Instead of the i875 you should get an i865PE w/PAT enabled board like the Asus P4P800 Deluxe. It is every bit as fast as an i875 board at a much lower cost.
Oh, and for the people suggesting that you install Win2K. That is fine and dandy and all....Win2k doesn't suppor Hyperthreading technology(virtual 2nd CPU). Windows XP will fly on that thing. I know because I have something similar to what you are getting ready to build. The only difference is I have a 2.4c ghz...but I have that puppy overclocked to 3.2ghz as we speak. When you get such a fast rig the last thing you have to worry about is the performance of your OS because when your machine is so fast it really doesn't matter(it won't be sluggish no matter what you throw on there). Windows XP will actually be faster and more efficient on that rig than Win2K simply because of the hyperthreading support(that virtual 2nd CPU really decreases the load on your main CPU no matter what you are running...wether it be a game, an encoding app, etc.).
The Asus P4P800 Deluxe is a great board. Quite frankly, I think you would be better off getting a 2.4c and overclocking it instead of paying the higher price for the 2.8 or 3ghz. They all use the same core with the same stepping and they are all capable of
[email protected]+.
Not only do I have my CPU overclocked that high but my PCI buses, AGP bus and my Ram are still running in spec(thanks to the fact that it allows you to overclock only the components you choose). It never gets hotter than 45c under full load(for several hours). It is very stable and it is really fast. These are benchies of when I had it running @ 3.12ghz.
Anyways, look at this shit.
As you can see, there is virtually no difference in performance between the i865PE w/PAT enabled and the i875. PAT is not supposed to be enabled on the i865 because if it was on all i865 boards there would be no market for the i875 because that is the only difference between the i875 and i865. The nice folks at Asus were kind enough to mod thier BIOS to allow PAT on thier i865 boards making them virtually identicle to the i875 boards.
Also, if you don't notice....that 2.4c ghz P4 is easily overclockable to contend with the highest end P4. The difference is the 2.4c is only $170 compared to that 3.2c ghz that it is contending with is $600+. Not bad, eh?
As you can see, the CPU is the only thing overclocked. The rest of the buses and stuff are running in spec. The CPU can handle the overclock because the D1 stepping core of the P4c is designed to run at 3ghz+. They only reduce the multiplier in the 2.4c so they can sell it as a budget chip......but it is no different than the high end P4c's meaning that it is designed to where it can run at such high speeds with no error, no added heat, no stability costs, etc. It runs perfectly normal@ such a high speed. That is the reason why when you go to sites like
http://www.newegg.com the P4 2.4c Ghz is thier top selling CPU. Most overclockers know what the 2.4 can really do.
You should really go the 2.4c+i865PE route. You will save hundreds of $$$ for the same performance and reliability. Lets not forget to mention that it creams anything that AMD has to offer too.
(EDIT)I see you are wanting this to be your dream gaming machine. Let me just say...with my rig, I have a GeForce FX 5900 Ultra in it and I couldn't be happier with my gaming performance. I even stuck a GeForce 4 Ti4200 in it for shits and giggles and it ran games pretty well on that not top of the line video card(in 1024x768 -1280x1024 depending on the game in high detail) because the system is so fast. If you pair your system up with a GeForce FX 5900/5900 Ultra or a Radeon 9700 Pro/Radeon 9800 Pro you are pretty much garanteed that you will not need an upgrade for a long time.
[ September 11, 2003: Message edited by: Viper ]
