SPCR

Hi all -

Wonder if anyone could give any advice to a complete newb at pc building who is trying to put together a system based around an 800mhz via c3 cpu. Currently lacking a motherboard! I have seen the list of compatible boards on the via website, but would appreciate some comments on quality, usability for multimedia stuff.

I have the following list of parts:

1 x 256mb ram, 2 x 64mb ram
voodoo 3dfx 16mb video card
seagate 40gb hard drive
lan card
firewire card
std beige box case + 300w psu
zalman copper flower cpu cooler
via c3 cpu (800mhz)
cdrw drive

I want it to be quiet (obviously!) and am intending to use it mainly for web-browsing, plaing music, dvds (yeah, need to add a player - know any good quiet ones??), storing and working with pictures and maybe video, emailing and a bit of word processing. Not really into games too much except am recovering from sad addiction to Unreal Tournament . Not sure if the system would be up for it...

Would be planning a dual boot Win XP / Debian woody install.

The VIA C3's need socket 370 mobo's. Around here (NL) you'd be lucky to find anybody still selling them.

I didn't browse all pages of socket 370 boards at www.pricewatch.dealtime.co.uk. But there is only one single socket board on the first page. (C3's won't work in dual socket boards.) The second and third page are full of: This product is no longer available online.

Hey ho. Thanks anyway. ebay it is then... I'll let you know how it goes...

Have found a 2nd hand MSI 6178 motherboard on ebay for < £14.00 all inc. Will post how I get on...

for anyone else interested in doing the silent / cool / energy efficient via c3 thang, via maintain a list of compatible tested motherboards here:

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/proce ... rdlist.jsp

Wolfpeach

The zalmann is overkill for this poor little CPU. Almost any stock heatsink without the fan should be ok, given few airflow.

I build such PC for my father, and it's enough for email, web, word & chess, altough a little bit slow to start programs. I tried one mpeg movie and it worked, but it was small-scale.