Should I get a P4P800 or a P5P800?

[Denis54]

I want to replace my old P3 1.0 with a P4 3.0. I will only replace the CPU, motherboard and memory. The rest of my equipment is recent. I use my PC to surf the internet and I do some light WORD and EXCEL work. I am not a gamer and I do not want to overclock. I realise that my 1.0 is fast enough for my needs but I want a faster PC nevertheless.

I can get a P4P800 Deluxe or a P5P800 for the same price.

Has the P5P800 got any advantages over the P4P800? I do not need the greater future upgradability that it would offer. I will keep it for a couple of years and then replace it with what, by then, will probably be a P6 or P7.

On the other hand, I do not need either the P4P800 IDE and SATA RAID nor firewire.

My priority is stability. Which board would be best for me?

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

Well, you basically said it yourself The P5P800 will accept future LGA775 processors, but the P4P800 has a few extra features ("Deluxe"). When it comes to stability they're basically the same.

I would get the P5P800 with a Celeron D and use the money saved for a faster hard drive. When I do the things you said (surf the Internet, office apps) I leave my processor running at 1.0GHz from its normal 2.2GHz and can't tell the difference. When I upgraded from an old 40Gb hard disk to a WD Raptor the system felt notably faster.

You may also consider a SiS board. They have very good IDE drivers, so the system feels a little more responsive. And they're cheap.

 

[Denis54]

Your comment about the RAPTOR is interesting. For light applications like mine is it common for the RAPTOR to be noticably faster?