Dude you need to go over to www.newegg.com they have a P4 2.8Ghz 800 Mhz FSB HT Retail for $199 and THE P4 2.6 800 Mhz FSB HT for $166. I have built 10 or more computers from them for clients absolutley the best customer service and always one of the best prices on the web. I have only had one thing go bad on me and that was kinda my fault I was trying to overclock an Asus P4 MB it locked up and wouldn't ever boot again I had it for like a week and they just cross shipped me a new board no questions asked love that place!

Here's a link to the page with the P4 2.8 Here

I have a 2.6ghz 800mhz fsb, and it works just fine, 2.6ghz is great over over clocking if you want cheaper but more performance, you just have to keep the thing coooooool!l This chip easily overclocks to 3.3-3.5ghz. Just a thought. (disclaimer) There is a risk in overclocking and I can not be held responsable to what anyone does to the cpu :)

Happy Computing,
-Jeff "zemote" O'Hara

Never mind, i found it!

-zemote

Thanks for the replies. Newegg is a good site, and if I don't find anything better will get the components there, especially if the customer service is as good as stated. And the 2.8 is the right price.

Shogo, any recommendations on a MB? I have been looking at Asus and Gigabyte boards, and am thinking about the Asus P4C800 DELUXE. HAve you or anyone else had any experience with this board and Vegas?

The ASUS is the MB I burned up it seemed really good though, I curently have the Gigabyte 8KNXP Deluxe it is a very stable board though I don't think it's quite as good an overclocker as the ASUS though it had more features. Both are great boards I would buy either again. Also I have heard alot about the MSI Neo boards they are supposed to very nice as well. I know you will be hooked on Newegg once you try them they are the best in my mind.

I can highly recommend newegg.com. I just bought all the parts for my new computer from them and they had the best prices. I saw that two of the items dropped in price right after I ordered them and I called them, got someone on the phone quickly, and they gave me a price adjustment. I selected the cheapest shipping (most of it was free) and I order the Monday before Christmas and still got everything that Friday (that’s 4 days including Christmas Day!). You just can’t beat newegg.

As for motherboards, I used the Gigabyte 8KNXP also. It has more IDE channels than the ASUS P4C800 Deluxe and has RAID for both IDE and SATA (The ASUS only has RAID for the SATA). Also if you select the ASUS board you might want to get the “E” version (i.e., P4C800-E Deluxe). It has ICH5R southbridge instead of the ICH5. This gives you built in Intel RAID instead of it being an add-on chip. Of course if you don’t plan to use RAID it doesn’t matter which you pick.

I think Grazie just had a system built around the P4C800-E Deluxe and he's very happy with it. You really can’t go wrong with either board. The Gigabyte just has more bells and whistles.

~jr

Amen JOHNNYROY!

I forget where I read it yesterday, but Intel is set to announce their new line of Prescott CPU's, which will probably cause the Northwood CPU prices to drop. I think the article says it will be announce the first week of February, so if you can wait a couple of weeks you can save some $ on the CPU.

Oh wait, here's the link

Thanks for the Intel info. I can, and will wait a little while to see what happens with prices.

I also have talked to a couple of people in the last day or so who seconded the newegg recommendations. Thanks again for all your help.

> ... and the 2.8GHz @$250. Anything faster is out of my price range at this time

Well, apparently good things come to those who wait. ;-) Newegg.com has the P4 3.0Ghz for $229 and the P4 3.2Ghz is only $289. I would still hold off and get a Prescott for the same price after Feb 15th since it doubles the Level 2 cache (to 1MB) and that made a big performance improvement in the extreme edition. Boy, I wish I would have waited. I just bought a P4 3.0Ghz for $279 at the end of December. :(

~jr

yeah, but look at it this way, you got six- weeks of faster computing.

I've found with pc prices the way they are, once you make the purchase to stop checking prices, otherwise you'll drive yourself crazy.

>....I would still hold off and get a Prescott for the same price after Feb 15th since it doubles the Level 2 cache (to 1MB) and that made a big performance improvement in the extreme edition.

Is the performance improvment regarding the increased level 2 cache refer to faster render times, or overall system improvment.
Thanks for the info on this.

Mark

You're right about the price thing busterkeaton, I try to drive myself nuts till I buy it. Then TRY not to look at prices anymore. :-) I usually don't do well with it though.

And as an aside to Couldbes' question, are current mobos equipped to handle this new chip? If there are changes, I wonder about that.

> once you make the purchase to stop checking prices

Sure... NOW you tell me. After I’m all upset. ;-(

> are current mobos equipped to handle this new chip?

My Gigabyte mobo says it’s “Prescott Ready” right on the box. I’d imagine you can use a Prescott in any Socket 478 mobo with an Intel 82875P Canterwood Northbridge but I just liked the comfort of knowing Gigabyte was bold enough to state it on the box. Also the Gigabyte 8KNXP model that I have has a DSP2 daughter card module on the mobo for adding 6 phase power to the processor. (most mobo’s have 3 phase power) Officially this is to support future processors that might need more power. Only time will tell.

~jr

Thanks JohnnyRoy, that's good to know. The more I look at the Gigabyte 8KNXP, the more I like it. Especially since it's Prescott ready, that seems a good route. I'll just hold off till they become available.

And I'll still be looking at prices well after I build this one. Human nature I guess. :-)