New Build; needing advice.

[Nestor]

Just got a surplus of money and spare parts, and I wanna build me a new box.

This time around, It's gonna be an Intel. I'm familiar with AMD in and out, but never paid much attention to Intel's specs. My current setup is a power user/ heavy gamer/ file server rig, sporting a cuttent total of 700+ GB hard drive space, a gig of Mushkin Ram, 3200+ AMD proc, and an NVidia 6600GT.

The new box will sport a single 160GB IDE drive for boot + installed programs, and 4 80GB drives for storage. (spare drives, just sitting around. :P was thinking raid, but not sure yet) and (starting) 512MB ram.

The thing I'm requesting here is mobo and proc info. which specs should I look for on the board? Which version of the P4 should I grab? I don't wanna simply grab a board that I might cook because of the load I put on it, and I certainly don't want a proc that can't take the beating.

Any advice would be helpful.

[query]

How much do you have budgeted for the project?  Your looking at fairly high end components and most likely, a separate RAID controller.

[Nestor]

I've got $800 I can dedicate to proc, mobo, and RAM. as for RAID, I got the hardware laying around already.

Now, on the motherboard, I really should have been more specific. pardon my vagueness in my last post, the alcohol was kicking in. :P I'd like the board to support at least two gigs of dual channel RAM, and have onboard SATA.

Not sure whether or not to go PCI-X, thinking that AGP might work until I can dedicate more serious cash.

[query]

As long as you don't need a case and power supply, you can probably budget $150 for a board, about $200 for decent RAM, which will leave you about $400-450 for the processor.  The EM64T (with 64-bit extensions) just barely start in this range, so you can get a low-end one, or go a hundred dollars or so lower to the high end of the 32-bit P4s.

Socket 478 is all but dead;  go with LGA775 (which will probably force your hand into PCI Express, as most LGA775 boards are PCI Ex, not AGP).

[Nestor]

Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813131536 $225
Proc:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819116203 $617
Vid:    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814130215 $320
RAM:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820227047 $460

Total pain: $1622

This'll be a buy-as-I-go project. Think I can have it up and running By the new year.

I could cut my costs by going with a lower scale proc and mobo, but these caught my eye and held them long enough to commit to them.

As for RAM... Well, I think I can cut that a bit. Thanks for the tips, query.

[query]

Just note that the board has a 24-pin BTX power connector, so be sure to order an adapter if you have a 20 pin ATX power supply.