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So, I've gone and done it again, I built myself a whole new system. Did I really need it? Many say "No, you have too many as it is!" But for me, the truth is that I'm the type of guy that needs the best, if I know it is possible to do something faster, I want to be able to do it. So now that I've explained all that, let's get into the details of the machine...

First off, in deciding what to put into this box I read lots, and lots, of message board forums on all the different topics and aspects of building a new computer. I hadn't built a machine in over a year, so I was a little out of the loop of what the top products of the time were, as well as what was actually going to give me a good bang for my buck. I was also interested in overclocking my machine, which I have never done before, so I needed to read up on that as well. Two main sites that I referred to was Ars Technica and Overclockers.com, I recommend visiting both of them to learn more about computers.

The Core System

The first big decision in building a computer is deciding what processor to use in the machine, an AMD or an Intel based one. In the past, my machines had all been built on AMD based processors, however that was back when they were similar in performance with AMD being significantly cheaper. Today that price difference is much more insignificant, and therefore I believe Intel has the edge again. That is why I decided on using an Intel Pentium 4 2.4CGhz processor in my machine. I chose this particular processor, instead of a faster one, simply because this processor runs on an 800 Mhz FSB (Front Side Bus) and is the best processor for overclocking in the fact that you can push it's FSB further than any other faster P4 processor. So I saved myself a few hundred dollars by purchasing a cheaper, slower processor that I can simply overclock to achieve speeds of 3.0Ghz or more.

Another important aspect when dealing with the processor is determining how to cool the processor, especially if you plan on overclocking it. Since I was planning on overclocking, I made sure to look for some of the best methods available to cool the processor. The traditional method is to use a heat sink and fan that is placed directly on top of the processor, an alternative, that is more of an extreme method of cooling, is to use a water cooling system. Since I do not plan on doing any extreme overclocking, I decided that I do not need to attempt a water cooling system, that is why I finally decided on the Thermalright SP-94 Heatpipe. Let me tell you that this thing is huge, but has produced some amazing results in keeping my processor very cool.

Now that I had decided on an Intel Pentium based machine, it was time to decide what motherboard I was going to use in my computer. I personally have been a big fan of ASUS motherboards, in fact every computer I've ever built has contained an ASUS motherboard regardless of the processor I was going to use. After much research, I finally decided on using the ASUS P4C800-E motherboard simply because it is overloaded with features. First off, the motherboard supports an 800 Mhz FSB, a required feature due to the bus speed of the processor. Additionally, this particular motherboard has been reviewed to be one of the best motherboards to overclock. This board has an advanced BIOS that allows for jumperless overclocking, automatic overclocking and temperature monitoring. It also supports Dual-Channel DDR400 RAM or PC3200 RAM. The dual-channel effectively doubles the bandwidth of the RAM, drastically decreasing bottlenecks. Another feature that I have yet to use, but want to make use of as soon as possible, is the RAID configurations available for both ATA133 and Serial ATA drives due to the onboard raid controllers. The top of the line graphics cards today now support AGP 8x that this motherboard also supports. Finally, some unnecessary features, but still useful are the onboard 6-channel audio card and the gigabit LAN card, allowing me to build a machine without needing separate cards for these at the moment.

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