Well not quite, it also let you reuse your old ram and still get good bandwidth. A pair of pc 2100 dimms could do dual channel with a 400mhz bus and still provide more than the 3.2gb/s needed

i dare you try to use different modules in dual channel with the nforce 2 ultra and call it stable...

back in 2005 i tried in my MSI k7n2 delta2 platinum, EVEN with 2 identical 256MB Supertalent DDR400 the system was prone to crash every 1-2hs...

The build is now complete, and photos have now been added. (see first post)

I wrapped up the adjustments to the data connections, and with the new Silenx Fans in place and the GPU testing done, this build is all wrapped up and ready for regular use. I have already been putting some hours into fragging online in Quake 3, UT99, and UT2004. It has been awesome. 😀

Living wrote:

i dare you try to use different modules in dual channel with the nforce 2 ultra and call it stable...

back in 2005 i tried in my MSI k7n2 delta2 platinum, EVEN with 2 identical 256MB Supertalent DDR400 the system was prone to crash every 1-2hs...

Did it plenty back when it was current.

Ran a mixed pair of 512mb sticks in a Gigabyte NForce2 400 Ultra board, one Corsair one SuperTalent was rock solid

lordnikon wrote:

Socket 462 mATX build: modern, silent, and future proof […]
Show full quote

Socket 462 mATX build: modern, silent, and future proof

Key Features:

Socket 462 Athlon XP Barton Core CPU
Modern (Modular) Power Efficient PSU with Power Protection Features
Silent Design with Silent mATX Case, Zalman Flower Cooler and Silenx Fans
2x Internal SATA ports (over IDE, bootable)
3x Internal SATA (over PCI)
2x eSATA Support (over PCI)
3x USB 3.0 (over PCI)
Linux Compatible Audio Card
Gigabit 10/100/1000 Ethernet

Well nice idea to add modern case, PSU, HDD and others..
But your main hardware the CPU, the Mobo, the video card maybe the memory as well are not the best. Specially the motherboard is total crap i know asrock from these days and they suck and bad really bad, you will need better parts, i can help you with the exact models and brands if you like, and you will have the knowledge to build beast socket 462 based machine like me, because at the moment this build is really strange, because you have very good audio card, case, total overkill PSU and the rest of the old parts the GPU, CPU, specially mobo they suck, and are not the best, or at least one of the high end...

Here is my machine as you can see i did not trow tons of money on it, it have lots of parts but i got them all cheap, i just know how to search for that type of stuff...
My PSU is not overkill like yours or the case, but my case is better in terms of stability, is very solid server grade case, this is why i did get this one + i like how it looks, the processors is mobile Barton on 2.6GHz real speed not 2600+ (the factory rating is that 2600+) and that is about 3800+. The mobo is the very best the legendary enthusiast ABIT brand that did die long ago ABIT NF7-S V2 with all rubycon capacitors that board is rock solid it is must have and will last very long...

I will like to help you improve that machine to get at least way better in terms of old hardware parts, because at the moment is not very good, but i guess you lack parts to make it better...

https://imgur.com/a/mubGE

OP: Build looks good 😀 Any desire to run some USB3/SSD bandwidth benchmarks? I would be very interested since I want to try something similar myself.

Radical Vision wrote:

Well nice idea to add modern case, PSU, HDD and others.. But your main hardware the CPU, the Mobo, the video card maybe the memo […]
Show full quote

Well nice idea to add modern case, PSU, HDD and others..
But your main hardware the CPU, the Mobo, the video card maybe the memory as well are not the best. Specially the motherboard is total crap i know asrock from these days and they suck and bad really bad, you will need better parts, i can help you with the exact models and brands if you like, and you will have the knowledge to build beast socket 462 based machine like me, because at the moment this build is really strange, because you have very good audio card, case, total overkill PSU and the rest of the old parts the GPU, CPU, specially mobo they suck, and are not the best, or at least one of the high end...

Here is my machine as you can see i did not trow tons of money on it, it have lots of parts but i got them all cheap, i just know how to search for that type of stuff...
My PSU is not overkill like yours or the case, but my case is better in terms of stability, is very solid server grade case, this is why i did get this one + i like how it looks, the processors is mobile Barton on 2.6GHz real speed not 2600+ (the factory rating is that 2600+) and that is about 3800+. The mobo is the very best the legendary enthusiast ABIT brand that did die long ago ABIT NF7-S V2 with all rubycon capacitors that board is rock solid it is must have and will last very long...

I will like to help you improve that machine to get at least way better in terms of old hardware parts, because at the moment is not very good, but i guess you lack parts to make it better...

Isn't a 2800+ XP on the high end of the XPs?... and PSU is not overkill, at 150 W on the 3.3 V and 5 V rails I would say its ok for a Barton (same power output for those rails as your PSU in the link you posted). The high power rating of the unit is a consequence of buying new PSUs to power old equipment.

Actually I thought that those were the heydays for ASrock, when it was fresh and new and had the energy of those disgruntled ASUS engineers that founded it.

Radical Vision wrote:

...the motherboard is total crap i know asrock from these days and they suck and bad really bad, you will need better parts, i can help you with the exact models and brands if you like, and you will have the knowledge to build beast socket 462 based machine like me...

I have been improving some of my old machines. This ASRock motherboard was from a Microtel box I bought from Walmart back in 2003/2004 or so. It was crashing on me after some use, and I had to buy a replacement machine in maybe 2006. About a year ago, I took the board out and discovered the original issue. The thermal paste was carmalized onto the CPU so bad that it was causing the machine to shutdown due to overheating. The thermal detection features of the ASRock motherboard saved it. So I set about on a journey to re-imagine this computer. The motherboard is my motherboard from back in the day, and has stood the test of time. I have history with it.

As slivercr and BitWrangler mentioned, the Athlon XP 2800+ barton is one of the better Athlon XP's and I was trying to stay within certain 5V rail requirements to use a modern PSU. The system is perfectly balanced, and the CPU, Mobo, and RAM are all matched for the motherboard's FSB.

That is awesome that you managed to get your parts for cheap. I did manage to get a few parts like the CPU for $8.95. However the rest of my parts? I spent a crapload of money on them. The Power Supply was $119 brand new, and I was chucking money at the SATA/PCI gear left and right to make the daisy chain work. Its not 1999 any more, and I am not in college barely surviving off of ramen noodles. I have the money and then some to experiment with my computer builds. I might even put a few 1TB SSD's into this machine, which was the whole point of the build, to have that flexibility. I built this rig to eat more of my money.

Congratulations on your "legendary enthusiast ABIT" system, you can take the trophy and add it to the one already in your signature, as your Socket 462 machine is clearly more powerful. I hope you are enjoying your custom built PC as much as I am enjoying mine.

slivercr wrote:

OP: Build looks good 😀 Any desire to run some USB3/SSD bandwidth benchmarks? I would be very interested since I want to try something similar myself.

Thanks slivercr 😀. Yes I have plans to do some CrystalDiskMark benchmarks against the SYBA IDE-to-SATA adapter, and the PCIe-to-PCI/USB3/SATA daisy chain. I will be using an ANS-9010 RAMDisk to perform the test. It might take me about a week or more to get these results, as I am away from the machine at the moment. So keep an eye on this thread and I will eventually deliver some benchies.

BitWrangler wrote:

Actually I thought that those were the heydays for ASrock, when it was fresh and new and had the energy of those disgruntled ASUS engineers that founded it.

Well i found ASRock from that timeline to be ok in terms of stability. But all the capacitor on Asrock boards was trash, on every single board, and after ton of time they all drained or even exploded, they are just trash.. Not to mention how they was leagues under ABIT, DFI LanParty/Infinity, Soltek, MSI, AOpen, Gigabyte, EPoX and other... Most of these boards was expert overclockers, i even think asrock was one of the brands that did never use the best chipset for AMD in that times the nForce 2, and later on as well..........

So compared to ABIT NF7/AN7, DFI LanParty Ultra B, EPoX 8RDA3+ that asrock was total joke...

slivercr wrote:

Isn't a 2800+ XP on the high end of the XPs?... and PSU is not overkill, at 150 W on the 3.3 V and 5 V rails I would say its ok for a Barton (same power output for those rails as your PSU in the link you posted). The high power rating of the unit is a consequence of buying new PSUs to power old equipment.

You need just good PSU, not 800W for old build. That EnermaX i use is only 400W and have 28 ampers on the +5v, and it run without a braking sweat that Barton on 2.6GHz and the Radeon HD3850, so no need to use total overkill PSUs... The Delta PSUs from workstations are using japan caps, and they are all rock solid, even better then EnermaX, die to bad caps inside...
For so old machines 30 amps on +5v is ok, some of that units have even 40 amps on 5+...

lordnikon wrote:

I have been improving some of my old machines. This ASRock motherboard was from a Microtel box I bought from Walmart back in 200 […]
Show full quote

I have been improving some of my old machines. This ASRock motherboard was from a Microtel box I bought from Walmart back in 2003/2004 or so. It was crashing on me after some use, and I had to buy a replacement machine in maybe 2006. About a year ago, I took the board out and discovered the original issue. The thermal paste was carmalized onto the CPU so bad that it was causing the machine to shutdown due to overheating. The thermal detection features of the ASRock motherboard saved it. So I set about on a journey to re-imagine this computer. The motherboard is my motherboard from back in the day, and has stood the test of time. I have history with it.

As slivercr and BitWrangler mentioned, the Athlon XP 2800+ barton is one of the better Athlon XP's and I was trying to stay within certain 5V rail requirements to use a modern PSU. The system is perfectly balanced, and the CPU, Mobo, and RAM are all matched for the motherboard's FSB.

That is awesome that you managed to get your parts for cheap. I did manage to get a few parts like the CPU for $8.95. However the rest of my parts? I spent a crapload of money on them. The Power Supply was $119 brand new, and I was chucking money at the SATA/PCI gear left and right to make the daisy chain work. Its not 1999 any more, and I am not in college barely surviving off of ramen noodles. I have the money and then some to experiment with my computer builds. I might even put a few 1TB SSD's into this machine, which was the whole point of the build, to have that flexibility. I built this rig to eat more of my money.

Congratulations on your "legendary enthusiast ABIT" system, you can take the trophy and add it to the one already in your signature, as your Socket 462 machine is clearly more powerful. I hope you are enjoying your custom built PC as much as I am enjoying mine.

Well seems you are REbuilding your old machine from back in the days, i see now. Well then make it the same as you remember then, but one thing don`t cheat with that PSU and case then, i mean just play it simple and build the same case and PSU that was back in that machine back in the days you did use it as main pc 😉...
Maybe i did sound a bit harsh on you, but i did not know you want to build your original machine, still i prefer to upgrade to the ultra max.. Funny thing my second PC was 462 using Asrock GX board with SIS chipset...

I actually wasn't trying to rebuild my machine as I remember it. I still have the PSU, Case, RAM, and GPU from the original machine. The original case did not have good ventilation, and did not support 120mm fans. The CPU was an original Sempron 1500+, 768MB of RAM, and a Radeon 9250. The PSU still works, but its a Codogen and I don't trust it.

I used the motherboard from the machine as a base and decided to build on top of it to make it the best possible machine I could, within certain limitations:

• I wanted to use a modern Power Supply
• I wanted the PC to be silent, and rival the quiet nature of modern systems.
• I wanted to expand the data connections on an mATX mobo, to support SATA and USB 3.0

I don't overclock on any of my systems. Overclocking here would have strained the 5V rail beyond the wall of the PSU I wanted to use. Even if I did install an Athlon XP 3000+ or 3200+ at stock, the added TDP could require me to run the Zalman CPU Fan at a higher RPM, which means more noise. At the moment I can run it at its very lowest RPM setting, and the CPU stays reasonably cool.

I did consider using an Enermax or an older model Corsair from 2008-2009, but decided its not what I wanted. I wanted an 80 Plus Gold Rated modern PSU, with Japanese caps and all the modern protection features.

My machine still pushes limits, but in different ways: balance, silence, mATX expansion

OP: I'll keep an eye out for the benches 😉

Radical Vision wrote:

... You need just good PSU, not 800W for old build. ... For so old machines 30 amps on +5v is ok ... […]
Show full quote

...
You need just good PSU, not 800W for old build.
...
For so old machines 30 amps on +5v is ok
...

Agreed. The thing is if you want a brand new, store bought PSU with 30 A on the 5 V rail, you'll have to get 750 W unit at least. No modern PSU around the 400 W range has strong 3.3 V / 5 V rails.

Yah, makes you wonder though why there's not many of the last of the 5V supplies around for sale like the higher watt Enermaxes, Antecs and PC Power and cooling etc.... maybe all got blown up in the mid 2000s trying to run 150W of GPU on 10A 12V rails or something.

Edit: heh, mean mid to late noughties I guess, mid 2000s be like 400+ years from now