Mobo & CPU recommendations

[tdg]

I need some recommendations for a P4 setup for a guy who wants me to build him a new machine. I switched to AMD long ago so I'm out of the loop on which chipsets are considered the best. He wont be using WinXP so Hyperthreading could be taken or leaven. The thing that is the most important is stability & reliability, it'll be a business machine and won't be used for gaming nor overclocked. Also, how are the stock Intel heatsinks with the retail procs nowadays?

 

[BillLeeLee]

Get an Intel board for topnotch Intel stability. Just know that it will not have any overclocking options (change FSB, and probably no voltage settings). Pair it up with RAM that's on Intel's approved list (Crucial PC3200 is best here if you're going with a Pentium 4 'C' revision, since you're not gonna OC).

At this point in time, a good CPU is a Pentium 4 2.6C (meaning it has an 800 Mhz FSB and Hyperthreading support). It's currently $166 at Newegg.

Motherboards to go with are: Intel D865PERL. There's also the top of the line Intel board, the Bonanza (D875PBZLK), that features the 875 chipset (The 865PERL has the 865 chipset).

So my recommendation is the 2.6C/D865PERL. Together these two would probably be around $260.

The P4 heatsinks that come bundled today are very good for bundled HSF. Using stock cooling, most people have taken their 2.4/2.6C chips to 3 Ghz and way beyond.

 

[MemoryInAGarden]

Use one of the intel boards, I don't think the 875P would be worth the premium simply because he won't notice the PAT over a fast hard drive system anyway. But if you can wait till February, the Prescott should be out and the 2.8C should be around where the 2.6 is now