pls recommend older mobo/proc

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I ran XP on a Celeron 400 (actually it was lower but I can't remember what exactly).

It had 133 RAM 128Mb an old GF2 card (although the onboard did graphics did ok* for a while). 128Mb is a minimum I would advise for XP - More is better.

Listen, if you want my advice, and I mean this because it's what I eventually did - don't use XP, it is a great OS but it is also a resource hog - try W2000, it'll give you more bang for your bucks on a lower spec system. Even better use W98SE for more performance, but I'm being extreme on the 98 point - I wouldn't do it me'sen, I'd go 2K.

And don't get XP pro - get the home version if your a home user. I got XP pro and sooo many menus to twiddle with..... uncrashable OS? - I don't think so!

You can get better results with a sleeker OS (watch out! here comes the BEOS crew and Kernel Penguin.....)

There are tons of boards that havent gone DDR or RAMBUS crazy. You can push good 133 to 150Mh too - but that's the field of the OC'ers.... being there done that, fried my chips :-(

Sorry for disorganised style of answer but I'm in a rush - Stay Cool
*Don't expect to play games - well not new ones :-)

I, personally, don't have a problem with XP Pro or Home. I would advise running an older OS like Win2k (or 98 even) on older hardware.
The problem is that you want to buy a newer mobo/cpu combo and run this older hardware with it. It may or may not work. It may work initially and cause major problems in the future.

I don't have a problem with them, I was so impressed with XP I actually bought my first Microsoft OS.

My point being they are bloatware. And as such will slow down intolerably older spec hardware.

Please ignore that first sentence (Doh!)

You are basically guaranteed that XP will have a problem with the older hardware. XP is quite picky about which hardware it will run with. Here is the XP HCL - http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/search.mspx

So it seems XP may not be your route, for varied reasons

brandinius

Intel 815-generation board with a P-III processor would work. These go up to 1.0 ghz I believe.

Also, I run XP Pro on a desktop with an older Intel 440BX2 board, a Powerleap upgrade slot 1 processor that took it from a P-II 450mhz to a Celeron 1.4ghz. I believe the RAM on that is PC-100, but the 133 RAM will step down if losing that bit of speed is not a big deal to you.

But I tried to look on the outpost site and their search engine bombed out on me, so I don't know if they sell either of these boards.

ASKER

ok, sounds like i need to come up with a copy of w2k. i have an extra license for xp pro, but it may not work for my low budget needs.

but, does anyone have any recommendations on a specific board. i know there's gotta be some 2+ year old 'clockers around here. (FYI i definitely dont wanna run any low-powered processor--no celeron/duron combos) someone gimme an asus or abit mobo/cpu combo that'll smoke with my poor little pc133 chip.

PC133 is memory yes? You don't mean a P133 CPU? If so forget it.

What hardware have you got? then we can guess at a mobo 4u

Meanwhile:
Pentium 4 chipset that chains its 'netbursting' super processor to the good old PC133 SDRAM memory? Crack pipe or what?
http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20010702/

http://www.century-micro.com/intl.htm

http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20010122/

http://www.hothardware.com/hh_files/Motherboards/i845s.htm

http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/kt133.php

etc etc

ASKER

thanks for the links. i think i've hit most of those already. i was just hoping for some specific recommendations.

pc133 is memory..yes. in the first post i mentioned that i have some put aside for this box. other than that there is no hardware to speak of. i will be running a single app on this machine. i posted a link to the minimum specs. other than those, i think the only hardware requirements are that the machine have a USB port for the controller.

i was hoping someone would remember a nice board/cpu combo from that era that would maximize my performace:dollar ratio.

Not one that you can buy from that vendor. You may be able to go to your local clone shop and get a mobo/cpu combo that has been traded in by someone else.

Callandor

Maybe you can buy some memory from them, and upgrade the rest from newegg:

Albatron KX400-8XV PRO V2.0 $49
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-170-009&depa=0
Duron 1.6GHz $37
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-104-159&depa=1

banks1850

A specific board huh? lets see...Biostar made a pretty cheap board that did a "decent" job I guess. They aren't still in production (I doubt you will find many that are), but you can still buy some retail on-line. I think the model I used to use was the M6VLR. It takes up to a PIII 1.2 GHz cpu on a socket 370 if I am not mistaken (thinking back almost a year and a half now). I am positive you can still find the PIII's out there, and pretty sure you can still find that board, it was one of Biostar's best boards.
Truely though, you can find a board/cpu and 256 DDR 2100 RAM for under $200, if you are going to build it, build it right.

check with axiontech.com or Partspc.com
they both sell older boards.

The problem comes with the specific vendor that we were given to work with. I am sure many recommendations can be made but they should be from www.outpost.com in order to fit the criteria specified. Would you care to give a little leeway on that?

ASKER

i would if i could. but, there is zero budget on this machine, and i have a giftcard to outpost. if anyone wants to contribute an old motherboard, i'd gladly accept ;)

Since there is a zero budget you need to wait until there is a couple hundred $$$ budget and then build a machine. You won't get anything old from major vendors because it just doesn't sell. Your best thing to do right now is find someone who just upgraded their decent machine to a better system and talk your way into some sort of barter agreement in exchange for their old system.

SOLUTION

e_sandrs

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I am thinking it is more like a $75 to $100 gift card. We haven't been told of that.

ASKER

i'm increasing the point value because i'm basically changing the question. once i get an answer here, i'll split points among those who answered the first question and who answers the new problem.

new problem: ok. looks like i'd be wasting my money to go with old technology --namely a board that will use the pc133 ram. it was free anyway...still a waste :(

so, i can pretty well research new technology myself. but, since i have everyone's attention, there's 75 points for anyone making recommendations on the following:

still keeping a zero or very low budget in mind, what is the best 'bang for your buck' mobo/proc/ram(512mb) combo available at outpost right now? no celeron/other low powered processors please.

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e_sandrs

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