I'm going to start building a new computer this week and since I haven't built one in the past year I'm kinda out of the loop on parts. The machine will primarily be a gaming/workstation. I plan on having several games on there that are job related (EverQuest, DAoC, Star Wars Galaxies, Planetside, Shadowbane, BF1942, etc.) and plan on using the computer as a workstation for some simple C++ and Visual Basic stuff.

The main components that I'm concerned about is the motherboard and the processor. I plan on getting a P4 2.8 GHz or better. However, I don't want to be stuck with a motherbaord that doesn't have room to grow. Can anyone recommend a motherboard that is good for gaming/working that can fit a 2.8 GHz processor and still has room to expand?

Thanks in advance.

 

Also, what ram should I go with? (I know the motherboard kinda determines that).

SDRam, DDR or Rambus?

 

DDR RAM no question there. At least 512MB, 1GB if you can swing it.

2.8 GHz will be more than sufficient.

Make sure you buy a good video card too. If picture quality is important buy an ATi Radeon 9700 or something like that. 128 MB onboard DDR ram for that too.

I'm not sure about specific motherboards (because I'm a bit out of it myself), but I've always liked Gigabyte and Asus.

 

Yeah, I was looking to get at least 1 gig of Ram. From what I heard the ATI Radeon 9700 (or better) are the ones to get as well. So I'll probably be going with that card.

 

I have to disagree with you there. ATI cards, in myopinion, while being massively powerful do tend to have a LOT of driver problems. I would recommend a GeForce 4 Ti4600 or Ti4800 if you get a motherboard with AGP8x.

I have sent you a PM Jaykkub

 

ATI 9700, ATI 8500, ATI 64 sdram. No problems yet till this day.

 

I had an ATI Rage 128.... it NEVER worked right, and after 2 weeks I sold it back for credit towards a Riva TNT2 32 MB video card, and it worked first time, no problems. Every card since then (Riva TNT2, Geforce 2 GTX, GeForce 3 Ti500 and my current GeForce 4 Ti4200 128 MB DDR) has worked first time, every time, and has done EXACTLY what I have demanded of it. Remember, I also do 3d modelling and animation and the OpenGL code on the GF4 works to perfection for me.

So, I am biased, I will admit that. I will be getting a GF4-Ti4800SE-VTD8x whenever I will be able to upgrade my system

 

My advice is to hang in there and wait until around mid-may before building your new computer. Get your new video card now though and use it in your current system to tie you over though if the money is burning a hole in your pocket.

The reason why you should wait is because there is a new chipset coming out (springdale 865) which will up the front-side bus to 800MTS for Pentium 4's. Also, the 3.2Ghz P4 should be out... along with other hyper-thread enabled CPU's (below 3.06Ghz). The new bus will utilize dual-channel DDR so those 400Mhz DDR's will actually get used at-speed. This will give you a lot more headroom from a bus-perspective as the P4's increase in speed. Otherwise, if you put a 3+ Ghz Pentium 4 on a 400MTS front-side bus, you end up wasting performance because the CPU is waiting for data from the memory. Anyways, just my 2 cents in Intel's cup since you seemed like you were already in the P4 camp.

Anyways, just got accepted to planetside beta - gonna install it tonight heh.

 

LordVagabond - I recommended the ATi because it will kill a GeForce in terms of video and picture quality.

The problem with nVidia based cards is that 3rd parties build them, and use cheap components, degrading the quality of the picture.

ATi manufactures cards themselves so they have a lot more quality control.

ATi's drivers have been pretty solid lately, too.

 

I actually have found that nVidia has better video quality, for me at least. It might be my monitors (Viewsonic P775 17 inch and Scepter 19 inch). It might be the amount of Oxygen and Nitrogen in the air in my room. But I tried out my friends 9700 Pro and it actually was lightly blurry and and wasn't sharp for 3d animation.

But still, I am an nVidia guy ^__^

I would recommend staying the HELL away from Intel right now, tho. Sure, they are faster, but they also produce 3x the heat and take a crapload more power, and they also cost 4x the price for the same equivalent performance.
The only area that P4's are better in is business related processing. Games and Media run way better on Athlon XP's.
An AMD 3000+ Barton will outperform a P4 in almost all areas, uses 1/2 the power, and runs faster. It is only a 2.183 GHz CPU, but it is equivalent to a 3 GHz pentium. Also, AMD is much more reliable.