A64 3000+ K8T800 or P4 630 i925X?

[tluxon]

I figured a newer case would be better for airflow at the very least.

The PC is going to be using the IS7-E onboard audio for now since we're starting out with those little Dell speakers that attach to the bottom of their LCD monitors (we may put the SB Live! to use if/when we upgrade to a powered 2.1 or more setup). For starters, only 1 HD will be put in but I'd anticipate up to 3 HDs in the future. It'll also have at least a DVD-ROM and DVD-RW drive and of course the 9800Pro and a wireless NIC. How many watts will I need to power that?

I love the Antec Sonata (380W of quality power) I have for my computer, so I'm wondering if I should just get another one or if the new 450W Sonata II (<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155</A>) would be better? The other two I'm thinking of are the 400W Antec Solution SLK3800B (says it's a rackmount case (?) - <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129163" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129163</A>) and the 400W Antec Performance TX640B (<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129157" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129157</A>). Anything I should be looking out for?

Thanks!

 

[tluxon]

I wrote: "<i>I'm thinking I could replace my 2.8c with the 3.0c I'm getting and auction off the 2.8c and the IS7-E for probably less than a $30 or $40 hit...</i>"

Well, my memory slipped up momentarily, because I took another look and it turns out my current CPU is already a 3.0C Northwood, so I'm going to be pretty happy having two of them. I just hope the IS7-E motherboard doesn't provide too much of a liability in having only 2 memory slots and not having firewire or a RAID controller. If that becomes an issue, I'll probably just sell it and look for another P4P800-E Deluxe.

I'm figuring that by the time the kids need a lot of power for games, there'll be a new generation of processors and platforms anyway, In the meantime, this'll be a pretty capable machine for a while.

I appreciate the help - Thanks!

Tim