What P4 motherboard to buy? *updated* (look @ the bottom)

[Finality]

I've been giving serious thought to getting a P4 northwood in the next two days and am currently looking for a great mobo that will last a while.

I was looking at the Asus P4B266. It seems to overclock really well and is extremelty stable. I am of course open to any suggestions unless someone mentions Abit in which case I will have to borrow my neighbours shotgun.

Also I was looking around trying to find the add-on lan option know where to get the add-on also would anyone care to comment on the nic itself?

Thanks

*edit* wanted to add that I will never ever buy RDRAM I already bought two sticks of 256MB crucial before the price hike so buying more RAM is really out of the question.

 

[BD231]

Abit or Asus, cant go rong with those 2.

 

[Athlon4all]

You want a mobo that will last a long time, and I assume be future proof? There's nothing like Abit TH7II or Asus P4T-E (both S478 850 solutions). They both can run at 533fsb, and if u don't get PC1066 RDRAM and then say upgrade to a 533fsb Northwood, then you can lower the RDRAM ratio to keep the RDRAM running at PC800 speeds, and it is my personal opinion that there is no reason not to go RDRAM right now with DDR no cheaper really than RDRAM, it only makes sense to take RDRAM. Just my 2c

 

[DN]

<< You want a mobo that will last a long time, and I assume be future proof? There's nothing like Abit TH7II or Asus P4T-E (both S478 850 solutions). They both can run at 533fsb, and if u don't get PC1066 RDRAM and then say upgrade to a 533fsb Northwood, then you can lower the RDRAM ratio to keep the RDRAM running at PC800 speeds, and it is my personal opinion that there is no reason not to go RDRAM right now with DDR no cheaper really than RDRAM, it only makes sense to take RDRAM. Just my 2c >>



I will second the statement above..

 

[Radboy]

That seems to be the question. Here's a letter from a guy who says he's has both boards & prefers the P4T-E.

 

[subhuman]

Well one reason to go i845-DDR over i850 -- and this is STRANGE -- but the i845-DDR actually has better PCI performance than i850!! I wish Anandtech would test PCI Performance as a usual part of motherboard reviews. This would really help me for what I do!

 

[Saltin]

I'd say the P4t-e as well. It's super stable and Northwood ready. It's got some decent OC options as well.

 

[Strawberrymom]

if you dont mind crappy manuals the

8IRXP has everything and is feature rich

 

[Amused]

I'd say P4T-E as well. I have it, and love it. It's as stable as can be.

BTW, the P4T-E requires a BIOS update to run a Northwood using the soft switch IF it was manufactured before a certain date and therefore has the old BIOS. (the new BIOS is 1005) But it's no problem to set the jumper to manual and set the switches to the correct clock settings, update the bios, then switch the jumper back, and set the switches to auto so you can use the soft FSB.

(The above is much easier than it sounds, and only takes a few miniutes)

The manual explains how to manually set the jumper and switch in very easy to understand language. In fact, the Asus manual is one of the better hardware manuals I've ever seen.

 

[whovous]

I just ordered the Gigabyte 8-IRXP (what a great and informative name!) from Newegg last night. Onboard LAN, multiple USB 2.0 ports, dual BIOS, RAID... and the list goes on.

My major concern is that the noise from all these bells and whistles will be too much to bear!

 

[Diable]

Whovous, why would they make any noise?

Finality, I would get a P4T-E. I love mine its been 100% stable and problem free.

 

[whovous]

Diable,

It's in the nature of bells and whistles to make noise.

 

[Finality]

Just wanted to edit in the fact that I do not want an RDRAM based solution. (If you couldn't guess from my signature) Besides it is a bit more expensive and a pain to upgade. Though I am a bit confused from all the recommendations people are passing. Yes the 850 is a very good chipset solution but I have qualms about running an RDRam based solution.

whovous & Strawberrymom I am having trouble finding any reivews on the Gigabyte board

AmusedOne: some very good info especially if I decide to go way on the P4T-E route

Joe I have long given up on Abit boards so it was never really a consideration but thank you for the good intel


Other than the RD/DDR differnce is there anything really special about getting a board that is i845D or i850? I realize that there is a performance advantage from using the i850 but it seems negligible to me.

 

[christoph83]

I'm going to have to recommend the Asus P4B266 if your going DDR. I've got my 2ghz northwood at 2.46ghz stable and only 1.63 volts of voltage. If you go RDRAM the Abit TH7-Raid or Asus P4T-E are really a toss up,although ive heard the abit overclocks better.

 

[Finality]

<< I've got my 2ghz northwood at 2.46ghz stable and only 1.63 volts of voltage. >>

Have you tried pushing that Northwood further?

 

[GTaudiophile]

I have the ASUS P4B266 with USB2.0. Great, stable board that's worked from day one (my system has been running 24/7 since last Saturday with no crashes). My only gripe is that I'm waiting for a BIOS update to "un-stick" the CPU's temperature monitor from 40C. It would be worth your while to check out this P4 mobo chipset roundup from GamePC.

 

[Strawberrymom]

<< I just ordered the Gigabyte 8-IRXP (what a great and informative name!) from Newegg last night. Onboard LAN, multiple USB 2.0 ports, dual BIOS, RAID... and the list goes on.

My major concern is that the noise from all these bells and whistles will be too much to bear! >>



i just wish the intel fans where quieter

 

[Radboy]

np, Jai.

The question I'm looking for an answer to is: Can the DDR-based systems acheive the same level of stability as those built on the P4T-E?

I've heard *many* reports of ppl running their P4T-E o/c'ed without a single error. I'm talking about loaded systems, with all PCI slots filled & a crapload of prgms installed (not a bare-bones, stripped-down benchmarking rig).

Some ppl feel that SDR (DDR) is at the end of its useful life .. like supercharging a Pinto engine .. which makes it ripe for generating spurious errors. I dunno, cuz I don't have DDR RAM.

At such high clockrates, I doubt we're gonna notice a difference between, say, 2.2 and 2.5GHz. Therefore *stability* becomes a prime concern (for me, anyway).

If DDR-based systems can duplicate the stability of a board like the P4T-E & RDRAM, then the motherboard question becomes much more intereting. Until then, I'd have to go with what I know would give me the best shot at building a stable system (the P4T-E).

 

[GTaudiophile]

In terms of stability, there is probably no difference between i845-D and i850. The SiS635 chipset is good, but SiS still doesn't have the same reliable track-record as Intel. i850 is the fasted P4 chipet, but not by much as the above GamePC roundup concludes.

 

[christoph83]

Anand on the 845:

In the end, the choice is no longer simple. Both the Athlon XP 2000+ and the Pentium 4 2.2GHz processors are very close performers in most respects, the final decision truly comes down to what your preferences are.The Pentium 4 2.2 will cost a bit more although it runs significantly cooler and has much more overclocking headroom, if combined with an 845 DDR platform you'll have one of the most stable setups we've ever tested . On the other hand, the Athlon XP 2000+ and a solid KT266A board will leave you with enough cash left over to consider upgrading other parts of your system.

I've tried going higher but im running into PSU issues. I need a stronger one instead of my 300wt. The higher I put the vcore the lower the vcore will drop at full load thus causing some errors while running windows. I can post at 2.66ghz but again its just too much for the cpu. Once I pick up a new PSU 2.5ghz-2.6ghz could definatly be possible.

 

[Athlon4all]

<< Can the DDR-based systems acheive the same level of stability as those built on the P4T-E? >>

Yes. Very much so.

Well Finality, it's your choice not to buy RDRAM but really, give me one good reason not to. If u don't like abit boards, fine take P4T-e. But, if u choose to still go DDR fine, there are solid boards, and really, if u can live with not the best overclocking, then take Asus P4S333 with some PC2700 DDR. It rockz. The only flaw in it is weak overclocking compared to P4B266 but otherwise, it's the best DDR P4 board out there. Highly recommended

 

[dud2k]

yah im just curious, but what are some advantages of using rdram over ddr ram?

 

[Sharkmeat]

What is the problem with the pci when you only useing one slot for the sound,no big deal on the speed of the sound,so whats the problem!!!.Enlighten me plz.

 

[RazeOrc]

I would say ABIT but since you hate them I won't, oh but you might want to take a look at these Max Processor OCing pages which track and look at which board keeps turning up, I'm glad I managed to buy one before the new Northwoods come out, it'll make upgrading to a new processor that much sweeter...

 

[Radboy]

Testing a board in a stripped-down, bare-bones benchmarking rig is not the same as the system a home user will run, loaded with PCI cards & lots of prgms. I'm not saying the DDR-based systems can't match the stability of the P4T-E .. I just need more convincing. (The best way to tell if your clutch is slipping is to drive up a steep hill & floor it, with a lot of weight in the car .. if ya know what I'm saying...)

I've heard *lots* of ppl say that the P4T-E is rock-solid, but only a handful of DDR-based system users. So I would like to hear from more DDR-based system users .. what you have in your systems (hard/software), type of RAM, what you do, system configs, and your impressions of same (.. if Jai don't mind me jumping in).

Do DDR-based systems sppt FSB-533, like the P4T-E?