New system dilema, want advice

[justame]

Note that I'm set on an intel processor, and will not
be considering Amd solutions.
And am only considering nvidia based video cards.
So these components that I've listed is probably final.

I'll be using the computer for gaming(HL2,doom3, etc), programming,
3d modelling, and some sound recording, I won't be overclocking
anything.

Here's the 2 systems I'm considering putting together :

These components will be in an antec sonota case.

(1) **socket 478/agp system**
asus p4p800se
intel 3.0g (socket 478) northwood
bfg 6800oc
512M ram ddr 3200
Price about : $640-720 w/out tax

(2) **LGA 775/pci-e system**
asus p5gd1 (I want this because it supports more than 1 IDE cable.)
intel 540(3.2g) OR intel 530(3.0g)
nvidia 6600 GT pci-e
512M ram ddr 3200
Price about : $640-662 w/out tax

Also keep in mind that once I put this new system together
I'm hoping and planning NOT to upgrade components of this
new system Except for another 512M of Ram, for about 2 yrs, and at that
time I will probably put together a whole new system again.

I lean towards the agp/northwood system because
from what I understand the northwood cpu's are less noisy and runs
cooler than the lga 775 socket cpu's.
And also because I would have the better vid. card Bfg 6800nu oc,
and I'm pretty sure this system would last me about 2 yrs.

Of course the benefits for the newer lga 775/pci-e system is that
if I do need to upgrade some components later i'll have more options
since the old technology of the socket 478/agp is going away.

So I'm curious to hear your opinions on which route would be
better and why, for my situation.

 

[SchrodingersDog]

Get the 478, if it'll do ya for two years then by that time you'll be wanting a new mb/cpu combo anyway, and at that time you'll also be ready for an AMD rig.

 

[DaveSimmons]

6600GT PCI-E is $100 cheaper and almost the same speed as a plain 6800 at stock speeds and 1024x768 resolution. With the savings you could get 1 GB of RAM and/or a faster CPU now instead of waiting.

socket775 CPUs are cheaper now too, at least the ones I checked at newegg.

If you must buy intel, despite the much lower gaming performance, socket 775 with regular DDR (not DDR2) seems to be the better choice.

 

[Frew]

Originally posted by: justame
Note that I'm set on an intel processor, and will not
be considering Amd solutions.
And am only considering nvidia based video cards.

Why?

 

[justame]

"Get the 478, if it'll do ya for two years then by that time you'll be wanting a new mb/cpu combo anyway, and at that time you'll also be ready for an AMD rig." --SchrodingersDog

That's what I was thinking, and next time I will be considering an AMD system, right now though
there are a few issues about AMD systems that I need to research on, but that'll have to wait
because I already have a cronic headache from all the researching I've done on cpu's/ mb's, etc.
And I already am confused about what to get , and adding another option of AMD might just put me over the edge

"6600GT PCI-E is $100 cheaper and almost the same speed as a plain 6800 at stock speeds and 1024x768 resolution. With the savings you could get 1 GB of RAM and/or a faster CPU now instead of waiting.
socket775 CPUs are cheaper now too, at least the ones I checked at newegg." --DaveSimmons

That's also what I was thinking, although the cheapest I saw a 6600GT PCI-E is $180 and the BFG 6800 OC
is $250 at outpost.com which is $70 diff. , but LGA 775 Asus MB is about $44 more than the socket 478 Asus
MB, both at newegg.com.
And the 775 cpu's are cheaper than the p4northwoods, although IIRC the 775's are slower when compared
like 3.0ghz to 3.0 ghz, etc.

I appreciate your guy's advice so far, and If anyone else could comment I'd appreciate it.

 

[justame]

Originally posted by: LeadFrog

Originally posted by: justame
Note that I'm set on an intel processor, and will not
be considering Amd solutions.
And am only considering nvidia based video cards.

Why?

I only want an nvidia card because they have far better support for 3d in linux than ati does,
and I plan on dual booting win2000 and linux.

And I'm not considering AMD because I've read about a few issues with AMD that I need to check
into, but right now I'm very anxious to get a new system going and at the moment I just feel more
comfortable going with Intel.

 

[Rike]

I understand wanting to go with what you know, but I've never heard of any issues with A64's. The only issues I've heard of is that A64's cost less and perform better dollar-for-dollar than P4's. The p4's do have advantages in some 3D rendering and video apps, but the A64's are tops in everything else.

All that said, either of the systems you've listed would serve you well especially given the way you upgrade.