New Intel Based System - advice needed

[duble]

I will be building my new PC very soon, I want to buy components in the next 2 or 3 weeks. I have been trying to decide which Mobo and CPU to get. Below is a shortlist of the components i'm looking at...any advise or recommendations would help alot. I'm looking at getting a 945 board, makes it easy to upgrade to a D/core when the price is right (and when HT is standard on all chips) and I can use the P4 CPU's until then - unless ofcourse the 820 will perform better - if so i'll get it str8 away. I will use the PC for - general office apps, multi tasking, encoding (video, mp3 and hi fi audio), internet, games (i'm not trying to build a state of the art gamer machine, just something to play the latest with decent performance), some programming and webdesign, image editing. BTW - I am not interested in SLI. Thanks.

Case

Antec TX1088AMG Metallic Grey SOHO Tower Case with 480W TP2

Motherboard

ABIT AL8 (Intel P4) i945P P4-LGA775 DDR-II Motherboard with PCI-Ex, Audio, Serial ATA-II, RAID, Firewire & GBit LAN
or
Asus P5LD2 (Intel P4) i945P Dual Core P4-LGA775 DDRII Motherboard with PCI-Ex16, Audio, Serial ATA-II, RAID & GBit LAN
or
Gigabyte GA-8I945GMF (Intel P4) i945G Dual Core P4-LGA775 DDRII Motherboard with Video, PCI-Ex16, Audio, Serial ATA-II, Firewire & GBit LAN

CPU

Intel Pentium 4, 640 (3.2Ghz) Prescott Processor, Socket LGA775 with 800MHz FSB, 0.09u & 2MB Cache
or
Intel Pentium D 820 (2.8Ghz) Dual-Core Processor, Socket LGA775 with 800MHz FSB & 2x1MB Cache

RAM

Corsair 1GB VS1024MBKIT533D2 DDR2 PC4200 Dual Channel Kit (2x512MB, 533Mhz) Value Select Series

Hard Drive

Western Digital WD2000JD 200GB 7200rpm SATA 150 Hard Drive with 8MB Cache (3 Year Warranty)
or
Seagate 200GB 7200rpm S-ATA150 Hard Drive with 8MB Cache (5 Year Warranty)
or
Western Digital WD2000JS 200GB WD2000JS 7200rpm SATA II Hard Drive with 8MB Cache (3 Year Warranty)

Drives

Pioneer DVR-A09XLB 16x DVD Writer Black 16xDVD-R/4xRW, 16xDVD+R/4xRW, 6xDVD+/-DL, 40xCD-R/RW, Retail
or
Pioneer DVR-109BK 16x DVD Writer, Black 6x Dual Layer DVD+R/-R, 16xDVD-R/+R DVD, OEM [AUST. VER] NO SOFTWARE

Video Card

Leadtek Winfast PX6600 GT TDH Extreme nVidia GeForce 6600GT 128MB PCI-Express Video Card with DVI & TV Out
or
Gigabyte nVidia GeForce 6600 GT 128MB PCI-Express Video Card with DVI & TV Out
or
Asus EN6600 GT TD nVidia GeForce 6600 GT 128MB PCI-Express Video Card with DVI & TV Out

If you have one of these mobo's or any of the components I am looking at and have had trouble, pls let me know...

 

[TechtonicPC]

My only suggestuion would be to go ahead and get the 955X chipset. If you buying for the future, that is the best one, and performs a little better then the 945.

I went with this one: ASUS P5WD2

If you get good cooling, i would take the 820 over the 640. If not the 640 is a good chip.

For video cards, I like the 6600GT. I prefer the eVga and Leadtech brands.

Goodluck and enjoy!

 

[duble]

Thanks for your input. I'll check out that board and chipset. The case comes with one 120mm fan, and has room for 3 x 80mm fans (front, HDD and VGA) and 1 x 92mm fan (CPU duct), so i have plenty of cooling options. I will more than likely grab a zalman heatsink + fan soon after I build the system.

 

[ropey]

My only suggestuion would be to go ahead and get the 955X chipset.

I totally agree with this!

 

[duble]

Okay i checked out the ASUS P5WD2. Looks like a very good board, but its out of my price range. The 955 chipset has some extra features that the 945 chipset doesn't - supports Extreme edition processors and intel memory pipeline.

The e/edition processors are out of my price range also, but the 945 chipset can take all other LGA processors which still leaves me with good upgrade options.

The intel memory pipline technology would be an added bonus, but I can't justify paying that much extra for the 955 board.

So i'm still looking at trying to decide which 945 board to get.

I don't mean to shoot your suggestion down, its just too expensive for me at this stage, and the 945 seems to only be a little behind - missing a few extra capabilities.

 

[batboy]

For mobo choice, pick either the Abit or Asus. Forget Gigabyte and the rest. Go ahead and get the i945 chipset if you are on a budget. If buying a new harddrive, I would also get the SATA II.

 

[duble]

yeah i was leaning towards the asus...i've heard that abit board has some faults, does any1 have one? i will def get the sata2 since the boards can take it, and they aren't much more expensive than the sata...
any idea's on which CPU will perform better?

 

[{PMS}fishy]

yeah i was leaning towards the asus...i've heard that abit board has some faults, does any1 have one? i will def get the sata2 since the boards can take it, and they aren't much more expensive than the sata...
any idea's on which CPU will perform better?

Id go for a 640 over the 630, but the DC don't clock that well, and a 6xx with HT is faster in the majority of the things out there.

Personally I think the ASUS 955 MB is the way to go.

I might even have to get one pretty soon.

 

[Wwing49]

as for vid cards, have you looked into BFG? I like their products b/c they are pre overclocked, have a lifetime warrenty, and have AMAZING!!!! support. Im lookin at the 640 with a 955 board right now, but i understand if you arent looking for the "best" comp, go with the 945 and save yourself a few bucks.

 

[duble]

thanks for tha feedback, so it looks like most of you reckon the 640 will out perform the 820...it doesn't really matter, the 945 board makes it easy to upgrade down the track, thanks

 

[batboy]

Well, if you are using CPU intensive apps that are optimized for dual processors, then the 8XX series will outperform the 6XX series. But, since most current games and normal apps are single thread programs, then you don't have a big advantage yet with dual core CPUs. Besides, the dual cores run really hot when overclocked. You almost need watercooling to get a decent O/C out of 'em at this point.