Mobo Help needed - which one, RAM etc?

[Flasheart]

Ok treat me as an idiot here and you won't go far wrong.

Always bought PC's from the shelf pre-made. Am now going out there and doing it myself. Got most things sorted in my own head except the Mobo and RAM.

Basic situation is that that i am going to have a P4 3.06Ghz CPU. No i don't want an AMD so lets not go off on that red herring

I have noticed the reviews that have been done and am veering towards the Asus P4PE. What i want to do though is have a CD/DVD drive, DVD Burner and CD Burner plus a IDE HDD hanging off it, so its likely that i will put in a seperate PCI card as an IDE Controller. However here is the kicker i would prefer to have a RAID 0 setup with two HDD's instead of the one.

So how is it all going to fit together.

Not forgetting the RAM - gone are the days when there were about two choices - i am completely and utterly confused by it all!

 

[halkebul]

For a 3.06GHz P4 setup I wouldn't go with anything other than the Gigabyte 8INXP. My recommendation:

Gigabyte 8INXP motherboard (available Late Dec 2002/ Early Jan 2003)
Intel Pentium4 3.06GHz Processor Retail
Two OCZ 512MB PC3500 Enhanced Latency (EL) memory modules
Enermax EG465P-VE(FMA) 431W Power Supply
Lian-Li Case
Sony DRU500A DVD Recordable Drive
LITE-ON LTD-166S16X DVD ROM Drive
Sony 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive
ATI 9700 Pro Graphics Card
Hitachi CM721F 19" Flat CRT monitor
Microsoft Optical Intellimouse
Microsoft Office Keyboard
Two Western Digital 80GB Special Edition Hard Drives
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum
Klipsch Promedia 5.1 Speakers
Windows XP Professional OEM (needed only if you don't already have a full version of Windows XP)

DVD-burners can burn CDs also, not just DVDs. And for the Sony DVD burner, I suggest you buy Sony DVD media only in order to ensure successful DVD burns. And get the latest version of the Nero software program. Good day!

 

[Flasheart]

Thanks for the reply - one thing i am confused about in your answer is the RAM.

On Gigabytes page the spec says it supports upto DDR266 memory - surely going for the PC3500 RAM is overkill as the board supports PC2100.

 

[CaptnKirk]

How could anyone push OCZ given their fradulent product track record?

 

[halkebul]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
How could anyone push OCZ given their fradulent product track record?

Hello CaptnKirk. I never recommended OCZ until they released this new OCZ PC3500 Enhanced Latency Memory. When I saw the reviews I was simply amazed! Here are two reviews:

The Tech Zone
OC Prices

 

[CaptnKirk]

Just be cautious - there are a LOT of EX-OCZ customers out there. The were caught re-labling Samsungs with a big mark-up.

OCZ & TRUST

 

[halkebul]

Originally posted by: Flasheart
Thanks for the reply - one thing i am confused about in your answer is the RAM.

On Gigabytes page the spec says it supports upto DDR266 memory - surely going for the PC3500 RAM is overkill as the board supports PC2100.

I wanted to choose at least DDR400 memory because down the road it will allow for a future upgrade to 800MHz QDR FSB Prescott processor. The memory bandwidth requirement for a 800MHz QDR FSB processor is 6.4GB/s. That can only be supplied by a motherboard capable of Dual-Channel DDR400 and memory capable of running at DDR400 speed. The 8INXP, although it official supports up to DDR266 is capable of Dual-Channel DDR400. That is because it has a 1:1 memory_speed/FSB ratio. It only officialy supports up to Dual-Channel DDR266 because there are no 800MHz QDR FSB processors available yet. And the price between the OCZ PC3500 EL memory is comparable to PC3200 memory modules from its' competitors. And also remember this "Enhanced Latency" memory is engineered with high Dual-Channel DDR performance as its' main goal. To recap on the reasoning behind choosing this memory:

Amazing speed! (check the reviews)
Reasonably priced
Allow for future upgrade to a 800MHz QDR FSB processor

OCZ PC3500 Enhanced Latency (EL) memory module Reviews
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Tech Zone
OC Prices

 

[halkebul]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
Just be cautious - there are a LOT of EX-OCZ customers out there. The were caught re-labling Samsungs with a big mark-up.

OCZ & TRUST

Completely agree about their past. Maybe through all the criticism they've devoted themselves to quality. Doesn't happen much in the industry. But, i think this time it did. Cheers!