Some advice on purchasing a few new parts?

[Rawdge]

In the next two weeks or so, I'm looking to buy a new Mobo, CPU, and some RAM. I've only got about 600 bucks in the budget, and considering my current system (P3 1.5GHz, 512MB RAM), I don't necessarily need the biggest screaming mini-god on the market.

After doing some preliminary research online from what I could find, I've narrowed down my list to the following components:

Asus P4S800D-E Deluxe

P4 2.8E

Corsair 512

WD Raptor 36GB SATA

Everything else (sound, video, etc.) will be transferred out from my current machine. Second stick of RAM will be added as soon as I get some more cash.

I'm looking for fast HDD access and seek times (which is why I'm looking to go with the 10k RPM drive - 2 of them actually, not in a RAID array though). Also, I haven't done any overclocking before, and I'm not terribly familiar with the process or how to do it, but I *am* willing to give it a shot if this setup has a good potential for it (which I think it does, from what I've read).

If anyone has any other suggestions for better hardware, a more stable setup, better performance, etc., I'd really like to hear what my other options are, including going with a comparable AMD setup.

Thanks for any advice!

~ Rawdge

 

[sellmen]

Get the 74GB raptor instead of two 36gb raptors. It'll be cheaper, and faster...

$163 after rebate at newegg

Also, don't get the Prescott, get either a Northwood Pentium 4 or an AMD 64 processor. If you use your computer for gaming, get the AMD 64, if you encode/multitask, get the P4.

If you're going with a P4 rig, get a motherboard based on the Intel 865 or 875 chipset.

 

[Rawdge]

I'd like to stick with using Windows 2000 as my OS. Will I be missing out on any of the advantages of an Athlon 64 based system if I don't move to a Windows XP platform?

~ Rawdge