Ok, so the asus canterwood deluxe mobo... it has intergrated sound and will work with that SATA HDD then?

hmmm I might be able to order most of it today, and nick the grfx card from this pc for a bit...

[edit] and is there much difference in cost between the P4 2.6CGHZ and the 2.8CGHZ?

In denmark the price diff. is 400 d.kr, that's around 30-40 £, and yes the mobo supports SATA Harddisks... =)

Not anymore Thorarin, a 2.4 GHz P4 HT 800FSB is maybe 10-20£ more expensive than a 2800+ Barton, but guess what ? the intel is faster AND has HT nice if you run more than one proggy at a time ;).

Since intel has switched to DDR ram, there's no difference in the RAM prices. And if you wan't a quallity asus Mobo you'r gonna have to pay the same for intel and amd.

So basicly you get 800 FSB, HT, and a faster CPU for 10-20 £ more ? If that isn't best price/performance, what is ?

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030521/index.html <-- read that and weap, P4 2.4 ghz beats the 3200+ in alot of tests too :p. I think AMD need to release a new cpu.. they're are gonna so loose ground now..

I'm normally very AMD positive, and will buy it if they're better, but right now AMD doesn't have anything to offer over intel, not even cheap prices....

<edit>
Actually the 2800+ is more expensive than the 2.4 GHZ P4 according to overclockers.. though the 2.8 GHz is the best price/performance according to tests....

If you can't be bothered to read the whole test, just read the conclusion : http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030521/800fsb-25.html sums it up nicely..
</edit>

Just a quick note... to fully utilize HT you need windows XP!

And good luck with whatever you buy.. Thorarin will probably still suggest AMD, and I'll suggest Intel ;)

INTEL INTEL INTEL... woooops sorry :D

Yeah I have a <cough> fully legitimate version of Windows XP pro ;)

Gama, look at the prices / stuff on www.overclockers.co.uk they do really nice stuff, that works (most of the time) and reasonable support (but it's a build your own still).

1 other thing, Pentium's run faster than AMDs atm. (look on Tom's Hardware to read some articles about it.) The pentium has a better fail safe system, it won't blow up if it over heats, it shuts it self down. The AMD just goes bang (well, not bang, but stops working.) The front size cache on a processor is important, as that is what the processor handles alot of stuff in, the higher the cache the better. Make sure you buy some thermal paste (not pads) when you buy your cpu, and checek how to install it before you start it up. Most AMD's fry within 10 nanoseconds of being turned on (pentium's don't fry that often).

As for the harddrive, look for the spin speed, preferably 7200, and don't worry much about the rest, try to get a 100 if you can, but it's not essential, the 133 is faster, but it depends on the cable you are using, and the mobo. Unless you are often transferring 100mb from 1 disk to another, it's rarely used. Most of the data is in the RAM / or read at less than the 133 speed that you hdd uses. Unless you are using RAID, 2hds, a server, or moving files alot, it doens't matter much.

As for the wattage you need, more is better. You need to look at what you are going to use, and what rails it uses. A typical computer has 3 rails, the 0v, the 12v, and the (I think) 3v, and certain components draw of different rails, so the power on the individual rails is more important than what the box states, look up on tom's hardware about how much stuff needs. Often, it will cost more, but is better, buy your psu and your case seperate, they will flog the cheap psu's with the nice cases to make things seem cheaper.

When you are looking at the case, you want to find out how loud it will be, asking a friend, or reading a review should tell you about this. It's especially important if you are going to run it 24/7 in somewhere like a bedroom, something like a multi speed set of fans, changable via a switch is great, if the computer starts slowing down, you are increase the throughput by increasing the fan speed, then when you goto bed, lower it again. If you are into electronics, you could make one yourself via a varible resitor, but it's easier if the box has it built in. Look for the volume of air per second that the case does, the more over clocking / hot compoenents your comp uses, the higher you need it. Again, look at some reviews for more info.

Think about a water system if you are into overclocking and want to get everything out of it, but again, it will bump the price up a little more.

Oh, and don't use an onboard soundcard... ergh. Get a creative, or if you are on a budget, got for the turtlebeach santa cruz, I have one atm, and it sounds nice (erm, with some nice speakers) and has digital support or analoge 5.1 .

If you need any more help / questions, mail me(grilf@tiwaz.org) or post here.

Heya grilfy! <big overexagerated wave>

Thanks for the advice ;)

I've ordered:

DDR PC3200 512MB, 184-pin DIMM (from Crucial.com)
Asus P4C800 Deluxe "Canterwood" (Socket 478) Motherboard
Intel Pentium 'Northwood' 2.6CGHZ
Seagate Barracuda Serial ATA 80GB
Samsung 3.5" Silver Floppy Disk Drive
LiteON 16x DVD-ROM
V770 Case Silver/blue ATX 350w

getting another 512 mb ram and this in a fortnight when i get payed :)

Rememer the P4 motherboards needs 2 ram blocks of identical size/make to run at full speed. So make sure when you order the 2nd ram slot to choose the exact same speed/make.. and I would get the ram before the gfxcard, as w/o two ram blocks there'll be some unused potential in your killer PC ;)

Sounds great :-)

(Btw, I passed with 4 minors <blows a rashpberry>.)

"Rememer the P4 motherboards needs 2 ram blocks of identical size/make to run at full speed."

Hmmmmm never heard this before....

Any idea why?
Any idea where i can read a lil about this?
You sure its not only with the damn RD-ram which can ONLY run in pairs...

Nope it's because it dualchanneled...

The new P4's and mobos run at 800 MHz FSB, and uses 400 MHZ DDR RAM, so the mobo needs 2 blocks to take advantange of the 800 FSB. It's because it's ALOT cheaper to use 2 DDR400 RAM blocks than one DDR800 (all new P4 mobos use dual channel's for RAM)

check here for more info...

Thanks a bunch... Hadent been updated on the dual rams :D

Only knew about the standard PC2700 AKA DDR333.
Guess its soon time for a new MOBO and new ram ;-)

It's alive... ITS ALIVE!

(btw, note to anyone else building a pc, make sure you flip the little levers on the cpu, which push the heatsink onto the cpu properly, idle cpu temp:62C isnt good :P )

Hehe Gama, only AMD cpu's get that hot =), good it didn't pass 80 C, cause that might damage it.

a P4 shouldn't get above 50 C even when its working hard ;)

Awww Gama.. Something I forgot to tell you there? :D You leetle doorknob ;) But grats! :) I've been looking forward to see if you could get it all working. :) But you seem to have succeded. Congratulations with your cyber hyber h4><><0r 31337 computer. :)

Yeah!! Congratz Gama :D

Hope you enjoy your killer PC :)

Mmmm, thats some bloody fast load times :)

It even runs two clients nicely :)

gratz gama ;)