need help deciding what components for a new computer

[eurovw]

Hi, folks!
It's time to build a new computer, but I cannot decide whcich way to go, AMD or Intel, motherboard, harddrive, etc. I need your help.
first of all, the budget is $1500 +-$100
Primary use: web programming
Internet browsing
TV recording
Music recording
No games

Must have DVD recorder, TV card, 17 or better 19 inch flat screen, midtower case, video and sound card, 5.1 speaker system, 200+ GB hard drive, 8 in 1 card reader.
Please advise me what to get.
Thanks

 

[stevty2889]

None of those uses seem to be extremely CPU intensive, so it depends on certain other things. AMD generaly has the best bang for the buck run now, but if you will be doing many of those things at once, or doing video enconding, then a P4 might still be the way to go, as hyperthreading does actualy help with multitasking, and the P4 still has some advantage at video encoding. There is a system building guide stickied in the forums as well, so that would be a good place to look for getting an idea of what to get.

 

[eurovw]

Thanks. I have a question though. What would be best to overclock? I see your signature, and it's says 3.4@3.9. Can you elaborate?

 

[eurovw]

well, I decided on principals of the system I want to build. So, here it is:
Intel Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz with 800 FSB
Need decide on motherboard
2x512 memory, still need decide which
DVD-RW
Video card ? around $150-180
Sound card ? around $50-100
case and power supply ? $100-150
Tv card
5.1 speaker system $150
17 or 19" flat monitor
30-40 GB SATA harddrive
120-160GB IDE harddrive
All should be in the $1500-1600 price range. Doable?
Also, is overclocking possible with this system?
Thanks in advance

 

[stevty2889]

Which 3.0ghz P4 are you gonna get? Theres, the skt 478 northwood, skt 478 prescott, lga775 prescott(P4 530), lga 775 prescott with Execute disable(530J), and the lga775 prescott with Execute disable, and EM64T(630). A 3ghz prescott could probably overclock to 3.5-3.6ghz pretty easily. Since P4's have locked multipliers, only way to overclock, is to overclock the FSB. My 3.4 has a multiplier of 17, so I set the FSB to 230mhz(920mhz effective 230x4), giving me a cpu speed of 3.91ghz, and ram at 460mhz(230x2).
This is what I came up with, for a little over $1600

Here

 

[Duvie]

I would personally get a northwood....they can oc well but they will equal a much higher clocked prescott core...they run cooler, consume less power....etc....If you look at 3.0ghz northwood you would need a 3.2-3.3ghz prescott at least to equal it....My old 2.4@3.5ghz beats a lot of the reported benches of the 600 series 3.6-3.8ghz p4 prescotts still to this day...yes my bus was Oc'd, but do to ram I couldn't run it better then 388ddr so I really never took advantage of it so it should be a good idea that a northwood 3.5ghz can kick some arse.....I bet a 3.0ghz northwood could do 3.4ghz reasonably....

 

[eurovw]

ok, which one is safer to Oc? and more reliable? Can someone give me an example of what combination of CPU and particular motherboard and memory to use? I know everybody is pretty much has their favorites, so I am getting more lost at this. Once I'll figure out CPU, motherboard and memory combo, I can pretty much move forward. Also, which case and power supply to use. I saw some cases @ newegg that display temperature and adjust fan speeds, are they any good? Man, I feel like I am years behind on new technologies!

 

[stevty2889]

Northwoods run cooler and are clock for clock faster than Prescotts in most applications. The reason chose what I did for you was because of EM64T(64bit extensions) and PCI express, allowing you to at least re-use the video card for future upgrades.

 

[eurovw]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
Northwoods run cooler and are clock for clock faster than Prescotts in most applications. The reason chose what I did for you was because of EM64T(64bit extensions) and PCI express, allowing you to at least re-use the video card for future upgrades.

Opps, I just notice the link. Thanks for the advise.
Also, what TV Tuner card to buy? Any experience? I've got Dishnetwork, and I'd like to record shows on my comp, pause and rewind live TV, a card with remote. Thanks

 

[stevty2889]

With a PCIe motherboard, you could get an ATI AIW x600 pro video card instead of the Nvidia 6600gt, that has the TV tuner built in, and a remote control. I have an AIW 9600pro, and it works good for me, I use it for recording TV shows, and occasionaly use it for time shifting. If you want a stand alone Tv tuner, the haupage PVR 150 is good.