Need help on choosing a mb

[docholiday]

This is what I'm planning to purchase. I am still unsure about the mb. I've read some pretty negative articles about the KT400. Most articles I've read say to stay with the KT333. Am I wrong going with this board? Is there a faster and more stable board out there? Am I doing the right thing going with AMD? I know these may seem pretty simple questions but I am somewhat new to building pc's and have always gone with Intel in the past. The pc will be used for digital video editing/gaming. I would appreciate any suggestions for a top of the line mb and or processor that can be upgraded in the next few years if needed. Thanks in advance for your advice.

Case: ENERMAX (BLACK)
Power: 430 ENERMAX PS EG465P-VE WHISPER
Mb: MSI KT4 ULTRA-SR KT400 RAID 8X AGP DDR
Processor: AMD ATHLON XP 2400+
Fan: DYNATRON DC1206BM-L/610-P-Cu X
Ram: 2 DDR 3200 512 MB CORSAIR W/HEATSINK CMX
Hd: WESTERN DIGITAL 120 GB 1200JB 8MB CACHE 7200
Dvd: LITE ON DVD (BLACK COLOR) 16X
Cdrw/cd: LITE ON BLACK COLOR CDRW 40X12X48
Floppy: MITSUMI 3.5 FLOPPY DRIVE BLACK
Sound: SB CREATIVE LAB LIVE 5.1 OEM
Video: ATI RADEON 9700 PRO 128 MEG AGP 8X
Modem: MD LUCENT MODEM 56.KV.92
Network: LINKSYS 10/100 PCI
Mouse: LOGITECH MX 700 CORDLESS OPTIC
Keyboard: LOGITECH ELITE BLACK MULTIMEDIA
Extra: FIRE WIRE ADD ON 4 PORT

 

[o1die]

I can't speak for the 400 chipset, but I thought you should know about the deal I got tonight at Fry's electronics. I got an msi pro 2 kt266a board with amd 1700xp retail boxed for only $99.95. I use a p4 setup, but this deal was just too good to pass up. I'll use it for a spare, sell it to a friend, or send it to my brother as a nice gift (he still has a k6-400).

 

[docholiday]

Wow!!

 

[Spitfire_x86]

If you need Serial ATA and AGP 8x (Both are worthless now and will remain worthless at least for 1 year), then buy MSI KT4 Ultra-SR.

If you don't need Serial ATA and AGP 8x, then buy MSI KT3 Ultra2-R.

If you can wait for nForce2, wait.

Regardless you get KT400, nForce2 or 333 FSB AXP (Will come out very soon), DDR400 will be always worthless. You would be better with 512 MB Kingston PC2700 CL2.5 DDR RAM. DDR400 kills momory upgradeability. If you use only 1 DDR 400 memory module, only then DDR400 runs as DDR400. If case of 2 modules, they turn into DDR333, for 3 modules they become DDR266.

For digital video editing, get 2 Western Digital 80 GB (7200 rpm, 8MB Buffer) HD and put them in RAID instead of one 120 GB HD

If you use only one HD, no need to get a RAID featured mobo. Just buy a RAID free mobo and save money.

Don't buy CREATIVE SB LIVE 5.1 OEM. Both MSI KT3 Ultra2 and KT4 Ultra has very good onboard audio that is comparable with CREATIVE SB LIVE 5.1. If you need better audio, then buy Audigy. If you plan to get nForce2, then no need for audigy.

<b><font color=red> Long live piracy! </font color=red></b>

 

[docholiday]

I've posted my questions to a few other forums also and after reading all the replies I will be making 2 changes. I'll be going with the P4S8X mb instead of the MSI KT4 and with the P4 2.53 mhz instead of the xp2400+. The review at motherboards.org on the P4S8X was pretty impressive along with other reviews on this same board at other sites.
Thanks everyone for all the great advice!!