which one of the above two motherboards would you go with ?
GigaByte GA-8IEXP - $145
I845E chipset
RAID
Intel Lan
Creative Audio
3x IEEE
DDR 200/266
3:4 ratio ? 4:5 ratio ?
Abit BD7II-RAID - $135
I845E chipset
RAID
Realtek Lan
AC 97 audio
NO IEEE
DDR 200/266 possible 333+
3:4 ratio - confirmed 4:5 ratio - nope
EDIT 1:
Dropped the Epox board because people are having problems overclocking it. Seems like no 12v power connector on the board is the problem for that. It is a good board if you are not going to overclock but expect problems with the board under the following two conditions:
1) FSB over 133 Mhz
2) VCore over 1.7 v
EDIT 2:
Dropped the Asus board because like the P4B266, it doesnt supports 3:4 memory ratio over 133 FSB. Otherwise it seems like a good solid board......still its a bit expensive as compared to others.
EDIT 3:
Abit BD7II-Raid looks like a good board. But it only comes with 4 USB ports whereas 6 are supported by the intel chipset. Wonder why Abit went that way. Otherwise the board seems fine.
EDIT 4:
I went ahead and ordered the GA-8IEXP since it has all the features. I still dont know if it supports 3:4 memory ratio like the RXP. it does says AUTO/1.0/1.2/2.0 ratio though. I am hoping that AUTO is 2.66 but will let you all know about that. Will also post whether this board suffers from the rebooting issue like the RXP.
I am going with Original Samsung PC2700 along with Intel 1.6A processor. I got the latest samsung memory (week 18 (1st week of may), 2002). Also the part number is M368L6423DTL (i read that this is Samsung DDR 400). Is it like Samsung is undermarking their memory now ? WOW.......seems hot......but will let you know if it actually overclocks to DDR 400 standards......wait till friday.
PS: i have done research on the boards for the past 2 weeks and have based my opinions on that. Some of you may disagree with me. Please provide me with more information so that i can provide a neutral review for you guys.
RAMBUS vs DDR battle:
To me, i would recommend DDR now since Intel will not be supporting Rambus a year from now. People are correct that Rambus will defeat DDR and they are absolutely correct. But note that PC1066 is not officially supported though.
Also, DDR 400 comes quite close to PC800 and in some cases, it is better than PC800.
In November 2002, DDR II (dual channel) will be out and that will definately meet PC1066 standards. DDR II is in testing phase right now and will be available in Nov along with new chipsets. Interesting year ahead of us with some new technologies emerging soon.
thanks
GigaByte GA-8IEXP - $145
I845E chipset
RAID
Intel Lan
Creative Audio
3x IEEE
DDR 200/266
3:4 ratio ? 4:5 ratio ?
Abit BD7II-RAID - $135
I845E chipset
RAID
Realtek Lan
AC 97 audio
NO IEEE
DDR 200/266 possible 333+
3:4 ratio - confirmed 4:5 ratio - nope
EDIT 1:
Dropped the Epox board because people are having problems overclocking it. Seems like no 12v power connector on the board is the problem for that. It is a good board if you are not going to overclock but expect problems with the board under the following two conditions:
1) FSB over 133 Mhz
2) VCore over 1.7 v
EDIT 2:
Dropped the Asus board because like the P4B266, it doesnt supports 3:4 memory ratio over 133 FSB. Otherwise it seems like a good solid board......still its a bit expensive as compared to others.
EDIT 3:
Abit BD7II-Raid looks like a good board. But it only comes with 4 USB ports whereas 6 are supported by the intel chipset. Wonder why Abit went that way. Otherwise the board seems fine.
EDIT 4:
I went ahead and ordered the GA-8IEXP since it has all the features. I still dont know if it supports 3:4 memory ratio like the RXP. it does says AUTO/1.0/1.2/2.0 ratio though. I am hoping that AUTO is 2.66 but will let you all know about that. Will also post whether this board suffers from the rebooting issue like the RXP.
I am going with Original Samsung PC2700 along with Intel 1.6A processor. I got the latest samsung memory (week 18 (1st week of may), 2002). Also the part number is M368L6423DTL (i read that this is Samsung DDR 400). Is it like Samsung is undermarking their memory now ? WOW.......seems hot......but will let you know if it actually overclocks to DDR 400 standards......wait till friday.
PS: i have done research on the boards for the past 2 weeks and have based my opinions on that. Some of you may disagree with me. Please provide me with more information so that i can provide a neutral review for you guys.
RAMBUS vs DDR battle:
To me, i would recommend DDR now since Intel will not be supporting Rambus a year from now. People are correct that Rambus will defeat DDR and they are absolutely correct. But note that PC1066 is not officially supported though.
Also, DDR 400 comes quite close to PC800 and in some cases, it is better than PC800.
In November 2002, DDR II (dual channel) will be out and that will definately meet PC1066 standards. DDR II is in testing phase right now and will be available in Nov along with new chipsets. Interesting year ahead of us with some new technologies emerging soon.
thanks