IS7, IC7 or IC7-G

[Nod]

Hi , i have looked at some rewiev this past week to decide which motherboard to buy for my P4 2.8 (PC 800). I was going to buy ASUS P4C800 but then i read some rewive where all recomended ABIT instead. Now I would like to have some help from you.

1. I have heard that one of these three's fan sound a lot, is it true? and which one is it?

2. One of the reviwe said that the IS7 didn't have SATA-RAID or is that wrong?

3. I whant to OC my new computer (have never done that before) , which one of thise are the best for that.

4. I know that the price diffrents a lot but in the reviews that i have read the diffrent between IS7 and IC7 was minimal, is the diffrent between those and IC7-G allso that small?

Im building a sillent computer so i dont whant a motherboard that sounds , i allso whant to learn to OC and use 2*SATA drivers and a radeon 9600XP graphic card.

 

[HardWareBoss]

IS7 best bang for the buck.

 

[Crashman]

1.) Noisy fan was an issue with all those boards originally, but Abit replaced the coolers later on.
2.) The IS7 HAS SATA-RAID, provided by the ICH5R onboard controller. You might be thinking of the cheaper "IS7-E". The -E is $10 cheaper, but the IS7 has both SATA and Firewire (while the -E does not).
3.) They are all good for overclocking
4.) The IS7 is cheaper than the IC7, and has onboard LAN (the IC7 doesn't have onboard LAN). The -G has additional features, but is far more expensive.

Also, the IS7 has an empty slot location between AGP and the first PCI slot. The IC7 has that missing slot between the AGP and CPU. What this means is that while the IC7 has more space around the CPU, the IS7 offers better ventilation to your graphics card (assuming you use that slot).

The IS7 is the best deal in the industry as far as I'm concerned. If you would like to spend twice as much, get the Asus P4C800-E. Otherwise there's nothing in the middle I feel justifies the price difference.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Nod]

Thanx a lot. You recomendation is the IS7.
I have a last question.
I have read a review where they compaired the IS7-G whit IC7-MAX3. I don't know much about the tests that they did but IS7-G had allmost tha same results as the IC7-MAX3, the only diffrence was in the SiSoft Sandra 2003, where MAX3 was 6% better.
http://www.nordichardware.com/reviews/motherboard/2003/ABIT_IC7MAX3/index.php?ez=6

but when they OC the mothercards the diffrence became 25% in SiSoft Sandra and 20% in 3DMark.

http://www.nordichardware.com/reviews/motherboard/2003/ABIT_IC7MAX3/index.php?ez=10

Is that much and does the performance of the computer become 20% better?

Is there anyplace i can learn about the diffrent test they make? Like what the SiSoft Sandra 2003 is good for and what 3DMark is testing?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Crashman]

Wow, I'd never seen the Max3 compared in an overclocked state to the IS7-G. Here's a hook for you though: The Max3 cost over 2x as much! And according to all the places I've looked, the P4C800-E is a better overclocker than the Max3, and cheaper too. So I guess it depends on your budget and loyalty to Abit as to what you'll buy.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Nod]

I know that the price is twice but if the 3DMark and SiSoft Sandra points is more than 20% better does that mean that i get 20% more out of my computer?

 

[Crashman]

Sandra is completely synthetic, so it can't tell you much about how programs will run. 3D-Mark 2001 was based on actual games, so it's a good indication of performance gains for various games.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>