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3/10/2004

Endorsement. And a question.

Chaintech provides with their ZNF3-150 motherboards all kinds of goodies: a 5.25 card reader with several ports, nicely bound IDE cables, a handy little screwdriver set reminiscent of first generation mechanical pencils, etc. If you’re going up to Socket 754/Athlon 64 3400+, I highly recommend them based thus far solely on the packaging, add-ons, and low pricetag.

Does anyone (who might read this) know if the Athlon 3400+ running with 1GB (2 DIMMs) of PC-3200 DDR memory, SATA/150 hard drive and a Chaintech GeForceFX 5600XT 256MB DDR 8X AGP video card will need more than a 400W power supply? Tom’s Hardware Guide shows it should be a decent fit, but the memory and graphics card I’m using are a bit more power-hungry, I think. I don’t want my father’s new speed machine to have a lack of power. He won’t like that at all; his Tim Allen sensors will blink and wail.

I’m using the 400SL PS from Antec, which according to their test gives out max power at 380W. I assume I can trust an Antec PS to shutdown before frying my components, yes?

Basically, my research turned up very little (that I truly understood,) and I’m too lazy to do any more.

I stare at truer geeks in awe and envy, that in their presence I am so unadvanced.

Filed under: For the geek in you | | Comments (3)

3 Comments

  1. FX5600 = poop, but if he’s not a gamer, it really shouldn’t matter much. As for Antec power supplies, they are very good and I have one myself. The TruePower series is supposed to be one of the best PSs you can buy. The 430W model (I believe it’s 430) gets good reviews; you might want to check newegg on that.

    As for an Athlon64, I see no reason to even get one considering there’s no software that utilizes it. Unless you count a beta copy of WinXP 64 or some flavors of Linux. Also, your driver mileage may vary. Very few companies offer 64bit device drivers. (of course, over time this will change, but how long are you willing to wait, especially when you can get a good 32-bit system up and running)

    Good luck and hope the system your building goes trouble free. Luckily, my upgrade from 3 weeks ago has been quite exquisite. No problems with hardware or software, and for me that has always plagued upgrades.

    Comment by Malcore — 3/10/2004 @ 10:50 pm

  2. Thanks, Mal. My dad insisted on the top of the line. I didn’t go for the Athlon 64 FX-51 beause there was no current noticeable preformance difference except where memory read is concerned, and while that is significant, my dad won’t need that for anothr $500. Anyway, he wanted a machine he wouldn’t have to upgrade for a long time, so I figure when the OS catches up, he’ll already be there. Thanks again!

    Comment by steelbuddha — 3/11/2004 @ 8:45 am

  3. I wrote a 64 bit OS once. But like, you have to use the same math Atari used when calculating that the power of the Jaguar. “32-bit Processor + 32-bit Coprocessor equals, umm, 64-bit console! Huzzah, our company is saved, gg!”

    In other news, Malcore’s upgrade allows me to snag his old machine for LAN gaming. <3 Malcore

    Comment by Bjorn — 3/11/2004 @ 12:28 pm

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