P4 1.6a DDR mobo and RAM help for noob

[farns]

Ok Im in New Zealand so computer stuff is 50-100% whatever more expensive here than most of you guys.
I know nothing much about PCs and I am upgrading my entire system.
I want a value P4 mobo for a 1.6 northwood.

Ive heard the 4bda 2+ is good buts its also expensive compared to the 4DSA for instance.I have no idea on how they compare quality wise.

It must have onboard sound if its decent quality for loud music.
I will be OCing but probably only by bumping the FSB to 133,aiming for 2.1ghz,this is what I will run it at all the time.
I would like a board that can reach 2.4ghz though if I bump the voltage and do harder OCing if I want to.
I realise theres no guarantees with OCing but whatever is stable and does the above most consistently.

I have no idea what USB,RAID,IDE,6-channel audio etc are so am unaware if these are worth paying extra for on a mobo.

For RAM do I get pc2700 or pc3300 considering I will only be OCing as far as 133FSB most of the time? Also Crucial is expensive here and Kingmax is not so I will probably get Kingmax unless you suggest otherwise.

I have seen several reviews but the specs mean little to me, here are some:
hardocp mobo shootout
Toms Hardware mobo shootout(down the page)
DDR review

Here are sites of my local dealers,one of them will be making the PC(I might build my own next time )
Ive shopped around and their prices are competitive. They can order as well of course.
I am too stupid to match the mobos in reviews with the ones they have for sale so could someone see if the p4 mobos they have are suitable for my requirements?
dealer
dealer 2

 

[Zukatah]

6 channel sound is the onboard sound. If you don't know what raid is, chances are that you don't need it. USB is a type of connection to which you can plug digital cameras, mice, keyboards and stuff like that.
For overclocking, the Gigabyte doesn't have a clear CMOS jumper so I'd go for an Asus p4s333. It has pretty decent onboard sound, good overclocking potential. As for the RAM, you should check if you can get Samsung PC 2700. They are pretty solid overclockers at a good price, don't get those pc3300 sticks as they are unlikely to hit these speeds and it wasn't approved by JEDEC.
Basically, get an Asus p4s333 with Samsung PC 2700. Of course other people will say otherwise so that remains your decision in the end...

 

[optimistic]

USB - Don't worry about this. Most motherboards come with USB1.1. USB2.0 is available but not that popular yet. And when it does become popular it will be ideal for Digital camera, external hard drive and external CDRW users.

RAID - In order for raid to work - you will need two hard drives in your system. Prefferably same speed & size. Raid will access and store information on both hard drives at the same time -resulting in increased hard disk performance & increased risk of data loss (if one hard drive fails, you lose the information on both hard drives)

6-channel audio equals decent onboard sound. Opt for this if you can

MY EXPERIENCES
1) For AC97, SIS sounds the best IMO. Clean highs, lows are decent.
2) Creative CT5880 5.1ch sound chip is not that great. Highs are not crisp enough, lows are decent.
3) Many SIS645 boards are having motherboard temp / fan reading problems. I'd look into that.
4) Hard drives: avoid IBM. Maxtor is fast & reliable. Seagate is the quietest. I've had bad luck with Western Digital -highest rate of failure so far (But RMA was easy)
5) And get the Pioneer DVD-106s Slot Loading 16x DVD if you can.
-Why? Slot load very convienient.
-Pioneer 106s is plenty fast. Good scores accross the board
-And most importantly QUIET! (It so hard to find a quiet CDROM or DVD unit these days!:|)

I was just recently dissapointed with my LiteOn LTD-163 16x DVD purchase. Very loud!! It's fast, but slows down in reading CDRWs.

Happy hunting! Hope everything works out!

 

[justdad]

msi 845 is the mb I choose but that was before the new 333 boards came out. still I can overclock to 2.24 with no problem using mushkin 512mb high performance 2.5 3 3 2100ddr ram. they now have even better ram with more bandwith. I would go with msi kt333 board or soyo 333 board. I am normally an msi or soyo board as I have one of each. I have an amd system and an intel system at home. I do not know if you can get mushkin there or not but it is among the best memory available. Toms Hardwaretest out a lot of the things that you will want to look at. It can be a pain to go over so much so take your time and you will be happier with the system that you build. try to get a board that has udma 133. raid is not that important and takes an extra step to setup. also if you are going to use cable or dsl you may want a board that already has onboard integrated networking(the plug in for cable modem or dsl modem)
Good luck with your system and Hello from USA..

 

[justdad]

forgot make sure that you get the 1.6a cpu do not get the 1.8a as it has overheat problems and has burned up for some reason. I know it is under warranty but who wants to have to wait for it.

 

[justdad]

Just checked out the asus P4S333 it is also a good board and appears at store #2 here is the info on it here abit will not overclock and keep stable as high as the rest. so abit is out. check out mushkin high performance ddr they have 512 2700 ddr for 225.00 us dollars shipped to your door.mushkin