[Johnson]

Hey guys what's up, just signed up here and it looks great.

I need help not really with putting together a system, but more about the motherboard and hard drive.

I want to get the Asus - P4P800 Deluxe mobo and the Seagate 120GB / 7200 / 8MB / ATA-100 EIDE Hard Drive.

Now, since the Asus mobo says "serial ATA" - will that Seagate HD work with it? Sorry, I'm a noob with some of this stuff - what's the difference between ATA and SATA?

Thanks for the help!

[mRk]

Serial ATA uses a different cable to connect the mainboard to the hard drive. Most motherboards with SATA also comes with the regular ATA (most that I know of). Check if it has the regular ATA slot via pictures. I would get a SATA drive if I had a mainboard with the capabilities.

[cheerios]

neh the SATA is kinda a waste of money, didnt you see the reviews and benchmarks for it? Maximum PC did those reviews, the difference is only by a few tens if i can remember... a few tens out of a few ten thousands...

dont buy SATA unless u are willing to burn some cash

[cheerios]

by the way, about that motherboard, the 4P4800 is really cool and reliable... my friend has it and so fair I have no complaints about it...

it is really stable, one of the most stable ive seen and it can remain stable even after being overclocked by up to 30%!

[DAVID_15]

Originally posted by cheerios
neh the SATA is kinda a waste of money, didnt you see the reviews and benchmarks for it? Maximum PC did those reviews, the difference is only by a few tens if i can remember... a few tens out of a few ten thousands...

dont buy SATA unless u are willing to burn some cash

its only $5 (aus) difference and its doesnt have a big ribbon cable attached to it. but u can buy a rounded cable then thats money goin to ''burn'' even the sata cable is thiner than the rounded cable

[Johnson]

Hmm thanks for the replies! Ok well looks like I got some more things to consider....

Also, for that mobo, what sort of RAM would you guys recommend? It shows as 400, 533, and 800mhz FSB - and it says:
Memory Supported
PC3200/2700/2100 non-ECC DDR SDRAM

I'm trying to cut a few corners for now, until I can afford something much better, because I want a good solid system, but it doesn't have to be SUPER fast. Hey, as long as I have a solid P4 system I'm happy.

What would guys recommend for the RAM? And for the CPU, is there a huge difference between 533 and 800mhz??

Thanks!

[Monster00]

eh.... if your on a budget, then go and buy 2700. Its not to slow and not to fast. But if u have the money get 3200. As for the FSB. 533 and 800... i would say if your gonna be running a lot of programs at once and stuff, then get the 800. If not then get the 533. I have the 533 and its fine. But i mean u may be running different things.

[Johnson]

I'm gonna go with the 3200, I found a good price from a local shop.

Thanks for the replies.

[w105]

Great choice with the mobo.

Buy SATA only if you have the cash.