First post, by viper32cm
I'm researching a Socket 754 build centered around some spare parts that I have. My Socket 754 processor is a Sonora core Sempron 2800+ (p/n SMS2800BOX3LB), which, in my experience, has performance comparable to the Athlon 2700+. I'd like this computer to be an early-WinXP or late-Win2k build, and I'm not likely to install any games older or newer than DX8.
I'm more or less ignorant of the hardware from the mid-2000s era, so I'd appreciate some advice about which motherboard to purchase and what video card and OS to use. My understanding is that I'll need to make a decision between AGP and PCI-E in this era. I have spare video cards of both types, a GF4 Ti4200 8xAGP, Radeon HD2xxx series AGP, and a Radeon HD4850 PCI-E. I think one of the first two listed (or something between them) would be the most appropriate for my spare CPU. Additionally, I'd like to have the option to use a SATA drive, as I have some spare SATA laptop drives I may use.
With regard to OS, is there any performance advantage going with Win2k over XP? Based on my memories of the Win2k to WinXP transition in late-2001 and early-2002, my feeling is that Win2k performed better on hardware of that era, but is that a relevant consideration for hardware from a few years later such as the system I'm looking at building?
