Which cpu should i get??

i'm thinking about building a new computer but not sure which cpu to get. I'll be using it for mainly school work, graphic design, webpage design, various program usage, and very few gaming (warcraft and counterstrike).

Here are my three options i'm looking at.
- P4 650 3.4Ghz LGA775
- P4 3.4Ghz Prescott
- P4 3.4Ghz Extreme Edition

Which one would you guys recommend and why? Thanks for the input.
Not quite sure on the difference.

The Intel P4 EE and Prescott are based on the same core's so act in a similar fashion. That said, the P4 EE can also be a Northwood core.

In light of what you have said, personally I would go for the P4 650 as it uses Intels new LGA775 chipset which is great for apps. Seeing as thats what your mainly going to be doing, it is probably more suited to your needs. See here for more info on LGA775.

P4 650 Spec
P4 EE Spec - Prescott & Northwood

did i read it right, but the LGA775 has 64-bit like the AMD 64 processors? or is it 64 bit something else?

after reading up about the LGA775 P4 650..i think i'm probably gonna get it.

Now what motherboard would you recommend? I've been looking at the asus P5P800 and it has all the specification that i like such as the gigibit lan, the up to 4G ram, and etc.

http://www.unitedmicro.com/mbw.cgi?146233828

what do you think of this board or is there a better board out there?

Only intel itanium processors are 64bit. But the LGA775 may have a 64-bit wide bus (not sure on that, didn't read the article).

I'm an AMD and Asus kinda guy, but if you go Intel chip, your better off going Intel board. I love Asus, but they are better suited to making AMD boards than intel boards. Processor speed has almost reached its max with our current conductors. Also, proc speed isn't the bottleneck anymore. This day in age you'd be better off going for the higher end board and a mid-range chip than going high-end chip and mid-range board.

The top of the line for P4's is the Intel BOXD925XECV2LK, couple that even with a 3.0Ghz proc and see performance over even an EE with a lesser board. The ultra-huge cache is just and end-run around lack of registers. Proc speed is just an end run around lack of bus width between the north/southbridge and the proc/memory.

Can you put that into simplier terms...that didn't really make sense.

Think of this way, you can be the tazmanian devil with a sand box shovel and still not move as much dirt (data) as a backhoe.

Now with unlimited funds and patience that spans 3-4 months, you can probably do a Intel 840 EE dual-core processor with the Intell 955 chipset.

But for the budget conscious yet sanity-challenged person without patience, go with the Intel 925XEC LGA775 motherboard.

The board is expensive (About $200), but you wont be dissapointed. And Intel has Customer Service second to none.

sounds good an all...but now i don't have a pci-e graphics card. Before i didn't think i wanted one because i heard bad things about it.

What do you guys think about the agp vs. pci-e?

and what pci-e would you recommend?

Well, I love AGP... But PCI-E is the way to go. Especially if your going for a bleeding edge system.

As for what kind of card, I am very biased. Since the time I built my first system which was an AMD K5 I have learned to despise ATI because the drivers are buggy, the support blows, and the graphics don't hold a candle to Nvidia. Now I know people will disagree with me and call me an Nvidiot. But I have never had a problem, and I'm sure there is a very select few that have been lucky enough to not have any problem with an ATI card.

But I would go for an Nvidia, a 6800GT Ultra would work for ya, or you can go for the SLI with two video cards.

It all depends how crazy you are and how much your budget furthers your insanity. I am completely insane, and I have a budget that would get me into a lot of trouble if I didn't have this big ball chained to my leg.

well like i said before...i just need a graphics card that can handle dual monitors while not slowing down with multiple application. And just good enough graphics to play warcraft III ROC. Other than that, i'm mainly use it for multiple program tasking.


so which pci-e card?

budget is around $150 and less

For just under $150, you can probably snag a nVidia 6600 256MB card with a D-Sub, DVI, and S-Video.

Ok this is what i have so far.

CPU - Intel Pentium 4 650 3.4Ghz LGA775 - $413.00

Motherboard - Intel D925XCV - $200
or Intel D925XEC - $210

RAM - GeIL 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 533 (PC2 4300) - $109.93

Graphics Card - GeForce 6600GT (PcI-Express) (128mb or 256mb) - $120
or ATI RX700

Hard Drive - 80G - $60

Dvd Burner - $60

Dvd-rom - $20

Case - Clear Acrylic Transparent Case - $67


Not sure on motherboard and the graphics card yet. And don't laugh at my case...i've always wanted it . I don't need a big hard drive because i'll be having a server shortly also with 800G of space.

Tell me what you think or of any suggestions you would change.

The Intel P4 6xx series is Intels new 64Bit Desktop CPU range. Granted its just EMT64 but basically their answer to the AMD 64 series. Thing is, both have now stepped it up a notch with the release of the Dual Core Desktop CPU's [ Intel 850 and the AMD 64 X2 ].

At £800 for the Intel and £686 for the AMD, neither are currently cheap [ although technically you are getting two CPU's so thats almost right ] but both do kick ass !

If you can wait a few months, both to save like mad and to give the prices time to drop, I would recommend looking into one of these beauties.

As for your components:

CPU - Fine
Mobo - Those boards look fine, I personally like the DFI Lanparty board & it has been given some great reviews. Has an excellent spec for the price aswell.
RAM - Fine
GPU - Go with the 6600GT [ I`m an ATI person myself, but to be honest, the GeForce 6xxx series is a great series ]
HDD - Fine
DVD Burner - Fine
ROM Drive - Fine
Case - Fine [ nothing wrong with that, I like the clear arylic cases too ]

Yeah, that is the Irwindale core but its still not a true 64bit processor.

As for the dual-core, ROCK ON. That's what I'm waiting for. I stil got Athlon XP's, with regular PC3200 DDR and AGP ports man. My systems are aging.

the processor you're talking about to wait on is Intel's 850? Or are you saying that the cpu i chose will drop it's price in a few months?