ToolPackinMama
09-24-2002, 11:34 AM
Yesterday I finally got all my hardware for a long-desired upgrade. I swapped out the mobo/CPU/RAM for some fancy new stuff.
Before:
Epox slot A mobo with classic Athlon 550 and 256 MB PC-133 SDRAM
After:
Shuttle AK35GT2 (VIA KT 333 chipset) mobo
Athlon XP 1700 (1.47 GHZ)
256 MB Kingmax 2700 DDR RAM
FWIW, GeForce2MX AGP vid (32MB), Seagate 40G 7200 HD, generic CD-RW, DVD, FDD, etc.
Now that I have a broadband connection (ATTBI cable) I really felt the need for more system speed and power. The mobo/CPU/RAM and a new case, plus shipping, cost me 259.00 USD.
I am dual booting WinXP Pro and SuSE 7.3 (patched). To my delight I didn't have to reinstall either OS. All hardware was detected, no problem. The upgrade was finished and I was back online within 3 hours! I was amazed at how smooth it went.
The Shuttle board is basic- a full size ATX board with 4 USB, 6 PCI- it's very nice. I read several glowing reviews about this bargain board before deciding to give it a whirl. It has support bracket for the AGP vid card, and a silent, passive heatsink for the northbridge. I was informed by one reviewer that this Shuttle mobo was very toleerant of generic and mixed brand RAM, which was a selling point with me, LOL.
I'm not into overclocking, but this is a great board for overclockers. It's a jumperless board: you can play with all the settings you want through the BIOS.
Anyway, this is the fastest 'puter I ever had, and I am thrilled with it. I especially happy that the hardware gave me no compatibility problems.
Before:
Epox slot A mobo with classic Athlon 550 and 256 MB PC-133 SDRAM
After:
Shuttle AK35GT2 (VIA KT 333 chipset) mobo
Athlon XP 1700 (1.47 GHZ)
256 MB Kingmax 2700 DDR RAM
FWIW, GeForce2MX AGP vid (32MB), Seagate 40G 7200 HD, generic CD-RW, DVD, FDD, etc.
Now that I have a broadband connection (ATTBI cable) I really felt the need for more system speed and power. The mobo/CPU/RAM and a new case, plus shipping, cost me 259.00 USD.
I am dual booting WinXP Pro and SuSE 7.3 (patched). To my delight I didn't have to reinstall either OS. All hardware was detected, no problem. The upgrade was finished and I was back online within 3 hours! I was amazed at how smooth it went.
The Shuttle board is basic- a full size ATX board with 4 USB, 6 PCI- it's very nice. I read several glowing reviews about this bargain board before deciding to give it a whirl. It has support bracket for the AGP vid card, and a silent, passive heatsink for the northbridge. I was informed by one reviewer that this Shuttle mobo was very toleerant of generic and mixed brand RAM, which was a selling point with me, LOL.
I'm not into overclocking, but this is a great board for overclockers. It's a jumperless board: you can play with all the settings you want through the BIOS.
Anyway, this is the fastest 'puter I ever had, and I am thrilled with it. I especially happy that the hardware gave me no compatibility problems.