computer died

[JRT]

It happened last week...
I don't really want to upgrade now so I want to try and reuse as many parts as possible. I was thinking about getting an Abit KD7-RAID from newegg.com, it's $105, only because they no long sell any KR7A-Raid boards and the KT333 board listed doesn't have raid. Any other recommendations for a good Athlon motherboard with raid? I only want to spend around $100... just to hold me over until the end of the year. Thanks.

[msan_msw]

lol, everyone's systems are dying right now. I'm telling folks it's El Niño. As far as a good board, I know you have a budget consideration but for $20 more you could get into some of the best boards out there.

Here's where I just bought mine....

http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/ProductList.jsp?ThirdCategoryCode=011410

With free second day shipping it's worth a look :)

I got #70: Asus A7N8X Deluxe for $133 (eh price).

#66: Asus A7V8X is another nice board and highly rated.

Sorry for offering boards a bit more than you would like to spend but for $20-$30 extra IMHO it's worth it. :) Good luck!

[FluxCapacitor]

another one bites the dust...

[JRT]

Well the only reason I wanted to keep it cheap was because I wanted to wait to do a full upgrade with one of the 64-bit AMD CPU's at the end of the year, plus most of my hardware is out of date compared to what can be used with those boards. After all I did originally built it in September 2001 -
CPU: Athlon MP 1200MHz (yes it exists and it's unlocked too) it easily overclocked to the speed of a 1800+ (1535 MHZ) probably could do more but I never tried
MB: originally was an Abit KG7-Raid, died with a bad bios flash, I replaced it with a KR7A-Raid that I got for $80
768MB RAM (PC2400), 3Com NIC, Audigy, Radeon 8500 64MB

I haven't been playing many games on it and those I did ran fine. The only new game I've played in the last few months was the PlanetSide beta, which ran with no problems.

I've checked out both boards and both have the same problem: it looks like the Raid is only in the form of SATA. I don't have SATA hard drives and Asus doesn't give any adapters with the board. Also I'm not to crazy about the onboard audio / LAN both have... but I can look past that. And with the A7N8X's dual-channel DDR RAM configuration would it work with my 3 sticks of 256MB DDR RAM? Because I don't want to go out and buy new RAM...

But the A7N8X has the worst problem of all... it uses an nvidia chipset :puke: after the "fun" I went through with their video chipsets (GF2's) and crappy drivers. I'll try to be open minded about it...

[msan_msw]

Originally posted by X



I've checked out both boards and both have the same problem: it looks like the Raid is only in the form of SATA. I don't have SATA hard drives and Asus doesn't give any adapters with the board. Also I'm not to crazy about the onboard audio / LAN both have... but I can look past that. And with the A7N8X's dual-channel DDR RAM configuration would it work with my 3 sticks of 256MB DDR RAM? Because I don't want to go out and buy new RAM...



Those are some good questions... maybe I didn't do enough research or am just lazy but I kinda looked past some of that. I'm only getting 1 stick of 512 DDR333.... hope I didn't mess up thinking you could get away with a single stick. I presume that it was based in the dual controllers and not the idea of two sticks of RAM. Hope I'm right :eek:

http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=feature_dualddr

As for SATA, think I made a booboo... I thought the thing came with an adapter but just looking online I'm not sure. I guess you can use one IDE and one w/ SATA adapter in RAID-0... but I'm not sure. Good question for someone else I suppose. Crap.. time to look for SATA drive prices, lol. This is all for nForce (2), I think that the KT400 boards may be able to use 2 IDE... more research necessary....

[Dr. Feelgood]

X, you can buy SATA to ATA converters. Don't be surprised if all the new offerings have SATA, as it's being implemented as the newest standard. Pissed me off that my mainboard came with SATA, as opposed to an ATA RAID controller.

[msan_msw]

Boy did I booboo :D

Q. What slots do i put my memory in to enable Dual Channel DDR (TwinBank)?
A. The manual says for 1 stick to reside in each channel. What that means is to benefit from DCDDR you should place modules in slots 1 & 3, or slots 2 & 3. Slot 1 is located closest to the Ziff Socket (black in color) slot 2 is next (blue) and slot 3 is next (also blue). Using all 3 slots can also enable DCDDR. People’s results have varied from system to system depending on what slots they put their modules in. Some get better performance with a certain configuration and some get better stability with another. You should try your own tests as they will more then likely differ from others.

Q. How do I set up Dual Channel DDR/TwinBank/DualDDR optimally?
A. In order for DualDDR memory to run at it's optimal speed, you need to have an equal amount of RAM in each channel. Slots 1 and 2 are channel 1, and slot 3 is channel 2. Right now I've got 256MB in slot 2, and 256MB in slot 3. This means 256MB in each channel. If I was to upgrade and wanted to keep full Dual DDR, I would need a 512MB stick, and put it in slot 3, and the 256MB sticks in slots 1 & 2. This would give me 512MB in each channel, and an equal balance. This would give me an optimal Dual DDR setup.
If I were to have, say, 512MB in one channel, and 256MB in the other, only 256MB of the channel with the 512MB stick would be running in Dual DDR, since the channels would not be balanced. The rest of the 512MB stick would run in standard single channel mode, giving below optimal performance.

http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3199&sid=5a4972969b2f40b2c85c7fd5573cc9ad

[msan_msw]

Originally posted by Dr. Feelgood
X, you can buy SATA to ATA converters. Don't be surprised if all the new offerings have SATA, as it's being implemented as the newest standard. Pissed me off that my mainboard came with SATA, as opposed to an ATA RAID controller.

I know you can get the adapters but can you still create an array? Looking through forums I'm thinking you can't/or it depends on the brand/board.

This is why you don't plan your computer building after work, lol....

Well, it's looking like a full system upgrade.. kinda... I purchased another stick of RAM and will likely pick up a couple SATA drives too.

This looks nice:

http://www.essencompu.com/nupplysingar.asp?ID=3781

/Throws money in the toilet.....

*flush*

Maybe I can just sell my old system for $500 or something. It has a GF3 and all...

/runs

[JRT]

If I were to have, say, 512MB in one channel, and 256MB in the other, only 256MB of the channel with the 512MB stick would be running in Dual DDR, since the channels would not be balanced. The rest of the 512MB stick would run in standard single channel mode, giving below optimal performance.

So it looks like I could run all 3 of my 256MB DDR RAM in the board, it would just perform as it did in my current board.

And for the Raid / SATA problem I was looking at the Abit boards again:

- KD7-RAID (KT400)- HPT372 IDE RAID, No SATA ($105)
- AT7-MAX2 (KT400) - HPT374 IDE RAID, Marvel88i8030 Controller for SATA - It comes with one adapter for an IDE drive ($119)
- NF7-S (nforce2) - 2 SATA - Also comes with one adapter ($126)

I did find Abit ($26) (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=353&manufactory=1283&DEPA=0&sortby=14&order=1) and Asus ($25) (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=353&manufactory=1315&DEPA=0&sortby=14&order=1) Serial IDE to Serial ATA Adapters at newegg though.

I'm still not sure what I'll do yet but if I do decide to go with a board that only has SATA raid at least I can get adapters for my 2 hard drives.

Originally posted by msan_msw

This looks nice:

http://www.essencompu.com/nupplysingar.asp?ID=3781



I'd wait for the price to go down on that, you can get the 120GB WD IDE hard drive cheaper than that...

[msan_msw]

Originally posted by X

I'm still not sure what I'll do yet but if I do decide to go with a board that only has SATA raid at least I can get adapters for my 2 hard drives.



I'd wait for the price to go down on that, you can get the 120GB WD IDE hard drive cheaper than that...

Well X, I've been stewing about this all day. I made some pretty big blunders in hindsight. My solution? Winds of fate... if my order processed I'd keep it and if not I'd cancel it (don't feel like paying a service charge at this point). It went through... I don't know if that's good or bad, lol, because...

I also think I'll just pick up those two Raptors. I didn't really need to upgrade my last machine and I figure I'll keep the new box for at least 2 years. I don't need storage space but I do need stability in an array and a third storage drive. I don't have any movies or big stuff so two 36.7 GB HD's (73.4) would work. It would leave me with my two other drives to use in another box I'll sell to recoup my money.

Unfortunately my drives are ATA100 and I *think* SATA on my board requires ATA133 if I were to us an adapter.

Anyway, since Raptors seem to review fairly well and I can afford it (sorta) I'll pick up two w/ cables for ~$338 and just grin and take it. It's a lot of money I know but 10k rpm drives/ 8mb buffer are nice and should last a few years :/

[JRT]

Originally posted by msan_msw


Unfortunately my drives are ATA100 and I *think* SATA on my board requires ATA133 if I were to us an adapter.


That can't be true... The two drives I have are both ATA100, a 40GB and the other is 120GB w/ 8MB cache. I wouldn't be able to give them up now.

Good luck with the system, post back once you have it up and running I'm curious to see how everything turns out.

As for the board I will get it will most likely be between the KD7-Raid and AT7-MAX2, because at least I know that both of my hard drives will work with them and the AT7 gives me the option to upgrade to SATA drives in the future.

Well it looks like this laptop will be my only computer for the next few weeks, lol

[msan_msw]

Word. I'll post when I get 'er set up and let folks know how things turned out. I've been pretty fortunate in the past and hope I don't have to RMA anything so (knock on wood) I should have it together next Tuesday at the latest.

I blundered in my quote up there. I meant SATA RAID.... I try to have two identical (to the "t") drives for RAID.

It should be a screaming system for what I need it for! *cough* games and surfing *cough* lol

[MaC_DaDDy]

When will the funeral be held?
J/K, that sux, I hope mine won't die anytime soon, it shot a fireball out a bit ago but I just had to get some new ram sticks, luckily its on warranty.

[JRT]

Sorry for bring this thread back up but I just wanted to say that I've ordered the AT7-Max2.

And some how I've ended up getting a new CPU and some RAM... :hmm: lol

[msan_msw]

Originally posted by X
Sorry for bring this thread back up but I just wanted to say that I've ordered the AT7-Max2.

And some how I've ended up getting a new CPU and some RAM... :hmm: lol

Hehehe... isn't that the way of things. One upgrade leads to another, to another... lol :D

Nice mainboard!

[JRT]

lol, once I saw that the prices weren't that bad I decided to get a 2400+ and 1 gig of PC2700 RAM. So it looks like I'll only be using my Radeon 8500 and Audigy from my old machine now. :D

The board should be good; it seemed to be the only newer board I could find that had IDE raid (and SATA).

Well I should have everything Thursday; I'll post an update then.

[ArchAngelCD]

You can get the Abit KD7-RAID KT400 Athlon(XP)/Duron SktA DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, LAN, RAID Retail ***(Free 2nd Day)*** $99.95 http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=240106

OR

You can get the Abit KD7-G Via KT400 Athlon(XP)/Duron SktA DDR400 ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail ***(Free 2nd Day)*** $102.95 http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=240113

For a few extra bucks you get Serial ATA and Gigabit LAN