Serious P4 Motherboard selection help!

[Spydc]

I've been reading up on how fantastic the P4-1.6A is. I also hear it is virtually guaranteed to run at least at 133fsb. Now the hard part is choosing a motherboard and I'm extremely torn. I want one that will definitely (100%) do an overlock of AT LEAST 133FSB for 2.13GHz. I've been reading about the Asus P4B266 and Asus P4S333...among others. Cost is not really an issue. I have the FONG KAI FK320 (300Watts AMD Certified) Full Tower Case ( http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=7&manufactory=1432&DEPA=1 )
Can someone give me a great motherboard/ram combination? Has anyone looked at the EPOX line of motherboards. For the intel 845 chipset, many believe the Asus P4B266 takes the cake, but what about the Epox 4bda2+? Includes onboard raid and great overclocking features. With the sis645, there is the Asus P4S333 and the Epox 4SDA+. Again, I read great reviews and high overclockability of the Epox 4SDA+. Onboard raid is a great feature which I would like in addition to extreme overclockability. What do you guys think? I don't know. Help me. I'm going crazy trying to decide! Thank you!

 

[Benedikt]

Buy an ASUS P4B266.
Extremely stable, excellent quality, sure to reach 133 MHz FSB. Also available with LAN, Sound and USB 2.0

Hope this helps you...

B. W.

 

[alkaprim]

Since cost is not an issue for you , why dont go for RDRAM i850 system?
Asus P4T-E , just dont buy online , go to BM store look at it , to see if it has ICS or PNY chips.
Buy only ICS version , with newer mem modules you're almost guaranteed to hit 533fsb and 1066RDRAM (DDR can't touch that).

 

[Spydc]

Thanks for the replies. The Asus P4T-E does sound interesting but again it is a risk since generally rambus doesn't overclock well. Looks like I may get the P4B266. Still not really sure.

 

[Quetzalboat]

Hi Friends,

I also a little bit confuse on selecting a MoBo for Intel P4
I've read Anandtech Review about P4 MoBos, but no word about which is [if not the best] the most preferable after some test had done [benchmarking, features, etc].
And besides the DDRAM 266, I also mention one or two MoBo with DDRAM 333.
According to that review : DDRAM266 uses VIA chipsets and DDRAM 333 uses SIS chipsets.
Is that Soltek a good one? [Though Anandtech didn't say but it's 'whispered'?]
And how about I Will P4X266 or SIS 645 333 [I forgot the real numbers]
Is VIA chipsets still "incompatible" with NVidia Boards [i.e. GeForce3 series] ?
I did not buy one till today, since I still look for some advices from more expert persons
Thank you for your concern.

At this time I still use my IWill VD133 Pro Raid with PIII 733EB
BTW I agree with Spydc, that Rambus is not very "overclockable" compared to SDRAM or DDRAM.

 

[Spydc]

Guys, what do you think of this oc combo over at pcnut.com http://www.pcnut.com/cool/combo1.htm
The price is a bit high at $409 but it is guaranteed at 2.2GHz.

Also, does anyone know any other websites like pcnut that pretest overclocked cpus?

 

[Shippy]

I woulndn't pay any extra just to have a 1.6a cpu pretested to only 2.2ghz. I could see if he was guarenteeing 2.5ghz or something rare. If you get some good ram you will get at least 2.13ghz. Worse comes to worse you could always sell it and try again. But if it makes you feel better, go with the pretested cpu.