Allright... Pentium 4... first time builder... hmmm something easy lol.
Yes ASUS is a good place to start and a good place to stick with. Where to order from... definitely NewEgg. Now halkebul recommended a good midrange AMD system (I would have chosen the KT4 though, due to my fetish for wanting the latest :roll
Now what is the price range your looking for. Try looking at Anandtech's guides that recommend parts for price ranges (budget, mid, high, dream etc... soho or game) I wouldn't know when they will update those again however.
Now this is what I would chose for a mid to high range system. I wont chose a $400 video card (Radeon 9700 Pro). I am a newegg fan also, so all parts will be available on newegg (ordering from one place is soo much easier too)
Motherboard: ASUS P4PE -> $165 has every latest tech... P4PE/L has less onboard features -> $125
(motherboard uses Intel 845PE chipset, first one to support PC2700 mem)
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz (533MHz BUS) retail: $187
Memory: Samsung Original DDR333 PC-2700 256MB: $79
Video: ASUS V8420 Geforce 4 TI4200 128M with DVI/TV out RETAIL BOX: $160
(ti4200 outperforms the 8500 and is very overclockable)
Sound: Soundblaster Audigy OEM: $60
Hard drive: WD 80GB 8mb SE 80gb drive: $116
CD drive: Liteon DVD-ROM 16X: $45
DVD drive: Liteon 48x24x48 LTR-4824S: $59
Floppy drive: Alps 3.5 Inch Floppy Disk Drive (wont add shipping, unlike the other drives)
Speakers: 2.1: Altec Lansing ATP3W 2.1 Speaker System -> $48 or 5.1: Logitech Z640 5.1 Speakers -> $69
Case: Antec SLK1600 300W -> $60
Monitor: Viewsonic P95F+: $265
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard: $30
Mouse: Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0: $29
Estimated shipping: ~$35 (3day though, which is nice)
Estimated GRAND total: $1300
Any system like this from Dell or Gateway however will cost you about $2000. (give or take a few 10s)
Keep one thing in mind... sure these are all brand names... but the problems of going cheap and buying some no name piece of crap speakers for example will definitely make you hate computer building.
Good luck and email me (yvovandoorn@attbi.com) or PM me if you need any help.
Wish I had someone to recommend parts to me when I got my first computer. Enjoy!!!
LOL same here... I was freaking 13 and well forums weren't big in 1998. So I chose a Super7 system with mismatching parts... ATX instead of AT... ouch that was one biggg mistake.
Never made a mistake since then. (well nothing that huge)