Really simple questions for my purchases 2morrow, ANY input please :) many thanks

[camshi]

hi all

ok i`l try nd keep it short and sweet.
i am gona b suing my PC for movie encoding, loads of burning, multitasking, web design, high end apps - hopefully as much as this as possible (multitasking) at any 1 moment

i am going 2 buy an Intel P4E CPU and house it on an ASUS mobo P4800 DLX i guess.
i don`t wanna skimp on any parts so here`s my thought`s

i`m from scotland so if i mention money it`s in UK £

ok cool guys and gals...

i HHAVE exhausted all the reviews on tom`s, anandtech etc and jusy want some reassurance and opinions from as any peeps as i can b4 2morrrow morning when i phone and order for tuesday delievery:
i cannot afford everything in 1 go so i have bought in stages.... i have already:

my old rig: [ 1 am runing now]
Supermicro P3SCD Mobo 820 Camino Chipset
Intel PIII 933MHz Coppermine CPU
2 X 60GB IBM Deskstars running on a Promise FastTrack TX2 PCI card in RAID 0
1 x 75 GB IBM Deskstar also connected to the Promise PCI Card not RAID, just runnig @ 100/133 IDE
512MB PC133 SDRAM
Creative Labs SoundBlaster !Live Platinum
Plextor 40/12/40A
Pioneer 16X dvd reader / 40 x cd-rom reader
Pioneer A04 DVD-R
Nokia Multigraph 446x PRO 19" Monitor
Microsoft USA Multimedia keyboard and optical mouse
Yamaha 2.1 Speakers with woofer.

- THIS PC HAS LASTED ME 6 YRS with no trouble at all, aprt from the hard rives failing and i have got the money`s worth for sure.

- NOW it`s time for a major upgrade and BIG decisions This is where i would really value your input peeps, any all coments very welcome and appreciated. NOW I cannot afford 2 buy everything at once, not got the same luxury as first PC purcharse but these components i already have bought so if ucan see [ MY END RESULT] i am hoping to have a smaller Lian-Li case than my already new but in use 6089, which i thiink is superb. now i want the best withn reason as i know u get what u pay for these following compnents r a certainty, i will b using the PC for high end work, office apps, photoshop, loads of burning cd-r dvd-r dvd+r, online 24/7 and hopfully achiving most of this via multitasking to the limit. so the following i have, but as i say the end result is to try and not waste anything or at least as possible in making myself a archive/ftp box as u cna never have enuff space and i`m sure my old rig is ample for a server... OK here goes with what i got as of NOW, and on monday 2morrow i can spend another say £800-1000 with same every month give or take till i have the job done, I DON` WANT 3.4 CPU`s @£400 i am happy to have not the fastest cpu
but it`s parmpunt i get the BEST ASUS Intel mobo and RAM, plz post sources if u can i really do love anandtech, it`s invaluable


WHAT I HAVE IN MY HOUSE WAITING 2 B MARRIED WITH THE NEW STUFF )) can`t wait tuesday here we come !!!! lol
- Microsoft Bluetooth Wirelesss Desktop KB & Mouse
- Lian-Li PC6089 Alumnium Case
-Enermax 430 PSU
-Nokia 19" MY OLD Multigraph 446X PRO Monitor [This wil b replaced with plan b when i have the cash with TFT]

i am definetly going down the ASUS route with Intel P4 2.xE or mayb 3.x E

so the questions r simply, on the ASUS MOBO, P4800 Deleuxe, i have read the HUGE thread about this on Anandtech LOL man it`s BIG ) ehheheh

so remembering i want the best within reson and am buying in stages with plan 2 have brand new RIG in 4 weeks and my old components in a ftp/archive/server,
(1) ASUS P400 Deluxe ?
(2) Pentium 4 E but what speed, 2.8 would b cool and i can oveer clock
(3) which RAM ?? OCZ 2 x 512 sticks r can i start off with (1) 512 stick of the fastest ram available for the mobo ?
(4) i intend 2 have 2 x Western Digital Raptors SATA runnig raid 0 with 2 x 200gb Western Digital Caviar`s running IDE RAID on my ASUS board pnew rig of course]
(5) can i buy just the 1 raptor, the CPU and the memory 2 morrow , wipe the old 2 60 GB IBM Deskstars and use just 1 Raptor for sytem (c) disk on SATA and have my IBM`s runing on IDE raid till i get enuff cash together 2 complete this dream ?

last and hopefully least i have a paltry MATROX Millenium g400 MAX 32MB Duelhead, i will replace this of sourse but i neeed 2 do it all in stages.

so 2morrow basically i wanna go for the BEST: ASUS motherboard, THE FASTEST DDR RAM available ( i`m hoping i can buy 1 stick of 512 atm and then next month buy another identical stick giving me 1GB of the fastest ram 2 compliment my motherboard. sound card i`m sorted wit the soundbaster live and gfx card and 2 x western digita 200gb1s i`ll buy in a few weeks
as i say i can see it beinga kinda 3 part operation.

so please guys and gals advise me THE BEST ASUS OBO, BEST / FASTEST OCZ RAM, BEST Current CPU 2.8E would b ideal as i can overclock

then i can move onto plan 2 and buy nother raptor, a new gfx card, (suggestions please) and the 2 western digital caviars giving me a whole new rig

plan 3 is the recorders, should 1 buy 4 DVD+/-R`s from plextor or have 2 plextor premium 52x cd-r`s and 2 x plextor dvd+/-r`s ?

when will the 12x true 12 x all round b out ? better 2 wait as this is plain 3 u see as i was tld there is 12x + ad - recorders coming out that will do cd-r @ 48x as weell so i may buy 4 of em or just 2 of each, the plex premiums & 2 plex dvd r`s )

sound`s a nice rig eh ??
I HAVE been planning this and saving since xmas, i`ll link the 2 completed tower`s via LAN and i`m lauhing

plz if u thik i`m doing anything wrong plz tell me, but i dod beleive paying that xtra bit of cash at the start will save ya in the future

oh yeah plan 3b LOL - i ain`t gonna play many games IF any on my PC, just a lot of video encoding and the like, which card would you go for, i annot afford the earth and 128mb would b fine i susspect.

i cannot wait for yer aswerers and picking that phone up 2 morrow 2 (please help me out if u know of anywhere in the UK that is good for customer service etc, especially for the RAM)
thanyou so much if u read all that and i await ANY replies / suggestons on what 2 do
also where is the best place 2 buy RAM ? i usually get all my hardwre from simply in ondon and they have great returns policy and never had a problem.

i know of dabs.com but i like the way simply answer their phnes witin 10 mins
dabs.com r email only

slso i have bought various plextor drives and soundcards from them before also upgraded my gfx xard and their ucustomer service was gr8 )

well i think that`s covered everything

i thak u so mch for helping me

cheers 2 al
take care peeps and i cannot wait to hear what uze guys come up with alll the best

Craig
fentan1l@hotmail.com if u wana MSN me np peeps i woud appreciate that
also: craigwcampbell@btinternet.com if u wanna zap me a note

ps: i reallly would appreciate any help in the suppliers simply and dabs have everything in stock yeah, they deliver next day np, it`s just the RAM and does ANY1 know where to get coolermaser ronder ide cables from ? as i find the akasa 1`s 2 b of low quality ))

 

[mechBgon]

Multitasking and 24/7 operation? Mission-critical to you personally? Get SCSI hard drives. Fujitsu MAS-series 15000rpm will make your multitasking go nicely, albeit at a hefty price-per-GB premium. You did say you wanted the best.

Also consider a dual-processor configuration. Asus has a dual-Xeon motherboard that should fit a standard-ATX Lian-Li and it can be equipped with up to 4GB of RAM. Video encoding should be mainly a chore for the CPU(s), motherboard and memory, not the video card, unless I'm just . If you wait a bit, the Radeon 9800 Pro cards should fall in price (well, and all the rest of the range too) due to the introduction of next-generation cards, so consider holding on the video card purchase if possible. However, don't try to use a 3.3-volt video card on your new motherboard or you'll be a hurtin' unit.

The Prescott-core P4 "E" is not very highly recommended since it generates more heat and is slower than its elder brother, the P4 "C". The P4-C's also have wider motherboard compatibility. If you do go dual, it won't matter because the dual boards take Xeons, not P4's.

Incidentally, with an IDE RAID0 you should have each drive by itself on its own cable. Does your Promise card have more than two IDE ports on it...? because you have three drives on it, no way that can be working optimally.

Good job on getting so much lifespan out of your old rig. Have fun planning your new one

 

[camshi]

thankyou so much for the reply amigo, truly appreciated.

i cannot afford 2 go with the cofig u opted for:
i`m simply wanting to get the best ASUS mobo, fastest RAM, and best CPU 2 go with it P4 tho not EXTREME EDITION or multiple / xeon.


i`m just wantig reassurance and advice regards ASSU P4800 MOBO, A nice P4 prolly 2.8 2 go with it.
and i cannot go dow the scsi route
this is why i am doing this in stages: will the ASUS mobo (whichever is recommended run with 1 SATA HD WD Raptor and allow e to wipe my 2 x 60gb ibm`s and use them witout the pci card on the same board till i get another WD raptor and run em on raid 0 with the 3 x WDJB`s 200gb each so 400 ide raid as well on the ASUS MOBO.

also atm, i am running the 2 IBM hardrives (2 x 60) of of a promise fastrack tx2 pci card and no i have the 2 60gb`s connected in raid 0 on separate cahnnels with the other 75gb drive just there for archive atm. as i sy, i will put all this into a separate matching lian-li aluminium box and use it as a server.

so if by sticking 2 my plan wl i have a good system, and u do not recommend the newer P4`s ?
sgo with a 2.8C rather than 2.8E even tho they r same price ?

also my 2 x 60bg drive`s i have atm, (remember i am gonna marry them with my new ASUS board) just the 2 drives, i`ll just store my other 75gb drive basically not use it at all with my new system.

incidentanally atm tho, my 120GB RAID 0 with the 2 x IBM`s r also partitioned, not that this matters now but this could also b slowing me down ? the 2 x ibm 60`s r on amster settings on ide 1 and ide 2 channels on the pc card, the 75 gb is slave on the promise pci 1 slave cable.

plz i ama def. gonna go with the ASUS MOBO, but which is he best 1 ???
and the best / fastest RAM to couple it with and Processor please.

i presume i can do this np - have a new SINGLE WD Raptor running as my (c) drive on SATA and have the 2 wiped clean 2 x 60gb IBM 100-ATA`s running in unison with the sata as main drive, till a couple of weeks and i can buy anotheer Raptor to go with it, hence giving me 70 ODD GB of sytem disk and 400gb of ide raid WDJB`s (2 x 200gb)

thanyou very much my friend

craig
craigwcampbell@btinternet.com
fentan1l@hotmail.com for msn

ps: again i have my mind set on the BEST ASUS mobo and the best ram / cpu to go with it cos i`m gona buy these 3 parts 2moorrow along with a raptor

 

[camshi]

i just have my mind set on this: ASUS P4800 DLX Motherboard
Intel P4 2.8 prolly and overclock (C or E) I WILL go with the advice from anandtech peeps
1GB of the BEST RAM OCZ i beieve ( yeah ?)
2 x Western Digital Raptors SATA RAID
2 x Western Digital JB Caviar`s 8mb cache IDE RAID

wil this pc not b more than ample for em, cos trust me apart from my drives IBM`s failing i`m gonna have 4 burners and backup`s of eork etc won`t b a problem. and i am not wanting to go with ide mirror, mayb nearer xmas, i might get another 2 x Western Digital JB`s 200gb 2 mirror, this al depands on money, i`ve been in hopital for 9 months after mothercycle accident and i just wanna PC that`ll do me rite, BTW i never turned off the PC i have atm, and it was nearly 3 years when th hard drives FINALLY WENT BANG LOL but IBM had new ``s 2 me in 10 dayz

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: camshi
thankyou so much for the reply amigo, truly appreciated.

i cannot afford 2 go with the cofig u opted for:
i`m simply wanting to get the best ASUS mobo, fastest RAM, and best CPU 2 go with it P4 tho not EXTREME EDITION or multiple / xeon.

Ok, I see

so if by sticking 2 my plan wl i have a good system, and u do not recommend the newer P4`s ?
sgo with a 2.8C rather than 2.8E even tho they r same price ?

I would personally buy a 2.8C instead of a 2.8E, right. MHz-for-MHz, the 2.8C is usually faster in general benchmarking, while generating less heat. Then again, the 2.8E has the SSE3 capabilities and perhaps if you keep this system a long time, like you did with your last one, then it will pay in the end to have SSE3 as software begins to take more advantage of it. I don't have a crystal ball to tell you for sure how much merit it will have going forward

incidentanally atm tho, my 120GB RAID 0 with the 2 x IBM`s r also partitioned, not that this matters now but this could also b slowing me down ? the 2 x ibm 60`s r on amster settings on ide 1 and ide 2 channels on the pc card, the 75 gb is slave on the promise pci 1 slave cable.

Yes, I do think this is damaging your potential performance because it encumbers one of the two RAID0 drives with a "leech" on its cable, interrupting its work.

plz i ama def. gonna go with the ASUS MOBO, but which is he best 1 ???
and the best / fastest RAM to couple it with and Processor please.

Asus P4C800-E Deluxe gets my vote. It has the better Intel ICH5-R southbridge with its own native SATA RAID, besides the tack-on Promise ATA RAID chip with an additional two SATA headers. And it has the CSA Gigabit LAN, an optional goodie that will be of use if you get a gigabit switch and a gigabit network card for your server computer.

For RAM, if you won't be overclocking then you might simply get some ECC PC3200 modules from Crucial.com using their memory configurator so that they'll guarantee it for life. The ECC isn't mandatory, you could use non-ECC ("non-parity"), but the ECC feature is supported by the motherboard and you probably would not mind losing a couple percent of performance for the error-checking-&-correcting capability if you're doing stuff that stresses the computer heavily.

i presume i can do this np - have a new SINGLE WD Raptor running as my (c) drive on SATA and have the 2 wiped clean 2 x 60gb IBM 100-ATA`s running in unison with the sata as main drive, till a couple of weeks and i can buy anotheer Raptor to go with it, hence giving me 70 ODD GB of sytem disk and 400gb of ide raid WDJB`s (2 x 200gb)

If you can afford the 74GB Raptor, it has better performance in just about all ways, including low noise due to its fluid-bearing motor, compared to the 36GB model. Or that's what everyone seems to agree is the case... I haven't tried one myself (yet). Edit: by the way, you will have to define the two Raptors as an array and reinstall Windows if you start with a single one and then add a second to do RAID0 with.

Hope that helps

 

[camshi]

i`ve just got my mind set on this u know it`s not like mission critical cmputer i just want it 2 fly LOL
I AM SURE THERE MUST B loads of poeeps here with the same setup as this and just would like advice as in i cannot really go wrong with this :/ ???

thanks again any1 for ANYTHING .......

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: camshi
i`ve just got my mind set on this u know it`s not like mission critical cmputer i just want it 2 fly LOL
I AM SURE THERE MUST B loads of poeeps here with the same setup as this and just would like advice as in i cannot really go wrong with this :/ ???

thanks again any1 for ANYTHING .......

Well I've done the best I can for you, considering I'm more of an AMD-type guy with an Athlon64. But I think that would be workable stuff you're planning. If the Crucial memory doesn't strike your fancy, the next two companies on my list would be Mushkin and Corsair.