Need Help With a New System

I am planning on upgrading my Athlon XP system to a 3000+ Venice core. I need help picking out some parts. Which motherboard? Which video card?

I am thinking about buying the nForce 4 Ultra based range of motherboards. A DFI nF4 UT Ultra-D motherboard seems to be a good one on my list. Others include the EPoX 9NPA+ nF4U. I need other recommendations.

For graphics, I will need PCI-Express. Either a 6800GT or a 7800GT. And which brand? (eVGA, BFG, PNY, GigaByte, MSI)

For RAM, I will be buying an stick of PC3200 HyperX. I will set my 2 512MB's into Dual Channel.

And for hard drive, I will currently stick with my ATA100 & ATA133 drives which I am using now. Later, I may upgrade to Western Digital's 16MB cache SE16 Caviar's.

Need some advice. Thanks.

~Nemesis

The DFI NF4 Ultra-D is the best overclocker available, however it may take a little tweaking to get it to work properly.  If you want to push your system to its limits you may not mind.  If you do mind I would suggest getting the Epox Epox 9NPA+Ultra which is still a very good overclocker.  If you do plan to go the DFI route though check out DFI-Street to ask questions and get help with any issues.

There is a pretty big jump in both performance and price between the 7800GT and the 6800GT.  I wouldn't bother with the 7800GT unless you plan gaming at 1600x1200+ though.  For the 6800Gt I would be looking at eVGA and Leadtek as last time I checked they seemed to be the chpeaest and they are reputable manufacturers.  The Leadtek has a pretty large heatsink that cools well.  It will have no problem reaching Ultra speeds.  A seperate aftermarket cooler would be the best option though.  In that case I would just get the eVGA and something like a Zalman VF-700 CU.

As for RAM, I have not been keeping up on what overclocks best as I basically always recommend value RAM.  I would check out reviews on how well they overclock and maybe check out other forums like XS.  Also will you be buying a 512Mb stick?  What will your memory configuration be?

Don't even waste your money on a new hardrive.  In general use you wouldn't notice a difference between 8MB and 16MB cache.  There also is no difference between SATA and IDE in performance.

Thank you for the advice KoolDrew. I already have 1 stick of 512MB PC3200 Kingston HyperX. I plan on buying another stick of 512MB and setting both into Dual Channel for a total of 1GB.

If you are happy with the HyperX and since you already have a stick, then yes that is a alirght choice.

The deciding factor is that the EPoX is 109$ and the DFI is 135$. Is the DFI worth the extra 26$?

The DFI is the best overclocker there is and if you are an extreme overclocker in any way the board is for you. However I generally do not recommend it to most people because of the amount of tweaking that you may have to do to get it to work properly. If you don't mind troubleshootingthen you can get it. There is lso DFI-Street which I linked to above where you can get help. The DFI is also very picky about RAM and it requires a good PSU.

The Epox I think is the overall best board. According to Anandtechs tests it is the best performer at stock and the 2nd best overclocker. Users of the board has easily got their 3000+ to 2.6GHz+.

I personally would go with the Epox.

I don't know what makes it more expensive, but overclocking probably has something to do with it.