I'm planning on building a new computer for myself finally after building about 4 for others within the last month.

I'm not sure if I should all out modded case and go extreme pc with water cooling and overclocking.
Or if I should go for more of a lan feel.
I would love to be able to take my computer to a friends house with ease and have it perform as good as good as any other top of the line pc.

Now the reason i put this under the CPU section is because I want honest opinions.. no flaming.. just opinions on what cpu I should get.

I've been thinking a lot about AMD. I've been building P4's for people left and right.. and to be honest.. i haven't been to impressed with HT and "800" fsb.
My current system gets 15k on 3dmark2001se now.. and the average new p4 get's 14k. Now we aren't talking oc'ed.. i know the p4c will oc where as mine wont.

This new system will be oc'ed.. and since this is a project money isn't a huge problem. But.. i'm not going to spend 500 on a cpu.
Another thing I should ask.. Should I just wait for the "p5" and then see what happens with prices and performance?

p4 2.8 533fsb
intel mobo
1gb rdram pc 800
radeon9800 pro
120gb seagate s-ata

You have a fairly stout system there. But if you're waiting for the P5, you might have a VERY long wait, maybe a couple years!

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

Wow.. i really thought we'd see the p5 in closer to the 8 month mark.. but if you really think it's a couple years i might as well go amd fx. I'll just wait for the price to drop.
Anyone know anything about X-Superalien psu's? Who they are made by or whatnot?
Also i've found some sweet clear acrylic case at frozencpu.com.. they also have sweet PSU's.. but since I also want performance i don't know if i should trust them.

p4 2.8 533fsb
intel mobo
1gb rdram pc 800
radeon9800 pro
120gb seagate s-ata<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Johanthegnarler on 12/14/03 09:53 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

Maybe, but I don't think so. The P4 with Prescott core should come next month. Then they will switch it to a different socket the middle of next year. It should scale to around 5GHz, so I don't expect anything newer than that until 2005.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

You should also wait for newer chipset developements if you're going with the FX. So far SiS has been the LEADER in Athlon-64 performance (shouldn't sound too far fetched, they also make today's highest performance P4 chipset, and beat the KT266 with the 735). Don't know what's holding nVidia back.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

I see that you recommend fortron a lot so.. since i know nothing of these X-super alien psu's and i will be overclocking my system.. what do you think of the 530W for 120 bucks?
I'm going to have a lot of things in that case so keep in mind that a lot of that will actually be used.

I'll most likely have to do some modding to it.. sleeves and do something with the case of it.. for it's an eyesoar for the project. Most likely keep the stock fans.

p4 2.8 533fsb
intel mobo
1gb rdram pc 800
radeon9800 pro
120gb seagate s-ata

I think the Fortron 530W unit is <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=17-104-968&depa=1" target="_new">only $69 at Newegg</A>

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

Of course, if you can get that case AND power supply for $120 combined, you're looking at a great deal in the high end PC market.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

FrozenCPU isn't that great for prices, but i'll most likely go with that power supply. Just have to figure out what i can do with it to make it look perty.
Definately be getting it at newegg for 50 bucks cheaper .

I will most likely be going with a clear acrylic case , like a blue uv one that they show.. but after dealing with a lot of generic cases i don't know if i'm willing to do that.

p4 2.8 533fsb
intel mobo
1gb rdram pc 800
radeon9800 pro
120gb seagate s-ata<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Johanthegnarler on 12/15/03 01:03 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

hehe, paint it

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>