First post, by realGoldenRod
Some weeks ago I started a Win 98 project, which I eventually gave up on because I couldn't get a stable install no matter what I tried. So I tried Win 2000 to see how it would fair and the install went off without a hitch and I have a stable system. Now before anyone says "why don't you just try XP," I already have an XP rig and I'm wanting to play around with Win 2000. Besides from what I hear the two are basically the same except Win 2000 doesn't have all the bloat UI. Anyway, I'm looking for suggestions on some parts to try and max the build out. I'm pretty limited because of my motherboard and I'm not too interested in changing it out. Here's what I'm working with:
MOBO: ECS P4M800PRO-M
CPU: Intel Celeron D 326
GPU: ATI Radeon X800XL 256mb AGP graphics card
RAM: Corsair 2x512mb DDR-400 (max memory bus on the board is 200mhz)
I also have a PNY nvidia geforce 8400GS 512mb PCI card that I'm not using. Would the performance be better on that card than the X800XL? Does anyone have a recommendation for a better GPU? I'm not really interested in using any AGP > PCI-e bridges or PCI > PCI-e bridges, so the card has to be either AGP or PCI. For the CPU I'm thinking of getting the Core 2 Duo E4600. Does anyone have an alternative or would this be my best option? According to CPU Benchmark from Passmark it's better. As for memory I'm currently at 1gb and I don't see much point in going up. My board only supports a max of 2gb. It does support both DDR and DDR2. The max memory bus is 266mhz for DDR2 533. Open to suggestions on memory if it's worth it.
I finally got the build into a case and off the test bench. Anyway, let me know what you guys think.