AMD user possibly coming over to P4! Need advice!

[Batman@]

Hey I just got hired for a summer job! Dont start till mid July though. Anyways Once I start I am thinking about putting the money into a P4 system, and giving this system to my sister, and building a rig for my bro for university. Anyways, I have 256 MB pc2100 DDR ram already, I got my CPU and Video card picked out. I need suggestions for a good motherboard that would give me the best overclocking options and keep my pci/agp bus as close to spec as possible. What motherboards allow you to lock the bus? Which are the best in terms of price/performance/stability. This will be my first intel system in a long time. Any information/suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Also taking suggestions on cooling, but just off the back, I will not be going water cooling for sure.

[theflyingrat]

A few of the Intel 845 chipset based motherboards let you lock the PCI and AGP bus. Off the top of my head, I know the Abit BD7 and BD7-II allow you to lock the bus, and if I remember right, the Epox EP-4B2A2 will also do this. Not sure if this functionality is possible in the SiS 645 or VIA P4X-xxx chipsets.

[batboy]

The Abit or Epox i845 chipset would be my suggestions for a DDR mobo too. I love my Swiftech cooler, but they are really too expensive. The socket 478 Alpha (forget the model) is really a better bargain. There is a new kid on the cooling block that I heard was fairly good too, maybe Thermalright? Don't forget you'll need a P-4 compliant power supply too. It's hard to beat the Antec True Power 430 watt unit.

[Batman@]

Originally posted by batboy
The Abit or Epox i845 chipset mobos would be my suggestion too. I love my Swiftech cooler, but they are really too expensive. The socket 478 Alpha (forget the model) is really a better bargain. There is a new kid on the cooling block that I heard was fairly good too, maybe Thermalright? Don't forget you'll need a P-4 compliant power supply too. It's hard to beat the Antec True Power 430 watt unit.

Ya, I just ordered an emermax 430 w psu with manual fan control, thanks for the info, what about any of the coolers on this site:
http://www.canadacomputers.com/cpus.html
also I'm gonna research some of the boards, you guys told me, and will make my final decision soon, and order a 1.6a and board, man i cant wait.!! next after my mobo/ cpu to p4, I desperately need a new vid card LOL

[CSHawkeye81]

thermalrights ax7 478 is the one you are talking about.

[batboy]

Thanks CS, yeah that's the Thermalright model I was thinking of or get the Alpha PAL8942 which usually comes with your choice of fans, like the quiet Panaflow, or a Sunon, or the noisy Deltas that blows like a hurricane.

[CSHawkeye81]

i got a sunon 50 cfm fan on mine.