Abit vs. ASUS vs. Gigabyte

[Slava]

I need a mobo that supports 400/533/800 FSB and gigabit LAN. I am currently torn between <A HREF="http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_GA-8PENXP (Rev 2.0).htm#" target="_new">Gigabyte/GA-8PENXP</A>, <A HREF="http://usa.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=P4C800-E Deluxe&langs=09" target="_new">ASUS/P4C800-E-Deluxe</A> and <A HREF="http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/techspec.php?categories=1&model=130" target="_new">ABIT/IC7-MAX3</A>.

All three seem to have been receiving very good reviews. All three seem to have pretty much the same features. All three have Award BIOS. ASUS and Abit cost about $20 less than Gigabyte. Abit has an advanced on-board cooling system as well as built-in Secure-IDE chip that encrypts your hard drive each time you turn the PC off so that without proper authentication the PC can’t boot.

Each board has very nice features. Abit is by far the most impressive. My major concern, however, is reliability.

Which one should I go for and most importantly <font color=red>why</font color=red>?

Any opinions are appreciated.


<font color=green>"The creative powers of English morphology are pathetic compared to what we find in other languages." (Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct)</font color=green>

 

[blah]

hehe, so next time you will have to stick a new drive into Abit, you are out of luck? lol..

PS: look at EP-4PCA3+

..this is very useful and helpful place for information...

 

[markgun]

I definitely wouldn't get the ASUS board because of the voltage issues Crashman has pointed out. I haven't heard much about that Gigabyte board, so it's probably mediocre.

Abit makes extremely reliable motherboards; however, their fans are not (at least from my experience). They're still one of my favorite manufacturers, though.

I would seriously consider blah's recommendation on the EP-4PCA3+. It appears to be one of the most inexpensive, fully featured and least problematic i875P motherboards (IMO).

But if you want to stick with one of the "top-tier" manufacturers, I would choose Abit. They have very lax RMA policies and offer frequent BIOS updates.

<b>Qui habet aures audiendi audiat</b>

 

[Crashman]

I agree with everything mark said. I've been recommending the Abit IS7 to nearly everyone because it's unnoticably slower than the "fastest" boards, has fewer problems with memory stability (caused by RAM sold with overly agressive latency in SPD), offers firewire and ICH5R SATA RAID, has the AGP slot in the top position with the extra space between it and PCI 1 perfect for cooling the video card, and cost around $90. But if you have to have an 875 board for some odd reason, Epox has very few complaints.

<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>

 

[Slava]

Thanks to all of you guys. This is very helpful. As I said earlier I was leaning towards getting Abit. Now with your info I will take a closer look at EP-4PCA3+ and Abit IS7.

<font color=green>"The creative powers of English morphology are pathetic compared to what we find in other languages." (Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct)</font color=green>

 

[Slava]

I just looked at Abit IS7 and EP-4PCA3+. Very nice boards. Both of them. I like EP-4PCA3+ better but it is also $40 more expensive ($130 vs $90). I think I <font color=green>may</font color=green> be going with EPoX but now there are two issues:

1. Looks like these boards do not support Hyper-Threading while Abit IC7-MAX3 does.

2. If I get IC7-MAX3 I can go with the hottest RAM to complement an HT CPU; but if I get either IS7 or EP-4PCA3+ what RAM would be the best to get?

I am thinking "Kingston 1024MB Kit ( 2x512MB ) <font color=red>HyperX</font color=red> PC4000 DDR500Mhz CL3, MODEL: KHX4000K2/1G" for IC7-MAX3.

Would this RAM go well with EP-4PCA3+ or Abit IS7 or I should just settle for the cheaper PC-3200? I suppose there is no point getting DDR500 if the board does not support Hyper-Threading. Is there?

I mean, will I see any tangible benefit with HyperX DDR500? I don't think I will be overclocking the FSB to 1000Mhz. I wonder also, why would they make DDR 500 when the fastest FSB available today is 800MHz? <A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20030812/index.html" target="_new">This</A> looks like they hint that this memory is made specifically for hardcore overclockers.

<font color=green>"The creative powers of English morphology are pathetic compared to what we find in other languages." (Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct)</font color=green> <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Slava on 06/04/04 02:27 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Crashman]

1.) All 865/875 boards support Hyper-Threading as long as the CPU you buy does (all 800 bus P4's, plus the 3.06).

2.) All these boards support the same RAM. The Max3 appears to be slightly more agressive, meaning RAM that's barely stable on the IS7 might be unstable on the IC7, but I'll assume you're buying top quality RAM and are willing to raise vDIMM if needed to make it stable.

The memeory you mentioned will work with all 3 boards.

DDR500 is handy if you want to overclock. It has nothing to do with Hyper-Threading, which all 3 boards support anyway.

Some PC3200 isn't stable in dual channel configuration, especially with boards like the IC7 that treat it agressively. For people who don't want to mess with BIOS in order to stabilize their system, I usually recommend PC3500 or Crucial PC3200 (uses more conservative timings). For overclockers I usually recommend PC3700 or PC4000.

<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>

 

[blah]

lol, go to "www.google.com" and type "i875p" into the search box and be happy with what ouy'll find about HT on that chipset, hehehehe, it is not even funny.. "i875p does not have HT".. <A HREF="http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/875P/" target="_new">lol</A>

..this is very useful and helpful place for information...

 

[Slava]

!!! You've been here long enough, you should be ablw to anwser all this crap yourself!

LOL :lol: You are right, of course, but it does not hurt to double-check. I always seek a second opinion. And I often ask questions not so much because I don’t know the answer but because I may sometimes be less than 100% sure that I am right. Like with the post I made about how I broke my PC. As I suspected, by the way, it did turn out to be a dead motherboard. I am screwed now cuz I will have to reinstall Windows.

DDR500 is handy if you want to overclock. It has nothing to do with Hyper-Threading

As far as HT and DDR500 are concerned, of course these two things are not directly related, but DDR500 is faster than anything else out there and HT CPUs are faster then those that don't support it. Therefore, I was wondering since I simply don't know the numbers exactly whether it makes sense to go with DDR500 on a mobo/CPU without HT.

"i875p does not have HT".. lol

Hehe. Well, shame on you, newegg.com, then. They typically list HT support in mobo/CPU specs but for the boards in question the HT support is not mentioned. I am busy right now and you are right about the chipset. I will get detailed specs on the mobos later and email newegg with a suggestion to make corrections on their site.

<font color=green>"The creative powers of English morphology are pathetic compared to what we find in other languages." (Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct)</font color=green>

 

[HardWareBoss]

What Crash said. Plus great board at a great price.

 

[Crashman]

Chipsets don't "have" Hyper Threading, the "support" Hyper Threading. All 865/875 boards support Hyper Threading, which is available on 800 bus P4's as well as the P4 3.06.

<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>