Upgrade Choices / Suggestions?

[Xor]

I need to upgrade my system really soon. About every 2 years I upgrade and as part of the standard upgrade process, I need a new cpu, motherboard and memory. My old system is a P3-700 with 512megs of PC133 ram running on an Asus P3V4X. I have an Asus GeForce2 GTS Deluxe and will probably get the Asus GeForce4 8460 Deluxe when it drops another $100 or so.

I want to maximize SPEED and STABILITY without spending too much money; I've set $400 as my soft limit. I use my computer primarily for:
- gaming
- 3DStudio Max
- video editing (Adobe Premiere)
I do not plan on overclocking as stability is more important to me (although, when the computer is about 2-3 years old, I might try to squeeze a little more out of it).

CPU
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My choice for CPU is the Intel Pentium 4 2.4b (533mhz FSB). I've found it for as cheap as $200 locally and it seems to be the sweet spot for power vs. price.

MEMORY
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I want to use DDR Ram to keep my costs down, but I still want to get as fast as I can while remaining stable. My choice is going to be 256megs of PC2700 DDR (333mhz). I've seen Micron sticks available for $63 and Kingmax for $75. Is there any real reason to go with a better name brand (especially without overclocking)? Which brands? I run Windows XP.. will 256megs cause me too much trouble?

MOTHERBOARD
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My main question is motherboard. It seems that to run DDR333mhz ram, I'm limited to Intel 845g, SiS 645, SiS 648, or Via P4X400. Is this true?

Of these options, Intel 845g seems to be the most stable, but also a little more expensive. Is it possible to use the integrated graphics option to power a second monitor and run a dual monitor setup? Is it true that 845e won't support DDR333 ram? Are there any variations of 854g motherboards? ..or any new ones coming out soon?

SiS 648 is attractive for the USB 2.0, AGP8x, and Serial-ATA in addition to the possibility of running DDR400 (if there is ever a stable JEDEC-standardized DDR400 ram released). Are there any stability issues with SiS 648 boards while running DDR333 ram? If I buy only 256megs of ram now, will some boards have problem using it when I add another stick (or two) later on? Is it better to buy all my sticks the same size? I've read that some boards will only works with two banks of DDR333 ram in them and not with three...

I've seen the Asus P4S8X (SiS648) motherboard locally for $150, which would push my costs up to $425 (still acceptable). Intel 845g motherboards all seem to be around $125-$140. It would be nice, however, to find a board for ~$100 because then I might be able to afford 512 megs of ram instead of 256.

What other suggestions are there? Are there any motherboards on the immediate horizon that I should wait for (I can wait up to a month or so.. until the end of October)? What would they bring to the table?

CASE
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Finally, I might also need to buy a new case (which would push my costs up, I know). I've seen cases advertised locally for $49 with a 400w power supply (and $89 for aluminum versions). Do I need that much power (400w) ? How much is enough? 350w? 300w? Does the power supply brand make that much difference? Is there any compelling reason to go aluminum (except for lightening my load when I go to LAN parties)?


Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[MadTom]

Hi,

CPU - depending on the date you buy and temporary price go for a 2.26b, 2.4b or 2.53b

RAM - if you go with a 845G board I recommend you Samsung PC2700 - and 512MB from beginning (especially because of memory intensive usage in 3D Studio Max and Adobe Premiere...). BTW, I have had compatibility issues with the Kingmax DDR333 modules (256MB) on my 845G based mobo. Anyway, it is not recommended to put more than 2 sticks of RAM in 845G based boards (although there are 3 slots; but slots 2 and 3 are only for single sided memory or one of the slots has to be filled up with double sided memory)

mobo - I can only tell you that if you are going with a 845G based chipset take the EPoX 4G4A+ or whatever from brand names that supports 4:5 memory ratio (what corresponds to 333MHz on the memory while using an 533BUS based processor). What I do when checking this stuff is to go to the webpage of the mobo producers and download manuals of the mobo I'm interested in, and check out what it can give. Regarding SIS 648, I can't help you, as I haven't checked it out. Regarding DDR 400, a few days ago it was stated that it probably won't be supported by JEDEC, ever. They will go over to DDR-II I guess.
Wait for new mobos? You know yourself that in this industry, the longer you are waiting the harder the choice will be (because, definitely something new will come out)

CASE - I bought a new big tower with generic 400W PSU and everything works fine (not going to LAN parties ), but have tried my system on another 350W generic PSU and it worked fine, too. Still, more power=better. For sure an ENERMAX 365 power supply what make much difference, as it gives the stated 365W on the output. Check out some reviews on the web.

I hope it helped a little bit.

 

[Vette73]

For $400 I think you would get a lot more bang for your buck with a Athlon XP system.

But if you want Intel then look at the VIA P4X400 and SiS648 boards. They seem to keep up OR be faster than any other intel DDR board. And they can be cheaper yet have more features.