Motherboard and Processor Combo??

S

spaceghostctoc

Geek Trainee
Ok, I know I want to go with INTEL P4 Processor. I was looking at getting a 2.6c (for the HT and 800MH FSB) Link Below

Processor Link

But I'm stuck on the board and RAM. I know the mother board is the heart of the system and I want to get a really good one. I'm not big at upgrading a PC every year. I currently have a 700MHZ Athlon K6-2 w/ 384mb of ram. So this is going to be a big Improvement. I think them main reason I want to upgrade my pc is I multi-task a lot now and DOOM 3 is going to be out in April!! =)

I was thinking Intel board w/ intel processor. I know that I want at least ATA100 Ultra and 8x AGP. Im not up to par on this N & S chips sets. Here is a board I looked at but I mean if there are better boards other than INTEL let me know what you think would be good to go with. Link Below

Intel Board

Finally what ram is good to go with? I was thinking Kingston I want at least 2 stick of 512MB DDR400?? is that the right kind for that board? Link Below.

Ram

NOW A CASE!!! Just post a few links of Sweet Cases!! Im not sure what Kind of watts to go with? But I think I'm going with 1 HD around 100GB or so 1 NIC 10/100/1000 3com, 1 Sound Card, 1 DVD Rom, 1 Plextor Burner, 1 Floppy, and the Graphics card is going to either be a 8x agp radeon or nvidia so thats undecided.
I want to make sure there is room for fans and I'd like a clear case so I can see inside of it plus room for 2 more empty bays in the front!! Let me know a good case or a link to find one w/ the correct power supply already installed.

Thanks

Joel

Email: [email protected]
 
Board: I'd go for either the ABIT IS7 (any flavors) if you want to stay with the Springdale chipset (that's the one on the board you wanted) or go for the IC7 (any flavors).
Abit is one of the best companies out there regarding stability, durability and performance. You can't go wrong with them.

RAM: You don't wanna' go below PC3200 here. Kingston is a good choice. I have their Value Ram and I'm very pleased with it.

Case: I would suggest the Antec PlusView 1080. It has an Antec True430 psu (430W) and comes with three fans, with space for two more (2 in the front, 2 in the back, on on the side panel).
It doesn't come with a window but you can order one separately from their website.
Or you can go with the plain 1000 which is the exact same thing but comes with nothing except a window (you would have to buy the psu separately)

http://www.antec-inc.com/us/pro_details_enclosure.php?ProdID=91082 : 1080AMG
http://www.antec-inc.com/us/pro_details_enclosure.php?ProdID=90510 : 1000AMG
 
Thanks!!

Any other suggestion? about boards!! Since its the heart of the system the more replies the more research I can do!!
 
I've got the Abit IS7-E, and I like it alot, but any of the IS7 series would be a good choice. Asus P4P800 seems to be another solid choice. The one thing I take issue with both of these boards is that they don't make use of the CSA option to use an Intel Gigabit NIC and go with the 3Com. Don't get me wrong, the 3Com is great, but CSA (with an Intel NIC) takes the NIC off the PCI bus completely, leaving room for the other zillion devices that use it and don't take up as much bandwith. Having said that, MSI and Gigabyte are the other two companies that I'd look at. I know that MSI 865P Neo 2 uses the CSA feature, and I believe Gigabyte does as well.

Antec's cases are nice to work with, especially the way they've got their drive cages setup.

Their PSU's are good too, but I also like Sparkle/Fortron (both are made by the same company).

RAM: Kingston is fine, but Crucial and Samsung work very well. If you're thinking of tweaking/overclocking, you might consider spending a little extra for some Corsair XMS or Kingston's Hyper-X stuff.

Graphics: I'd go with a Radeon 9600 non-pro/Pro/XT (steer clear of the SE version) or the Radeon 9800 non-pro/Pro/XT over the current GeForce line. The main reason is the proper support of DX9, and that some of the GeForce FX 59x0 cards have a massive cooling unit.

I don't know how much of an audiophile you are, but I'd recommend going with a Hercules sound card. Philips is also good, but (at least with the budget cards) they make you pay to have fully functional software. Having said that, they kick some major a$$ in the sound department without costing an arm and a leg. I had the original Audigy, and I didn't think it was worth all the fuss people made out of it.
 
http://www.kingston.com/hyperx/thelines/default.asp?type=khxu

if i get that Abit IS7 board that was the one I was looking at buying now its around 100 bucks on Newegg. What ram would be the best ram to go with? I was also looking into 512 of that X Hyper Kingston (link above) What PC do i need? PC-3200 for that board 400mhz? because I saw the PC-4000 but thats 500mhz and the board doesnt support that kind right? because it suppost 800mhz fbs so 400mhz ram would be the kind i need?
KHX3200A/512 512MB 400MHz DDR Non-ECC CL2 DIMM

Is 1 stick of 512 better than 2 sticks of 256?

Thanks

SG
 
PC3200=400MHz. You can always buy faster RAM. You don't want something slower than PC3200, or you'll put a bottleneck on the system
 
Right now there is no standards for above PC3200. So PC4000 might work, but it's hit or miss.

What you want is two sticks of memory because you'll be able to use both channels of memory, which increases its speed. So 2x256mb is better than 1x512. Make sure both sticks are the exact same. The best way is to buy them at the same time.
 
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