Need help with mobo decision! PLEASE :)

[wolverinero79]

Is 865 really worth it? That's my main question...

My current motherboard, Soyo P4S Dragon Ultra, i think is dying (i blame fry's). I'm in the business for looking for a new mobo. I have a 1.7 p4, a piece of 512 MB corsair ddr 2700 ram, a PNY 4200 AGP video card and two IDE Hard drives (no RAID).

Obviously i love my ram and video card and don't want to upgrade for at least a year. But my chip i may upgrade in December. I'd like an ASUS board because i've heard about their stability and quality. So i have my choices pinned at the P4S800 and the P4P800.

Besides a whole bunch of extras that i really don't want (giga-bit LAN card, SATA), the only major difference is the chipset (P4S800 is SiS648, the P4P800 is 865PE + ICH5R). The price difference (c/o newegg) is $30. Is the 865 chipset really worth that much more? In other words, will i see a significant performance loss due to purchasing the 648 (although both mobo's will give a little boost due to my vid card currently being chained at 4x)?

Thanks in advance, all


I'm just your average habitual smiler =D

 

[shinku0]

GIGA-BYTE!!! very good mobo...went through 3 major mobos to finally come to giga-byte...once again. I tried the Intel (no no), ABIT (ok...sound problem), MSI Neo2 (seisure causign neon flashing chipset light and slow), so, yeah i recommend giga-byte over all...i once wanted the asus mobo but reliability and performance goes to giga-byte. good luck! ^_^

Lian-Li aluminum case w/ side window
400w power supply
ABIT IC7 mobo
P4 2.4cGhz (800 FSB)
512MB DDR Corasair XMS
ATI Radeon 7500
30GB WD 7200
CD-RW
DVD-ROM

 

[Take_Out]

Just a word from experience, I've found the best stability and performance in boards from the cpu makers, ie, AMD 761 and Intel 845PE, 865, etc. I would stay away from SIS boards because they may be OK, but I have experienced wierd compatibily problems with the 645 chipset.
Good Luck,
Take-Out

"We killed OUR Hitler" - attributed to Paul McCartney (If so, then well done, sir)