A few questions about upgrading

[timmoy]

Yellow all.

I am currently putting together an upgrade for my system as i have started to get into some heavy graphics and programming that my current system just aint liking too well.

This is what ive arrived at so far.

P4 (NORTHWOOD) 1.8GHZ
ASUS P4S533 MOBO
COSAIR DDR400512MB RAM
ATI AiW RADEON 8500 128MB
VOLCANO 7+ COOLING FAN
A SPUNKY CASE

I allready have
HITACHI CM721 MONITOR
ACER CDRW AND DVD BOTH ABOUT A YEAR OLD
STANDARD SEAGATE ATA66 5200RPM HDD

What do you think?

Also ive heard good stuff about the release of the intel 845G chipset. Should i wait until ASUS releases one later this month.

And with the CPU, is it worth spending the extra on a new p4 with 533mhz bus. Or can i effectivly overclock the 400mhz bus to 533 and get a simular speed. Do you know if the SIS 645dx chipset is better for overclocking than the soon to be released intel chipset.

Finally would there be much improvement in a new seagate barracuta HDD?

Many Thanks people.
Have a grouse one
Tim.

 

[timmoy]

Over the past few weeks ive been brutalised into accepting amd is prob a better choice.

Does anybody know of a good mobo equivalent to the speed and stablility of the ASUS p4s533?

And also whats the current situations on slot changes with both amd and intel.

TA

 

[zzzz]

If you don't already own the DDR, then it would be better for you to get a RDRAM based mobo and samsung RDRAM. Asus P4T-E and Abit TH7-2 are both good motherboards and (if you get one with ICs clock gen) will alow you to overclock to PC1066 speed. These will beat the DDR based platform even if they are lower clocked.
About the clock generators: The ASUS comes with two different clock gens, you have to make sure you get the ICS one. ATA.com was selling those.(at a higher price). The abit boards will come( most of the times) with the ICs.

 

[zzzz]

Also you NEED a better HD than your current one. Get a WD 120JB. Also foryour graphics work it might be beneficial for you to get a IDE raid controller (or a mobo with onboard raid) and two HDs.