Building a new PC

[Eloheem]

Well allot of you are probably sick of hearing this but I am after some advice regarding a new system. Here are the proposed specs:

Stuff im buying (maybe)
Case: Gigabyte AURORA GZ-FSCA1-ANB Black (550W)
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 950 Boxed (Dual Core 3.4GHz LGA775 2x2Mb Cache)
Hard Drive 2: Seagate Barracuda 200Gb 7200 8Mb cache SATA 2 Hard Disk
MB: Intel BLKD975XBXLKR motherboard
Power supply: Antec TruePower II-550 Watt PSU
Ram: Kingston DDR2 1Gb PC4200 Ram
Graphics card: ASUS EN7900GT-2DHT-256 GF7900GT, PCIEX, 256MB, HDTV-OUT, 2DVI-I

Stuff I already have and plan on keeping.
-I have a Sony DVD dual layer burner and a disk drive as well
-One internal 56k modem (no broadband here yet)
-One cheap SoundBlaster audio card (it’s fine for what I need it for)
-Hard drive 1: Seagate Barracuda 120gb SATA

Now I don’t really plan on overcloking or running SLI so I was wondering what other motherboards are out there? I will get my parts from this website…

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/default.php

I can spend about $300AUD on a motherboard. I went with that one as it has the new Intel chipset but I don’t mind what board I have so long as the BIOS has the option to overclock if I want to later on (id upgrade the ram at that time) I just want the most out of my parts.

So any suggestions? I will use this computer for gaming and my everyday university stuff.

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Edit:

I guess some other MB options would be:

Gigabyte GA-8I945P PRO motherboard
Intel BLKD945GNTLKR motherboard

They are about half the price of the other one would there be a huge performance difference?

[TheLostSwede]

In a couple of weeks, boards supporting the new Conroe will be out. I would wait until then to get a board. Your cpu will work on those boards as well. A 2.4 ghz conroe will definitely be a better cpu than the 950 you have chosen now, and for about the same price. Change the ram to a 667mhz part as well.

[Eloheem]

Thanks for that, I have no real time frame, so I can make some more money over the next few weeks to put into this. I guess I will have to change the website I want to order things from as well; they don’t seem to have the biggest selection of parts.

Anyone for Australia have any suggestions? Scorptec seem pretty good (www.scorptec.com.au)

I guess I will just weight for a little while until the new conroe CPU’s get released here. Thanks for the advice.

Eloheem.

[Leonardo]

Mack's advice to wait for a Conroe-based system is spot on, unless of course, you need to build right away. But if for some reason, you decide to stay with D series Pentiums, you might want to consider the D930 over the D950. It's less money, but you probably wouldn't notice any performance difference between the two. If you want overclocking potential for either Conroe or D series dual core, I highly recommend Asus motherboards with Intel chipsets.

[TheLostSwede]

I have a feeling Conroe will be delayed for quite a bit. One advice would be to buy a 775 board that can house a Conroe but a cheap dualcore "D" cpu meanwhile. That would give you some time to get to know the board and the rest of the system until Conroe shows up. But the boards isn't out yet though.

[(DJ PhiLO)]

http://www.nintek.com.au

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.htm

[Eloheem]

Thanks for the advice. The price difference isn’t huge between the 930 and the 950 some $20 or so.

Thanks for those website links as well, the prices on that first one seem really decent. I’m not sure how long ill be able to weight but ill do my best to hold off, but a system like the one im after should last me a few years by which time ill be ready to upgrade again so I might get the parts early. Who knows we will see what my patience is like.

[tmh88]

I'm with mackanzocz, wait til you can get a conroe board. Since we arent entirely sure what theyre capable of it might be a wise idea to hold off for just a little bit.

[Eloheem]

Well I will heed the advice of my superiors in this matter. The added time will give me time to think about parts more and get more money. Not to mention time to plan out how I will structure the Hd’s so I don’t end up with a mess.

[(DJ PhiLO)]

Ive got a couple more, ive oderd parts from those last 2 ive posted but these 3 i havnt.
http://www.hboutlet.com.au

http://www.vtechindustries.com.au

https://www.pricepoint.com.au