Which CPU/Mainboard, of these two old systems?

Calab wrote:

"Calab" wrote in message
...
I've got a friend who's computer is quite old - still running Windows 98.
She's just recieved a computer for free and I'm trying to build the best
system from what I have.

Thanks for all the input folks!

Some replies, in no particular order...

I honestly had no idea what kind of performance the Radeon 7000 had,
especially being PCI. I guessed that they were pretty close, but wanted
some
verification.

I considered PC#2, even though it was unstable, because it could be memory
or video card, which could be switched out. It also had the ability to
use a
faster CPU when I found one.

I've had a few ECS and PCChips mainboards. They're cheap and will do in a
pinch.

In the end it all became moot. I found a working 1.3Ghz AMD machine for
$40. It was complete except for a hard drive. Even had 6800GT video
card. The system is up and running beautifully.

Now I'm harvesting PC #2 for parts to add to PC #1. 2x256meg work. Got
the DVDRW and ATI video card as well as the PCI USB card. The only issue
I see is that it appears that the 1Ghz CPU is only running at 500Mhz
(highest the MB can do). Plenty fast for Win98SE with 512meg of memory
and only used for internet stuff.


http://www.seanix.com/downloads/Manu...ish_manual.pdf

If the slocket has an option to jumper the bus speed, try jumpering it
to 100MHz. It could be, if the Seanix sees 133MHz, it defaults to 66MHz.
If the slocket has jumpers for the FSB, try fiddling with them and set
them to 100MHz. You may be able to run at 2/3rds of full speed, rather
than 1/2.

The multiplier jumpers shouldn't do anything, so you shouldn't have
to adjust them.

Paul

"Grinder" wrote in message
news:kp6Pk.416294$yE1.104243@attbi_s21...
philo wrote:
"Calab" wrote in message
...
I've got a friend who's computer is quite old - still running Windows
98.
She's just recieved a computer for free and I'm trying to build the
best
system from what I have.

PC #1:
- Seanix Columbia III mainboard (BX chipset)
- USB ports MAY be broken.
- Intel Celeron 1Ghz @ 100Mhz bus (Socket 370 in a slotkey adapter)
- 3x128meg = 384meg of SDRAM (the supposed max on this mainboard)
- nVidia MX400 AGP video card
- 60gig IDE HDD
- 40x IDE CDrom
- Currently running Windows 98

PC #2:
- ECS K7S5A v1 mainboard (SiS chipset)
- AMD K7 @ 850Mhz
- 2x256meg = 512meg of SDRAM (Also has 2xDDR slots available)
- ATI Radeon 7000 **PCI** video card
- 2x 80gig IDE HDDs
- LiteOn 1637S IDE DVDRW drive
- PCI 2x USB card
- Currently running Windows XP Home
- This machine had random reboot problems, but since the reinstall of
XP
it
*seems* stable.

So, looking at the two systems, what is the best way to go with this?

PC#1 has the faster CPU (any features that the K7 is missing?) but it
has
an
OLD mainboard. It also has memory limitations (I haven't tried the
2x256
in
this board). Being a Slot1 mainboard, upgrades are limited.

PC#2 has the newer mainboard but the slower CPU. Some stuff won't
install
here, like DirectX 9 or SilverLight. Being Socket A, I could get a
faster
CPU, but what about the media features needed by DirectX or
SilverLight,
etc?

Finally, which is the better video card. The AGP nVidia MX400 or the
PCI
ATI
Radeon 7000?

Thanks for any advice!!!



Heck , if the 2nd machine has a working installation of XP on it...
I'd go with that one. (Providing it stays stable)

XP is way better than win98,
plus it has two HD's

Though the 850 mhz AMD cpu is a bit slower in "mhz" it's a better CPU
than
the Celeron
so should be as good or better.

If the 2nd board has any empty ram slots
you may be able to use some from the other machine.

BTW: ECS is not always considered the best mobo,
but I had one once and it only had one minor glitch:

In the winter, it was pretty prone to static discharge
and I had to make sure I had grounded myself
prior to plugging in a USB device.

If I shuffled across the carpet and plugged in a USB device
without first grounding myself, the machine would sometimes reboot!

Shuffling and "rebooting" is a sign of old age--are you sure it wasn't
just "operator error?"


Am I getting old

33 years ago, when I went to work...I always used to hear them say:

"Get a haircut young man."

Now they don't say that any more, I just thought they had gotten more polite
G

ECS boards are Ok for the younger folks I guess!

On Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:53:28 -0500, Paul
wrote:

Calab wrote:

"Calab" wrote in message
...
I've got a friend who's computer is quite old - still running Windows 98.
She's just recieved a computer for free and I'm trying to build the best
system from what I have.

Thanks for all the input folks!

Some replies, in no particular order...

I honestly had no idea what kind of performance the Radeon 7000 had,
especially being PCI. I guessed that they were pretty close, but wanted
some
verification.

I considered PC#2, even though it was unstable, because it could be memory
or video card, which could be switched out. It also had the ability to
use a
faster CPU when I found one.

I've had a few ECS and PCChips mainboards. They're cheap and will do in a
pinch.

In the end it all became moot. I found a working 1.3Ghz AMD machine for
$40. It was complete except for a hard drive. Even had 6800GT video
card. The system is up and running beautifully.

Now I'm harvesting PC #2 for parts to add to PC #1. 2x256meg work. Got
the DVDRW and ATI video card as well as the PCI USB card. The only issue
I see is that it appears that the 1Ghz CPU is only running at 500Mhz
(highest the MB can do). Plenty fast for Win98SE with 512meg of memory
and only used for internet stuff.


http://www.seanix.com/downloads/Manu...ish_manual.pdf

If the slocket has an option to jumper the bus speed, try jumpering it
to 100MHz. It could be, if the Seanix sees 133MHz, it defaults to 66MHz.
If the slocket has jumpers for the FSB, try fiddling with them and set
them to 100MHz. You may be able to run at 2/3rds of full speed, rather
than 1/2.

The multiplier jumpers shouldn't do anything, so you shouldn't have
to adjust them.

Paul


Since Celeron 1GHz is 10X multiplier on 100MHz FSB,
defaulting to lowest standard 440BX chipset FSB should
result in 10X 66.6...MHz or 667MHz, but it seems possible
the bios is merely displaying the wrong CPU speed.

With windows running a program like CPU-Z should show the
actual CPU frequency to confirm whether it's at 1GHz or
verify needed slotket jumper settings are taking effect.

Somewhere on teh intarwebs "Grinder" typed:
Calab wrote:
I've got a friend who's computer is quite old - still running Windows
98. She's just recieved a computer for free and I'm trying to build
the best system from what I have.

PC #1:
- Seanix Columbia III mainboard (BX chipset)
- USB ports MAY be broken.
- Intel Celeron 1Ghz @ 100Mhz bus (Socket 370 in a slotkey adapter)
- 3x128meg = 384meg of SDRAM (the supposed max on this mainboard)
- nVidia MX400 AGP video card
- 60gig IDE HDD
- 40x IDE CDrom
- Currently running Windows 98

PC #2:
- ECS K7S5A v1 mainboard (SiS chipset)
- AMD K7 @ 850Mhz
- 2x256meg = 512meg of SDRAM (Also has 2xDDR slots available)
- ATI Radeon 7000 **PCI** video card
- 2x 80gig IDE HDDs
- LiteOn 1637S IDE DVDRW drive
- PCI 2x USB card
- Currently running Windows XP Home
- This machine had random reboot problems, but since the reinstall
of XP it *seems* stable.

So, looking at the two systems, what is the best way to go with this?

PC#1 has the faster CPU (any features that the K7 is missing?) but it
has an OLD mainboard. It also has memory limitations (I haven't
tried the 2x256 in this board). Being a Slot1 mainboard, upgrades
are limited. PC#2 has the newer mainboard but the slower CPU. Some stuff
won't
install here, like DirectX 9 or SilverLight. Being Socket A, I could
get a faster CPU, but what about the media features needed by
DirectX or SilverLight, etc?

I would go with motherboard #2. Don't sweat the processor--clock
speed isn't everything.

You'd go with an SIS over a BX?

Each to their own I guess. IMO the BX was the best chipset Intel made in a
decade. I've never had an SIS I was impressed with.
--
Shaun.

DISCLAIMER: If you find a posting or message from me
offensive, inappropriate, or disruptive, please ignore it.
If you don't know how to ignore a posting, complain to
me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate... ;-)

"philo" wrote in message
...

"Grinder" wrote in message
news:kp6Pk.416294$yE1.104243@attbi_s21...
philo wrote:
"Calab" wrote in message
...
I've got a friend who's computer is quite old - still running Windows
98.
She's just recieved a computer for free and I'm trying to build the
best
system from what I have.

PC #1:
- Seanix Columbia III mainboard (BX chipset)
- USB ports MAY be broken.
- Intel Celeron 1Ghz @ 100Mhz bus (Socket 370 in a slotkey adapter)
- 3x128meg = 384meg of SDRAM (the supposed max on this mainboard)
- nVidia MX400 AGP video card
- 60gig IDE HDD
- 40x IDE CDrom
- Currently running Windows 98

PC #2:
- ECS K7S5A v1 mainboard (SiS chipset)
- AMD K7 @ 850Mhz
- 2x256meg = 512meg of SDRAM (Also has 2xDDR slots available)
- ATI Radeon 7000 **PCI** video card
- 2x 80gig IDE HDDs
- LiteOn 1637S IDE DVDRW drive
- PCI 2x USB card
- Currently running Windows XP Home
- This machine had random reboot problems, but since the reinstall of
XP
it
*seems* stable.

So, looking at the two systems, what is the best way to go with this?

PC#1 has the faster CPU (any features that the K7 is missing?) but it
has
an
OLD mainboard. It also has memory limitations (I haven't tried the
2x256
in
this board). Being a Slot1 mainboard, upgrades are limited.

PC#2 has the newer mainboard but the slower CPU. Some stuff won't
install
here, like DirectX 9 or SilverLight. Being Socket A, I could get a
faster
CPU, but what about the media features needed by DirectX or
SilverLight,
etc?

Finally, which is the better video card. The AGP nVidia MX400 or the
PCI
ATI
Radeon 7000?

Thanks for any advice!!!



Heck , if the 2nd machine has a working installation of XP on it...
I'd go with that one. (Providing it stays stable)

XP is way better than win98,
plus it has two HD's

Though the 850 mhz AMD cpu is a bit slower in "mhz" it's a better CPU
than
the Celeron
so should be as good or better.

If the 2nd board has any empty ram slots
you may be able to use some from the other machine.

BTW: ECS is not always considered the best mobo,
but I had one once and it only had one minor glitch:

In the winter, it was pretty prone to static discharge
and I had to make sure I had grounded myself
prior to plugging in a USB device.

If I shuffled across the carpet and plugged in a USB device
without first grounding myself, the machine would sometimes reboot!

Shuffling and "rebooting" is a sign of old age--are you sure it wasn't
just "operator error?"


Am I getting old

33 years ago, when I went to work...I always used to hear them say:

"Get a haircut young man."

Now they don't say that any more, I just thought they had gotten more
polite
G

ECS boards are Ok for the younger folks I guess!


hehe, PEBCAC, Problem Exists Between Computer And Chair!!