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?