable due to higher quality levels then no name or generic type dimms. If you can get one of the top three, then all the better.

If you go with an nforce2 board OR the Via KT400A, you'll want at least PC2700 DDR, if not faster. (The KT400A supports PC3200 as do the nforce2's)

[elvis]

Originally posted by GregHess
Replace the motherboard with an nforce2, either Abit or Asus. Avoid the Epox Nforce2 boards, as they've had some issues.

i'll second that. i recently installed an epox 8rda+ board and for over a week could not get the thing to be stable for more than a few hours. several board replacements later there was still no joy, so we chucked it in favour of a kt400 board. it was certainly stable, but VERY slow in comparison.

the abit NF7-S rev 1.2 is out now, and is a much better alternative (make sure and get this revision, and not the 1.1 or lower). many people have also reported similar success with the Asus A7N8X board. both are a little more expensive, but very much worth it.

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