Which would be the better setup of these...

ola

ola

Newbie
Assuming WinNT4.0WS or W2000pro and n-Track, which would be the better setup and why? Also, which would you consider the best bang for the buck?

Asus P3B-F with slot adapter and CeleronII 600@900MHz
Asus P3B-F with PentiumIII 650@866MHz
Abit BP6 with dual CeleronI 366@550Mhz
Abit BP6 with dual CeleronI 533@533MHz

Thanks

/Ola

[This message has been edited by ola (edited 07-21-2000).]
 
i would go with the dual 533 celerons but at least try to overclock them a little , to about 600 mhz (i personally dont like overclocking because im a dummass , but if you like it go for the gold).. oorr.. why not dual pentium IIIs ? tehehe.. i leave fo CA in 4 days , and when i get there i can start putting plans together for my dual PIII 750 digital a/v beast.. :)

what other hardware are you contemplating?

- eddie -
 
The problem with overclocking "a little" is that your PCI bus speed gets messed up. I don't dare to leave the safe 33MHz and am thus stuck with 66/100/133MHz FSB speed. Celeron 533MHz PPGA are terrible at overclocking and you would need liquid nitrogen to get the FSB up to 100MHz. It would of course mean a neat 800MHz cpu speed but I'll never get there.

Dual coppermines would be the dogs bollocks but that's the next project. My budget is dead after buying a house. I won't be buying the comp until after the summer, after I've paid $4000 in extra tax :( so maybe the prices for dual PIII setups have dropped.

As for the other hardware, nothing fancy - Midi tower (or perhaps maxi if it fits behind the flase wall), FastTrack66 RAID controller, four 20GB seagate disks in RAID0+1, 128Mb PC133 CAS2 RAM and the usual non-DAW periphials. My soundcard is an Audio DSP24 with AD/DAC2000 breakout box. Spirit LX7 mixer and no decent mics yet.

Why can't I vest my stock options yet :(

/Ola
 
Hey Ola, check out the ASUS CUBX Mainboard. This is quite a nice unit. I built a machine for a customer of mine today and I am very impressed - it is the replacement for the P3BF-1 (sortof).


Here are the pro's:

- It's using the Intel 440BX chipset
- There is no built in sound or video
- Built in ATA/66 controller
- Socket 370/FC-PGA, Since PIII coppermines are now socketed, there is not much point in getting a slot board, plus you don't need the wonky convertor card. Supports Celerons - PIII 800's and up.

Con's:

Can't think of anything.

Check it out:
www.asus.com.tw
 
I suppose but I thought you were considering a single cpu board as well...

oh well.

Good board though.
 
You're right. I am considering single CPU boards as well but I would prefer dual, just for the heck of it.

Thanks for the input

/Ola
 
I checked out the CUBX mainboard and it does indeed look like a kick-arse board. Maybe I'll just get one of them and slap a CelronII600@900MHz or a PIII650@866MHz on it. I guess the PIII would be better at only $100 more. It should do the trick, at least until dual PIII1GHz+ are at sane price-levels. Or until I can convince my girlfriend that dual PIII are more important than food and shelter.

/Ola
 
You're setting your overclocking expectations pretty high. Sure it was easy to get 300Mhz Celerons to clock in at 450, but good luck jumping from 600 to 900Mhz.

I can just barely get my 400Mhz to post at 600, but then it all goes to hell. It's stable at 500 though.

Don't bank on overclocking unless you're buying pretested systems because you never know what you're going to get. In my experience you can *expect* your CPU's rated speed + 20-30%. As far back as I can remember in fact...... my P75 went to 100, my P100 went to 120, my K6-2 350 went to 400 ... my Celeron went from 400 to 500.

Slackmaster 2000
 
I was planning on getting pretested CPU(s) and the CPUs I've mentioned are available as pretested from several companies. Also, it looks from some reports like the CeleronII overclocks very well.
 
Maybe it's time for an upgrade. What motherboard do you have? Maybe you can get a CeleronII to fit. The pretested 566@850MHz are only about UK£115 including a bigger fan/heatsink.

BTW. Any suggestons for BX based dual PIII boards without built in crap?
 
I'm reeeeeeally trying my best to hold off another generation or so, but the upgrade idea is very tempting. My Mobo is a P6BX-Me (440BX chipset), with built-in ESS Maestro sound. I can disable the ESS through the BIOS, so it hasn't been a problem. I'm weak as hell on the hardware side. I just know enough to be dangerous.

I'm also only running one HD and 96M of memory. The problem with another HD is that I don't think I have any room in the case with the CD and CDRW. I guess I could live without the 40x reader. A removable drive bay is high on the wish list.
 
Would that mobo take a CII or PIII with a BIOS update? If so, doubling your present processor power is pretty cheap. That is if you need it... :)
 
Emeric - Do you know for a fact that the ASUS CUBX supports CPU with 9.0X multipliers (i.e. Celeron 600MHz)? All I can find about the supported multipliers is a bit fuzzy. After reading the specs, I'm really leaning towards that mobo as I cannot find a good dual CPU board that:

1. Does not cost an arm and a leg
2. Does not have built in shite
3. Has more than 4 PCI slots
4. Can justify triple the price of a single CPU setup.

Anyone heard any rumors about an upcoming dual CUBX?
 
Yeah, ASUS's page is a bit foggy. But, if you check out the BIOS update available for it they state:

CUBX (ATX, 6 PCI, 1 ISA, Optional LAN)

- BIOS Upgrade and Road Map :

cubx1006.zip
CUBX BIOS Ver. 1006. 07/12/2000
Update option ROM of CUBX onboard CMD chip.
Support 566MHz and 850MHz CPU with clock ratio equal or greater than 8.5x.
Fix Windows 2000 cannot be installed if all PnP devices in Super I/O are disabled.
Revise Coppermine Vcore limit for 128K cache coppermine.


So I think your pretty safe with the new celerons with higher multiplier's. Maybe an email to ASUS to be sure, but I find they never reply to anything.

Emeric
 
Ok, I made a quick call to one of my suppliers tech support people. You don't have to set the multiplier, it's locked to the CPU and will automajically detect that it is greater than 8X. So it will support any of the new celerons.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Emeric:
Support 566MHz and 850MHz CPU with clock ratio equal or greater than 8.5x<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I found that as well and that was what got me confused. Does that really mean, higher than 8.5x (it should) and if so, why do they list two CPUs with 8.5x multipiers? Well, I'll probably go for a PIII anyway if I go single and then I'm looking at 6.5x or perhaps 7.0x. I'm not really up to getting a PIII 900 just yet :)

Thanks for your help

/Ola
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Emeric:
Ok, I made a quick call to one of my suppliers tech support people<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks a bunch Emeric. I'll buy you a couple of beers when you visit Sweden the next time.
 
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