Memory, Heatsink and Video Card
This content was originally featured on Amdmb.com and has been converted to PC Perspective’s website. Some color changes and flaws may appear.
Memory – 256 MB Corsair XMS2400 – $90My, how times have changed. Again a reference to January, our pick was 256MB Mushkin Rev2 module, with a price tag of $239! Now, Corsair has released PC2400 (150/300 MHz) DDR DRAM for a much lower price. This memory is also guaranteed to run at 150 MHz FSB with a CAS2 latency as well. Using this high speed memory will allow you to get the most out of your Epox motherboard by overclocking the FSB and not having to worry about the RAM holding you back too much.
Heatsink – Akasa Silver Mountain HSF – $40
I know that many of you will disagree with this choice in the guide more than anything else. But my reasoning is fairly simple. This heatsink is a great performer, as you can see from our review. Also, it’s relatively cheap when comparing it to similarly performing heatsink combinations. Finally, I chose not to go with a heatsink that required use of the 4 mounting holes around the socket simply for ease of use and installation. In addition, it just looks cooler than any of the other heatsinks, in my opinion! Check out our friends at Plycon to get one of these HSFs.
Another option that many of you may be interested in is the Thermalright SK-6. It is a bit cheaper and performs as well or better than the above Silver Mountain.
Video Card – Visiontek GeForce 3 – $325
This was a close call for me. I almost included the GeForce 2 Ultra GTS card again, as I did six months ago. You can find them for a lower price now, especially when compared to the GeForce 3 cards. But, the more I looked at the rest of the system we were putting together, everything else was the top performer available; or just about. And, with prices so low compared to six months ago, I figured an extra $50-100 wasn’t worth fretting over. You can see our Visiontek GF3 review, here.
