[Pc_Support] Suggestions for a $200 barebones? Also, modem recommendations (winders)?

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Sun, 2006-01-22 at 11:54 -0500, Jason Boxman wrote:
> It was an older model with a NForce3 chipset so I could recycle my eVGA 6600GT 
> that I had brought prior to buying a new mainboard.

Oh, that's right.  Good choice then.

Definitely, if you need AGP 3.0 x4/x8, go with an older nForce3
mainboard.  Beware wary of the voltage issues of AGP 3.3V, 1.5V and 0.8V
though, especially older cards with newer mainboards.

In your case, it's a 6600GT, so it was AGP 3.0.

> I bought some cheap PQMagic? memory.  It was two sticks of 512MB.  It's been 
> fine for what I do.  Recently on dealnews or something there was a deal of 
> 2x512MB for like $45 or $50 AMIR.  At least $30 less than what I paid.  Oh 
> well.

I've seen a lot of issues with PQi (another vendor?).  They have had
good timings but a lot of people had complaints with compatibility.
Don't know if it's the design, SPD, etc...

I can't vouch for G.Skill's other memory products, and they do have some
"cheap and slow" 'Value' items, but if you're looking for 2GiB of
matched 1GiB DIMMs with fairly good timings (2.5-3-3-6) in a DDR400,
that's the one to get.

To get anything better you're either going to have to spend $50-100
more, or go with a product on NewEgg where a number of people are having
issues.

> Interesting.  I hadn't been keeping up with modems.

Yeah, I haven't kept up with all the chips myself.  PCTel (among others)
_could_ have newer models that aren't Linux compatible.  I just look for
the boards when I'm at shows or stores and I know what I see when I see
it (typically exact design of the PCB/chip).

CompGeeks.COM can sometimes be a good deal, especially for older v.90
PCTel boards that work just as good as newer v.92.  And in the worst
case, you've "wasted" only $3-7 trying one.
  http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=MDM  

ONE NOTE ON THE (NEWER?) BIOSTAR NF61X0+NF4X0:  

Their "AMR" slot is bracketed with the PCB _opposite_ many other boards.
Most AMR slots are bracketed like AGP/PCI/PCIe/PCI-X, "PCB on the
left" (if you're look at the back of the slot).

For example, I have AMRs for ECS mainboards (such as the older
Socket-462, SiS735-based ECS K7S5A) that CompGeeks.COM sells for
$2.99:  
  http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=AMR-V12-BULK-N&cat=MDM  

Biostar's PCB is like an ISA slot, "PCB on the right" (viewing from the
bracket).  When I upgraded a friend from his ECS K7S5A to these newer
Biostar nF61x0+nF4x0 S754 mainboards, it didn't fit.  Re-bracketing
won't work either (as the modem port is on the wrong side of the PCB).


-- 
Bryan J. Smith   mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org
http://thebs413.blogspot.com
------------------------------------------
Some things (or athletes) money can't buy.
For everything else there's "ManningCard."