upgrade suggestions please.

[Will I Am]

I am about to upgrade my machine a bit and am looking for some expert advice from this forum, as I am a relative novice, for the following components. I am looking to upgrade the CPU, Motherboard, RAM and Video card.

I am currently using a p4 socket 478 cpu on an Aopen Motherboard, with 1gb of sdram with 2 WD 120gb ata hard drives running windows xp home. I have been very happy with this setup, but need something faster and able to handle the larger demands of the video/audio projects I like to use the machine for.

I know I want to stay with intel for the cpu, and want at least 1 gb of ram. I also know I do NOT want a motherboard with a SiS chipset on it.

I use the computer for some gaming, but mainly video/audio editing and the usual everday tasks.

The CPU decision is my main sticking point...dual core, single core etc....???? I plan to re-use my exising hard drives and power supply. The power supply I have is an Enermax EG475P-VE. Output is as follows. +3.3v/34a +5v/40a +12v1/16a +12v2/15a -12v/0.8a +5vsb/2.5a +3.3 & +5v/280W Total power 470W.

As for a budget...I don't want to break the bank, but I'm not opposed to spending a bit more now for componets that will be fast, reliable, and keep the frustration level to a minimum.

Any an all comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[hockey man]

What is your definition of breaking the bank? We need figures to make recomendations.

[Will I Am]

I would like to stay under $700.00.

[hockey man]

Opps. . .I should have asked this earlier, what MOBO shipset/model do you have?

[saphalline]

Starter specs for this would be a Pentium D 805, i945P chipset-based mobo, 1GB DDR2-533 RAM, and a cheap little Radeon X550. You can go up from here, putting more money into the components you want most to reach your budget. I would suggest 2GB of RAM if you do intensive video editing, and a faster CPU would help, too. You could get a speedy P4 Cedar Mill at this point or a higher-end PD Presler, but this would also mean a more expensive mobo. Probably can't avoid that anyway with two IDE hard drives and an optical drive, though.

[Will I Am]

My current motherboard is an Aopen AX 4spemax II with an Intel 4 2.53 cpu.

[Will I Am]

A couple of other questions have come up...

It seems many users of the Intel CPU are always recommending upgrading the CPU fan as the stock fan does not provide the necessary cooling...is this true?

Also, with regard the specs in my original post at the top, is the video card important to the overall speed of the system, or for what I need, is this not much of a consideration?

[saphalline]

Some people do have problems with the stock HSF unit for CPU's in general, not just Intel. I've never had a problem with the stock units, though, so I always suggest at least trying it first. If your CPU temp is still high when using the stock unit, then upgrade it.

There are two reasons to buy an expensive vid card: for gaming or for CAD (3D engineering stuff). If you won't be doing either of these, all you need is a cheap vid card. Honestly the one I mentioned will be way more than you need, but it is cheap and it does fit the latest mobo technologies (PCIe x16) so it's fine.

[Will I Am]

Saphalline, In your previous post you had mentioned probably having to get a motherboard that could accomodate two ide drives and an optical drive. Could you expand on that a bit?

Thanks!

[saphalline]

The latest chipsets from Intel for their CPU's only provide 1 IDE connector. Two IDE drives per connector means that standard mobo's only have room for two IDE drives. You would need one of the more expensive mobo's that have an extra IDE controller chip built-in. They're not a whole lot more expensive, but it does limit your options to the higher end of the spectrum. And don't even think about buying a lesser mobo and a separate IDE controller expansion card. That unnecessarily uses up an expansion slot, complicates your installation efforts, and would actually be more expensive (relative to cost/performance).

[Will I Am]

Saphalline,

Wow, thanks for the IDE connector Info. I had no idea, and looking for a board with the type of setup I want is proving to be difficult. Any specific recommendation on a Pentium d board with multiple ide connectors/controllers?

Thanks for the info again.

[Will I Am]

can a sata and an ide drive co-exist on the same board?

[saphalline]

You won't necessarily be able to find a mobo that will work with any Pentium D out-of-the-box. Many of them will require a BIOS update. This should go away over the next couple of months, but in the mean time I would suggest buying a cheap little Celeron D if the BIOS version isn't new. A tiresome work-around, I know, but necessary at this point when Intel seems intent on releasing a new CPUID string every month. :rolleyes:

$120 - Gigabyte GA-8I945P-Pro (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128293) - i945P chipset

$219 - Asus P5WD2-E Premium (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131589) - i975X chipset

EDIT - Yes, you can have as many drives as you have ports and connectors on your mobo. The most support for drives that I've ever seen on a consumer mobo is 16 (3 IDE connectors, 8 internal SATA ports, 2 external SATA ports). This doesn't include the floppy connector nor the USB ports. As you can see, space in your case is the limiting factor these days.