Need a cpu and memory

[Jackkiddell]

Hi,

My previous motherboard gave up. I have bought a ASRock K7VT4A+... I need a 3gig cpu and 2 meg of ram since I do a lot of video rendering. I'm no expert and can't make any sense of the lists that are 'thrown up' when I do a search... I'm wondering if anyone would be prepared to help me in choosing what to buy.

Thanks for your help,

Jack K

[votartheunsure]

Re: Need a cpu and memory

Hi,

My previous motherboard gave up. I have bought a ASRock K7VT4A+... I need a 3gig cpu and 2 meg of ram since I do a lot of video rendering. I'm no expert and can't make any sense of the lists that are 'thrown up' when I do a search... I'm wondering if anyone would be prepared to help me in choosing what to buy.

Thanks for your help,

Jack K

Memory: that board supports DDR400/333/266 non-ECC, un-buffered memory. I prefer Crucial RAM and amazon has a 2gig kit (2 1gig sticks) for under $30. TIger Direct has the equivalent parts for $65. New Egg goes into an infinite loop when asked about DDR ram. When you buy it make sure you get the 184Pin Dimm's - anything else won't work. And if you are doing rendering with this small an amount of ram, make sure you get the DDR400.

As for the CPU, you need a processor that uses Socket A (or Socket 462 - they are the same thing). AMD made Sempron, Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron processors for that socket. You will note that I said "made", not "makes". You will have a very difficult time finding a new processor. You are probably going to have to a used part. A brief look on ebay saw many of them. If you go to ebay choose the seller carefully. You probably want the Athlon XP - that tended to be the highest performing processor of that group.

What are you using for a graphics card, since that board doesn't have integrated graphics and neither will the cpu? You will need a graphics board with an agp interface. If you have to buy one, there are many new ones available for $25-$50. They will, of course, be using 2 generation old graphics technology.

Good Luck

[- wardog -]

Re: Need a cpu and memory

ASRock > K7VT4A+ > CPU Support List

Only one 3Ghz proc, the Athlon XP 3000+