P4's are still not truly compatible with most software and hardware at the moment..most software companies have to rewrite the code a little bit for it to be optimized to work on newer processors...newer processors tend to have a different coding system.
I would hold off until you are assured your system will run without any problems or having to wait for software patches or upgrades
Opus

Hiya Deadeye,

The P4 seems seriously fast for audio processing even if Intel made several design bodges.

Here are performance numbers for Logic Audio. Audio processing is all FPU code so should be similar across almost all audio apps.

http://www.digitalnaturalsound.com/logic_dsp/perform.shtml

Motherboards, and more specifically the chipsets they are built on, are the primary cause of incompatability with audio HW.

- the 850 is not well tested, but hey, someone's got to be first

Basically, buy from a local supplier with decent tech workshop, tell them you want it for audio work with card X, install the card & DAW software immediately, test it thoroughly and swap parts until it works.

You also need some spare cash in case more expensive alternative mobo is needed, and to pay for tech work.

1000 and 4000 hz sine waves are ideal to test for digital glitching under PCI bus/ graphics/ disk load. Any missed samples will be unpleasantly audible :-)

Cheers,
Thomas

Hey Thomas...good stuff man!! Glad to have another computer geek amongst us here at RO!!
I personally would not want to become a beta tester for a motherboard and new chipset issues!! Go with what people are having the best luck and performance with...I'm building a system for a client that is an Asus CUSL2 w/1Ghz PIII..512MB RAM..20Gb and a 40GB Western Digital ATA100 drives..Matrox G45032MB AGP...pretty damn cheap too...
Opus

Intel has announced a whole series of new motherboards for the P4 that will support cheaper SDRAM and DDRRAM, while still offering the 850 for RAMBUS compatibility for those applicatrions that benefit from RAMBUS.

Once Windows XP is stable for music, the P4's superiority will become apparent, while at the same time prices will be extremely competitive.

When I've done some testing of the new MOBOs I'll post the results.

-g

Thanks guys. I guess I can wait a while longer ... hiding and watching. These days the one thing I can ALWAYS afford to do is wait.