Upgrading to Abit BH6/Celeron 300A - should I go OEM or retail parts???

hey, doc, why do you advise your parents to avoid the oem chip? you've got me worried, as I ordered an oem chip yesterday! rob. >I've personally got a P2-233, but my parents still have their old 486 in the >ba***t.. They're thinking of upgrading next week.. and I suggested to them

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>exactly what they should buy (My dad was going to buy a P400 with 64 MB >SDRAM and a No-Name motherboard (basically everything else *** >components).. >I've managed to convince him to go for the ABIT BH6 mb with Celeron 300A >processor, 64 mb pc-100mhz RAM, and quality parts for a CHEAPER price than >the system he was looking at (he was getting ripped).. (going to overclock >to 400) >I know that he should purchase the "retail" chip, as opposed to "oem", but >what about the motherboard? Does it really matter if it is the "retail" >version, or not? >Can anyone give me any advise? >Oh.. what was the best brand of memory?? Was it Samsung? (rings a bell for >some reason). Anything I should avoid? >Thanks >doktorB

That's what I'd heard to always do... especially when overclocking (but not sure why).. Plus you get an extended (longer) warranty on the retail chip... (overclocking would void it, but who's to know?!!) Can anyone out there help us? Thanks doktorB >hey, doc, why do you advise your parents to avoid the oem chip? >you've got me worried, as I ordered an oem chip yesterday! >rob.

With the 300A, there's apparently NO current difference between the oem and retail chips, save the warranty, which is voided, of course, by overclocking. Right. As for memory, Samsung does indeed offer some of the best. You really only need top-shelf memory if you're going to run the motherboard above 100mhz. I think (not positive) the BH6 will go to 133, via Abit's Softmenu BIOS setup. Tests I've seen have crashed at that rate, but have been rock-solid at 100mhz. At this speed, any decent 10ns PC100SDRAM will do, and you'll have PII-450 performance. If you've got old 60ns EDO Ram, it won't likely work with a 100mhz board and cpu at 450mhz. It's a good bet to get a heatsink & fan for the cpu as well. Some places carry bundles with cpu, motherboard, ram, & heatsink/fan already matched. Check out http://www.mushkin.com/ for examples, or read up on the bits at http://www.anandtech.com/. He has some useful tips & benchmarking data. Have fun, Steve B.