Looking at this hardware to purchase soon. ***PURCHASED***

[sep]

I'm upgrading for two reasons. The first is give my daughter my handmedowns. The second would be to position myself for a new video card, faster fps and fps! Please look at the 3 items I have identified and let me know your thoughts. I don't expect to overclock, but would like to try a little. Stability will be the key here.

Gigabyte 8IEXP Motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 2.0a Retail Processor
512MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM

 

[o1die]

In about two weeks, the price of the 2.26 (with 533 fsb) will be about $35 more than the 2.0. You won't need to worry about overclocking it; it's plenty fast at stock speeds. I got one up to 145 fsb with no trouble at about 1.55 volts. The default voltage was about 1.46 on that particular cpu. I've never tried gigabyte boards, but they are known to be pretty stable. For memory, I would go with samsung.

 

[Duvie]

Better yet wait and the 2.4ghz will be down just as low and make sure you get the p4b chips with the 533fsb...better performance plus you will have a better shot to run at pc2700ddr...

I don't know about the Gigabyte for sure but I doubt it has a memory ratio capable of letting you run 333mhz at stock 100fsb. It would take a 3:5 ratio and only sis mobos have that...the ram would be wasted unless you oc'd....If you get p4b chip with 533fsb then the 3:4 ratio could give you 354mhz ddr or just over pc2700ddr at stock p4 fsb....

 

[newbiepcuser]

I have the Gigabyte board, i have a Pent IV 2.2 OC to 2.5. I haven't installed the OS yet, so I don't know how stable it will be. I'm using medium end Mushkin DDR 2700 ram, not the basic stuff but not the high end stuff. Great board, has lot of toys. All the reviews says its the best all around board.

 

[sep]

I'm confused with the DDR Memory Ratio thing. I thought If I get a 533FSB then the memory is going to run at 4x133...but this doesn't sound like that. I really didn't focus on the growth of DDR memory. I was really following the RDRAM 1066 and 1200. It was a little more simpler I guess. Could someone explain how this works (simplified)...400fsb & 533fsb with DDR ram?

*So far I'm going with this board.
*CPU is questionable. I don't want to wait months, but in a couple of weeks I'll look at the 2.26 533fsb cpu. I want to keep the price under or around $200.
*Memory is very confusing as I stated about. All my PC133 SDRAM is either Crucial or Mushkin so I don't want to go with some off brand and I don't want to spend close to PC-1066.

 

[sep]

I got confussed with DDR Memory. All reviews recommended RDRAM for best performance (gaming). It's definitly less confusing. Thanks for your help. I'll post what I end up with once I get it together.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=13-128-146
Manufacturer: GIGABYTE
Manufacturer SKU: GA-8iHXP
Price: $165.00 (Shipped)

http://www.googlegear.com
Manufacturer: Intel
Manufacturer SKU: P4 2.26GHz Northwood
Price: $233.00 (Shipped)

http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80452
Manufacturer: Kingston
Manufacturer SKU: KVR1066X16-4/128
Price: $67.00x2=$134 (shipped)