Newbe Question

[ineedit]

My brother called me today and got his hands on a free Intel Pentium 4/ 3.0C GHz 800MHz, Prescott cpu & Verto GeForce 6800 GT Video Card, 8x AGP, 256MB DDR3(actually it cost me a day of carting his bosses kid around D.C. for a day). So, I have decided to throw together a fps machine. Here is what I?m thinking of using so far, suggestions are very welcome. Thanks, be genital. 🙂

ANTEC Black Performance Series II Mini Tower Case with 350W Power Supply, Model "SX635BII
ASUS "P4P800 SE" i865PE Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU
Intel Pentium 4/ 3.0C GHz 800MHz, Prescott (FREE)
2x Mushkin Blue Line 184 Pin 256MB DDR PC-3200(SUGGESTIONS PLEASE)
Verto GeForce 6800 GT Video Card, 8x AGP, 256MB DDR3(FREE)
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS
Samsung Black 16X DVD-ROM Drive
Plextor 12X DVD+/-RW Drive, Model PX-712A
NEC 1.44MB Black Internal Floppy
2x Maxtor 160GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive(pulled from old computer)

 

[capricorn]

I'd probably go with 1 GB of RAM at this point (2x512MB DDR PC-3200 in dual channel mode). Other than that, it looks pretty reasonable. Are you thinking of just having a pair of 160 GB drives or having RAID 0 or what?

Just thought of one more thing. Is that a retail CPU with a heatsink & fan or do you have to buy your own?

 

[mechBgon]

If the CPU is a Prescott, then it's a 3.0E, not a 3.0C. For a Prescott with a 6800GT, I would be thinking more like a 450W PSU, maybe an Enermax.

To use a 3.0E in an Asus P4P800 SE, your P4P800 SE will need to come with BIOS revision 1003 or later, right out of the box, or else you'll need to have a compatible CPU (Northwood or Celeron) that you can use for updating the BIOS. Don't get caught in a Catch-22 here 🙂

 

[ineedit]

Wow, thanks for the suggestions. On the hard drives I dont think it will be a raid setup. The CPU is retail, and your right its a BX80546PG3000E. What other Motherboard do you suggest?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: ineedit
Wow, thanks for the suggestions. On the hard drives I dont think it will be a raid setup. The CPU is retail, and your right its a BX80546PG3000E. What other Motherboard do you suggest?

Personally, I'd sell the P4 3.0E on the For Sale & Trade forum and buy an Athlon64 with the money :evil: but I'm just crazy like that 😉 At any rate, you might visit Intel.com and type "motherboard selector" in their search box, they have one that you can use to drill for mobos. Or hey, maybe find a seller in For Sale & Trade who has a P4P800 SE that has the necessary BIOS revision. Good luck 🙂

 

[stevty2889]

The 3.0E prescott will run fine on an Asus P4P800, as that is what I am running mine on. You should probably get a better power supply, a name brand 420W or more. I am running my 2.8E prescott at 3.5Ghz with a 350W enermax, but it's probably cutting it close to the limit so I am gonna upgrade the PSU as soon as I can. I would also go with 1gig for ram. I am using PC-4000 Kingmax with mine and it works great.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
The 3.0E prescott will run fine on an Asus P4P800, as that is what I am running mine on.

If he buys a P4P800 SE with an earlier BIOS than 1003, it won't operate until it's gotten a BIOS update. I've fielded this scenario and similar ones several times. Even some of Intel's own i875 boards can't run a Prescott.

 

[ineedit]

I checked at newegg and the Asus "P4P-SE Deluxe is Supported CPU: Intel Pentium 4/Celeron Processor (Prescott Ready) so I think I will go that route. or P4P800-E Deluxe. Also going to look for a bigger power supply. Also what would be the P4 3.0's = as far as AMD goes without overclocking, just wondering?