If you answer, thank-you in advance. I appreciate you lending your expertise to my cause...

I am looking at a new M/B, ram, and video.
I want the Asus P4T533, but I also want an Asus GF4 V8440.
But the M/B says 1.5v AGP only. What's up with that?
And what's with the whole Rambus/SDram business?
My question(s) is(are):
What is my best combo bang for the buck (I'm a P4 & Asus guy)...
-A P4T533? P4B533? P4S533?
-Rambus or SDram.
-GF4 Ti4400 or ATI.
I am upgrading from a PII 400 and am trying to get the most for my money without trying to be the fastest on the block,
but not having to worry about obsolesence for a while.

Happy Holidays.
Jeff

I would go for the 1.8a, the gigabyte 8sg667 ($69 shipped- refurbished at newegg), and the ati 9500 pro if you can find it (about $199). Hardcore cooling has some winbond 512 meg pc3200 case 2 for $149 (pricewatch).

Hard to say w/o a budget.

<font color=red>The solution may be obvious, but I can't see it for the smoke coming off my processor.</font color=red>

I have a have an Asus P4T-E w/ a P4 2.0A GHz processor and 512 MB 800 MHz RDRAM. When I built it it was the fastest processor I could get. I use 3D Modeling software on this system so I went with the RDRAM. The RDRAM is still the fastest but is being phased out in favor of the DDR RAM. Now you can get 1066 MHz RDRAM although it is more expensive than DDR RAM. You are probably get a better bang for the buck with the DDR RAM. There are several threads bouncing around that discuss this. Look for them.

<font color=red>The solution may be obvious, but I can't see it for the smoke coming off my processor.</font color=red>

Good! You're not anti-Asus/Intel, so I can talk to you. Whew! I am a firm believer in Asus & Intel stuff. Owned many, all became obsolete, but never failed. Ever.
Question - How do I find out what GF4 video cards are going to be compatabile with the P4T533? I can't seem to see that little detail in the different Asus GF4 cards.

Thanks for your time.
Jeff

I'd go with the inexpensive P4S533.
1.5v is the AGP voltage spec for 4x cards.
Rambus is faster, so the P4T533-C would be a little bit faster. And the P4T533 without the -C a bit faster yet, using the rare 32-bit RDRAM.
Rambus is faster, DDR SDRAM is cheaper
ATI 9500 Pro is at a similar speed with better features and lower price than the Ti4400.

These recomondations are based on value, not extreme performance, you could go with the P4T533 and Radeon 9700 Pro for BEST performance. Since you said "most for my money" I think the recomendation stands.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

Thanks for the advice, I'll take it.
Happy Holidays!
Jeff