Mobo & Processor Upgrade Advice

[doubledoh]

Hi,

I live in the Caribbean and my P4 system seems to have conked out AGAIN. It is REALLY hot here (and I don't have air conditioning), so I'm thinking of abandoning my mobo and P4 altogether since the repair people don't really know how to fix the problem, whatever it is. They thought it was the processor fan connection, so they tried a different fan port...but the sytem stopped running again after a day. I think at this point, the board, although only 1 year old, is dead. (I run it 24 hours a day).

I'd rather invest the money in a new board and processor and be done with it than wonder if these incompetant idiots will ever figure out why the system is really overheating. I understand that AMD processors run much cooler with the speed-step technology (and are less prone to overheating)...so I'm leaning toward a new AMD processor/mobo solution.

But first...here's what I have leftover (and want to keep):

ATI 9800 Pro 128MB AGP
2 gigs (2x 1gig) Corsair XMS DDR 3200 Ram
2 WD IDE 120gig hardrives
1 IDE CD Burner
1 IDE DVD Burner
Creative Audigy 2 Platinum Soundcard (which I don't care about).

I only want to spend about $300-350 bones on a mobo and processesor.

Here's what I was thinking:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813127186
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819103537

I also need something that will keep my ATI 9800 Pro cool (maybe a blower or some sort...I need suggestions). I don't care about fan noise because I have a really big fan on me all day long anyway. I definately want a board with 5.1 or better sound ONBOARD so I can abandone my ill-supported piece of shiat Creative Sound Crap. I also would like the most advanced board as possible so the system will last me until I buy another one next year (gig network, SATA support etc). I DO play 3d games as you can prolly tell by my video card, but mostly I run tons of apps simutaneously (photoshop, dreaweaver, zend studio, bitcomet, emule, 20 web browser windows, excel, word, onenote, gaim, etc). I'm a little concerned about multitasking with the amd processor because it doesn't have hyper threading...but I'd rather have a stable and reliable running enviornment than a hot processor that kills my system. Any other suggested purchases (like additional or replacement fans etc) would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Sevoma]

The items you specified are fine, but get a good cooler. AMD has something called
hyper transport.
Why don't you get a better cooler for your p4?

 

[Him]

Stick with the P4, and get a the Zalmann 7700cu or the ASUS big fan. P4's have a nice clock throttling feature, so they almost cool themselves down when they get too hot. They realize that the temps are high, so it keeps underclocking itself until it reaches a safe operating temperature.

 

[doubledoh]

Thanks for the advice. I did consider this...however, if the solution doesn't work (which I suspect it wont since the tech guys don't know for sure if it's purely an overheating issue), then I'll be out of luck. It takes a while for stuff to get shipped to the caribbean, and I have a friend that is going to the states next week...so he'll be able to bring me back the necessary components. I'd like him to bring back something I know will work, rather than something I hope works.

 

[Him]

If heating is an issue, and you ar in a place like that, you should really go with some extreme aftermarket solution. Possible even consider water cooling.

 

[sr5]

What kind of case do u have, get a good aluminum case with some fans. AMD is not the greatest for multitasking. Get a intel processor with a fan other then stock, consider a top of the line fan and or consider water cooling.

p.s. you might want to note that high humidity year round will cause accelerated wear of the hd.