Couple questions to bring me up to date

This is a discussion about Couple questions to bring me up to date in the Windows Hardware category; I'm ready to build a new system. I have money now and I'm looking to build one kick butt machine. Since the last time I build a machine (maybe 2 years ago), quite a bit has changed. I have a couple basic question to ask, which should bring me up to date.

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I'm ready to build a new system. I have money now and I'm looking to build one kick butt machine. Since the last time I build a machine (maybe 2 years ago), quite a bit has changed. I have a couple basic question to ask, which should bring me up to date.
 
DDR RAM , I know what it is and how it works... my question is... could I buy sticks of DDR Ram and throw them into a good ole 440BX PC133 mainboard? Or do you need a "DDR" motherboard to support DDR RAM. **I'm not buying a 440BX, I'm just using it as an example**.
 
Are there any dual Pentium 4 boards out there yet?
 
What is considered the best Pentium 4 board? The Asus P4T looks real sweet, but it uses RDRAM... a major setback for me.
 
IDE hard drives are up to ATA/100 now, have they gotten faster than 7200 RPM? I see they are up to about 100gig now, for the same price as I paid for a 4 gig.. 4 years ago. Crazy.
 
Bus speed: I see all these Pentum 4 boards boasting 400+ mhz bus speeds. I understand that it's really just a 100 mhz speed thrown in there 4 times.. but most of these boards that I have seen require RDRAM. Are there ANY Pentium 4 boards out there that support DDR RAM? It would seem stupid to put a P4 1.8 GHZ chip on a board with PC133 SDRAM.
 
What's the best floppy drive you can buy?
 
What's the lowdown on SCSI and IDE RAID devices? I'm thinking of setting up a RAID 5 or RAID 0 array on one of my web servers, or in my new box. I've worked with them at work, but have never had to actually set one up, so I've never had to look into buying one. When looking for this hardware, what should I be concerned with?
 
Form factors: how much have they changed (if at all). Are all these new Pentium 4 boards out there still ATX? Could I throw them into my current case (ATX Mid Tower Enlight)?
 
I'm not sold on Pentium 4. I am very open to AMD, but have never worked with anything AMD before. Is different RAM needed for an AMD board than is needed for a Pentium board? What other differences are there? Also, I notice AMD costs less than Intel... is there a REASON for this other than their trying to gain more of a market share? Can I RELY on an AMD chip? If so, I just may go with a dual AMD configuration.
 
That's prolly enough questions for now. Just some things that have come up in my head as I've looked around at the latest technology.
 
Thanx in advance!

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Heh, it's ok, Bladey and I know each other. It's just harmless banter. Half the time we just do it to wind each other up

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ye i was just kidding.....
good readin though.....i think bursar is winning so far...
 

Quote:Good, I'll be waiting. Oh, and don't forget those ones where the P3 beats the P4 as well  
very nice touch

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OP
... it's a nice day for a... WHITE WEDDINGGGG!!

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True about AMD getting better about the heat, although I'd still take Intel over AMD for now, as Intel has been implementing it for a few years now.