Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology
3.0GHz w/800MHz FSB

current options: 2.80, 3, 3.20, 3.40 GHz with Hyper-Threading Technology (800MHz)

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology
2.80GHz w/800MHz FSB ^[1]

i875P
("Canterwood")

Note: The i875P has a faster memory transfer rate than the i865G

800 Mhz system bus;
Dual-Channel DDR (Dual DDR)
SDRAM 400 (PC-3200);
The 875P has ECC Support.

i875P
("Canterwood")

ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe
- Intel 875P Motherboard


Chipset Intel® 875P / ICH5R

Memory Type PC-3200 DDR SDRAM

Memory Capacity 4GB

System Bus 800Mhz

AGP Slot 8x

PCI Slots 5

USB Ports 8 USB 2.0

IDE Controller ATA-100

Serial ATA-150 Ports 4

Serial ATA-150 / RAID Yes

Ethernet Intel CSA Gigabit

Fire Wire Yes

i865(PE, G, or P?)

Intel® 865 Chipset

800Mhz system bus;

250-W Power Supply

(note: for higher end graphics card, a minimum power supply of 300 Watts is recommended)

512MB DDR SDRAM - 400MHz
PC-3200

Additional needed:

512MB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz (PC3200 2x256M)

Get 512 more from Dell for
+ $130

Get 512 more from Tiger Direct
+$130

Corsair Value Select Dual Channel 1024MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz
Memory (2 x 512MB) (w/ shipping)
+$245

120GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

120GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

120GB
Hard Drive, 7200 RPM, 8MB Cache

4.7GB (DVD)
700MB (CD)

10 GB free on disk needed for DVD creation

Single Drive: 16X DVD-ROM Drive

Additonal Need: DVD+/- RW

Dell offers a 8x DVD+RW Drive for + $140
(with Sonic RecordNow!, Sonic MyDVD and Intervideo WinDVD or Cyberlink PowerDVD)

The Sony DRU530A DVD Burner / 8x4x12x DVD+RW / 4x2x12x DVD-RW / 40x24x40x CD-RW / Dual Format is $150
The 4x model is only $70

Single Drive:

DVD+/-RW Black (also supports DVD-Rom, CD-RW media)

GeForce FX 5200 with TV-Out and DVI
(mine: GeFORCE FX 5200 AGP 128MB DDR)
128MB DDR
NVIDIA

The 5200 value is $50; the 5200 Ultra value is $130

Dell upgrade: 9800 Pro for $140 more (total: 190)
New 128MB DDR ATI RADEON™
w/ TV-Out and DVI [add $140]

GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
128MB DDR
NVIDIA
8x AGP w/DVI & S-Video
(AGP 4x/8x; 128 MB 650 MHz DDR; 325 MHz)
( +$80 to value)

AWare Upgrade: 5900 SE for $63 more

Desired Updgrade:

-GeForce 5700 w /128: $160

- NVIDIA GeForce™ FX 5600 Ultra 128MB 8x AGP
(note: I don't see the 5600 for sale anywhere, only the 5900. nVidia's currently only offering: 5200, 5300, 5700, 5900)

- ATI RADEON 9800 XT 256MB DDR
[Dell add $400]

- ATI All In Wonder 9800 Pro, 128MB DDR (RETAIL BOX): $350

- GeForce FX 5900 w/128MB : $250 to $300
or
- Radeon 9800 w/ 128 (not Pro, not XT) = $240
9800SE : $160

- GeForce FX5900 Ultra w/256MB $590

- GeForce FX 5950 Ultra 256MB 8x AGP
w/DVI & S-Video [+470]

(the GAINWARD FX 5900XT POWER PACK ULTRA/1100XT W/ DVI/TV-OUT /DUAL MONITOR SUPPORT 128MB is $200 retail)

The performance difference between NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900, ATI RADEON 9800 and their faster analogues (Ultra and Pro) appeared not very high.
The pricing on NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra and ATI RADEON 9800 Pro exceeds that on the non-Ultra and non-Pro versions much more than by the 10-15% performance improvement.
The NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 and ATI RADEON 9800 are the most interesting, because if overclocked, they are mostly faster than their more expensive fellows.

"Like all NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900/5900 Ultra based graphics cards, the solution from Gainward requires additional power supply.."

Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 (D) Card with Dolby® Digital 5.1 capability

(already have a Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy 2 ZS)

updgrade to
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro - 7.1
[+$220 retail]
(the Platinum Pro includes an external I/O hub and remote)
The "Platinum" is $180 (-$40); has Internal I/O Drive ( front panel connectivity), no remote

Cost with upgrades:
sound card +220, 1.5 memory +245, new case($50), cooler, new power($80 to $120) = $1,635

get 1gHz mem with Dell XPS: (compare to $1400 for 8300): $1660 (+$230)
with 17" flat panel: $1,750 + $100 Shipping + tax = $2000
add sound card = $2000 sell monitor: $1,850

how much to upgrade power? ($100)

okay choice is (leave out sound card)
8300 (w/ 3GHz, 1 gig ram, and 9800 graph card): $1300
add new power, fans, it's $1400
add shipping and tax, it's $1,550
add 17" monitor it's $1,650
add 1 gig ram it's $1,870
upgrade to 3.2 Ghz, it's $1,970

XPS (w/3.2 Ghz, 2 gig ram, and 9800 graph card): $1,660 (+360)
add shipping and tax, it's $1,910
add 17" monitor it's $2000 (+ $350 / +$130)

for $300 more you get the Aurora
For $100 less you get the XPS

AlienWare Aurora
(w/3.2 Ghz, 1 gig ram, and 5900 SE (= Radeaon 9600) graph card): $1,972
(w/ $119 shipping; $1,853 before shipping and tax)
add 1 gig mem: $2,250
add 17" monitor: + 164 (
$2,214

Area 51
(w/3.2 Ghz, 1 gig ram, and 5900 SE graph card): 1,912
add shipping; $2032
(only $60 more, but I don't get the graphics card I want)

System chip set
Intel 875P

DMA channels
eight

Interrupt levels
15

BIOS chip
4 Mb

NIC
integrated PCI Network Interface

System clock
533- or 800-MHz data rate

AGP 8X

Drives

Externally accessible
two 3.5-inch bays
two 5.25-inch bays (CD-ROM drives)


Internally accessible
two bays for 1-inch–high hard drives

Features:
Clear Side Panels with laser cut active cooling

Upfront Firewire (1394) port

2 Upfront USB ports
Upfront speaker connections

Upfront microphone connection
Blue interior lighting

Digital audio (optical) in & outs
Only 9.5"(H) x 8.3"(W) x 12"(D)
Weighs only 14 pounds!
PRICE: $1695

$2,432

Intel® i850 Chipset

(400MHz system bus; Dual RDRAM capability)

865G

800 Mhz system bus; Dual-Channel DDR SDRAM 400; 8x AGP