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Socket 5 / Socket 7 / Suggestions?

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I would like to build a computer for either 1.) Linux workstation, 2.) Firewall, or 3.) Audio jukebox. I have some spare parts around the house, so I wanted to hear recommendations. I have a bunch of 486 / 66 machines (could easily be built) so I'm thinking about using one of those for the firewall. I have a Pentium 133 laying around too, along with some EDO RAM. My question is this. Should I a.) purchase a cheap MB for my 133 and stick in some more RAM, b.) purchase a 486 / pentium computer overdrive thingy (I have a good bit of RAM for the 486 boards), c.) purchase a new / used Pentium M/B and an evergreen Pentium 400 MHz overdrive processor and RAM. That chip is about $140 or so. For the audio jukebox, I would like to add a video card with tv out. Nothing fancy. I would also like to include a pretty nice sound card because... what's the point in having a crappy sounding jukebox? Questions, comments, valid criticisms? Send them on! Thanks!

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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good roasted...
 
I would honestly recommend that you avoid the overdrive processors. They're horribly overpriced and never yield their specified performance.
Normally, they cost just as much as a comparable mobo/CPU upgrade.

I'll give you an example of why they don't yield their specified performance:
You have a P133, along with all of the parts in the PC from that time. You purchase a 200MMX Overdrive processor, and pop it into that old motherboard, with it's PIO IDE controller, antique sound card, and just about everything else that was considered obsolete around the time of the P200MMX.
For about the same amount that you just spent on the Overdrive CPU, you could've bought a new or used Socket 7 TX board and a genuine P233MMX, and would've had all of the benefits of the newer technology, such as SDRAM support, UDMA33, etc.

HTH.


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"Qualifications for being a Moderator at Anandtech...? I think that you have to be 17 or under, and the lobomoty has to be total. Partial lobomoty only gets you Elite Member status."

Serendipity is looking for a needle in a haystack and finding the farmer's daughter.
 
I second that--Diesel Dan is right on the money.

Take a look at the prices of Socket 370 Celeron chips--they're incredibly cheap. Throw one in an inexpensive motherboard based on Intel's i810 chipset, and you have a classy pc with video and sound built in.

First, though, I'd recommend turning that heap of computer parts in your closet into a PC. It costs nothing but your time, and Fraken-PC might just make a good firewall. More room for... umm... whatever you put in you closet, too.
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"If your car is under control, you're too slow" - Parnelli Jones
 
I would NOT reccomend an 810 motherboard, or an 810E. I went shopping for a good socket 7 mobo for the wife the other day and I turned up this little gem http://www.fica.com/english/product/motherboard/socket7/va503a.htm If you're in the market for something that can handle a socket 370, do yourself a favor and wait for the 815 to be released to market. It's a little more multimedia capable.
 
I have been running a Linux firewall for a while, but took it down the other day to let someone access my 98 box. I will probably rebuild that firewall in the near future. The question I guess becomes what is the cheapest solution to make an audio jukebox? I already have one Sound Blaster Live, but are there any other cards that would provide similar quality for less money? I have a lot invested in my home theater setup, so I don't want a Sound Blaster 16 in my box. (I would probably be storing my own music at a fairly high bit rate to preserve as much quality as possible, but maximize song storage time. I'm guessing either 196 or 256 bit MP3 encryption?) With that in mind, other suggestions? Another cool idea would be to have a decent graphics card in the box with TV output and run that through the stereo to the TV as well. That 40 GB drive is looking pretty tempting. I'm trying to do this for pretty cheap, so I don't need a 700 MHz machine... Thanks for the feedback already!

J.R.


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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good roasted...
 
Since you said you invested a lot in your home theater setup, and you want to integrate this into that, it seems contradictory that you now want to do this on the cheap.

That being said, if you're looking for just a good video card with TV-out, I would recommend either the ATI Rage Fury or the Matrox G400. There are other cards you could get that would cost more, but the TV-Out image quality on both of these cards is outstanding. The Rage Fury will be cheaper, and isn't too bad for gaming. They also both offer DVD-decoding, and the ATI is slightly better than the Matrox in this aspect also. However, the G400 will be faster for gaming than the ATI.


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From another BBS:
"hmm... Cyrix III, huh? You can put syrup on sh*t, but that don't make it pancakes."
 
Well, the cheap aspect was only for the processor. I don't need a cutting edge machine to play the music. I thought a nice add on would be to possibly have a decent video card so that I could route some winamp plug-in effects to the T.V. Indeed, I am willing to spend some money on the sound card and the hard drive, but other than that, I would really prefer to keep costs down. I'm not going to be gaming from it, just serving up some tunes. Hope that helps clarify some things... Thanks for the responses...
 
In that case, see if you can still find an STB Velocity 128 PCI. They come with TV-out, should be more than sufficient for what you want to do, and shouldn't cost you more than $30.
However, the AGP version does not have TV-out. You'll need to get the PCI version.

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From another BBS:
"hmm... Cyrix III, huh? You can put syrup on sh*t, but that don't make it pancakes."
 
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