Is there much performance difference between i845D & i845E based boards?

[Prototype]

I've read a few places (including Anandtech) that say there's not much difference.
Can't find any i845G boards in my area, so I thought I'd grab an i845E.

So...I was wondering if I should just grab an i845D board, like an Abit BD7-RAID, to save some cash if there's not much difference between that, and say the BD7II-RAID .

 

[Prototype]

*bumpity bump*

 

[chainbolt]

The 845E chipset supports the new 1533Mhz P4, the 845D not. I defnitely would go for the BD7-II. It seems to be the best oc board for the P4 "B" types currently.

 

[Mark0999]

Unless you are planning on running a 533Mhz P4 there is very little difference between the 2 chipsets in terms of performance. That said, if you are just buying new now there is very little reason to buy an 845D board unless you want to save some money.

If you plan on overclocking, then get an 845E board.

 

[VSEKH]

I would go with the 845D motherboard if you are not going to be running or upgrading to a P4 that is running at 533 Mhz bus speed. This will save you a lot of money. Definitely consider the 845e or 845G motherboards if you are going to be upgrading to a P4 CPU running at 533 Mhz bus.

 

[oldfart]

The 845D/E use the same Northbridge. Only the southbridge was changed adding stuff like USD 2.0. The 845D and E can both run 533+ MHz FSB just fine. The only difference between the two is 533 is "official" on the 845E, and "unofficial" on the 845D. There should be no performance diff between the two chipsets. The things to look for in and 845D/E board are

support for 3:4 mem ratio above 133 FSB
Good Vcore adjustment range
PCI/AGP lock.

That being said, some mobo makers did tweak the boards a bit from the D to the E version. The BD7 abd BD7II are both good boards. The BD7 had some cold boot issues early on that I think was solved with a BIOS update.

 

[Prototype]

Thank guys!

I think I'm gonna go with an i845D board right now...because, well I'm broke.

Then I'll just sell it to a friend in a few months when I have the cash for a newer mobo. hehe.

 

[oldfart]

A good 845D is the EPOX 4BDA or 4BDA2+ (RAID). Has all the overclocking goodies.

 

[easystreet]

The Holy Grail seems to be DDR400.............BG7 can do it.



It's a new world. We have concentrated for so long on overclocking prcessors. Now, we can overclock memory as well. The game got more complex..............but my P1.6 at DDR400 seems a screamer. As I remember, XP installed in about 15 minutes.

 

[oldfart]

A lot of boards can do it.