Motherboards... I just can't decide what to do...

[Vince0000]

Here's my thoughts...

I want to go with a Intel "Northwood" Chip on a Asus MotherBoard preferably... Possibly a Abit IT7 but stearing more towards Asus...

Do I get a Asus P4S533 645DX Chipset Motherboard and put a 2.2 Gig 533 FSB Northwood chip with DDR PC2700 Ram and overclock at a later date? (Should be Excellent Performance, I'm planing on buying in September so the 533 FSB 2.2 chip should come down in price by then...)

Or do I go with a Asus 845E / or 845G Chipset and put a 1.8A or 2.0A Northwood Chip with DDR PC2100 Ram and overclock it sooner?

I would prefer DDR pc2700 ram over Rambus, or should I just get a I850 Chipset with Rambus with a 1.8A or 2.0A and be done with it?

Lastly... maybe I do like AMD_Man and put a Northwood "B" chip on the Abit IT7 board with DDR 2700 Ram...?

Hmmm... to many choices...

Thanks in advance for your help guys...

L8R,
Vince

 

[Black_Cat]

This is a difficult decision because any way you slice it, you'll have a great platform. If you're looking to save a couple of bucks and still get great performance, the P4S533 is nice. In some benchmarks the 645DX chipsets beat the 845s. With Samsung PC2700 RAM you'll be able to overclock that sucker pretty high with good stability. I wouldn't guarantee results, but it'll probably go beyond 2.6GHz with a 1.8. What a 2.2 will do, I don't know, but it'll be fun to play around with. It has built in LAN too.



To start press any key. Where's the "any" key? --Homer Simpson.

 

[chuck232]

Well, get PC2700 DDR RAM for sure. PC2100 will severely limit your overclocking. For example to get max bandwidth, do this:

P4 1.8A
IT7

Overclock to 150MHz FSB, which would be 2.7GHz. Then set the CPU:RAM Ratio to 3:4, giving you DDR400. That <b>may</b> not be possible for the RAM, but it's pretty likely.

Or:

P4 2.0A
IT7/BD7II(BD7II to save some money )

Then overclock to at least 133MHz FSB, which would give you a 2.66B P4 and then run the CPU:RAM ratio at 3:4 again, giving you ~DDR355. This is a much more likely solution. You can substitute the ASUS SiS645DX mobo for the motherboard in any of those cases, but I prefer the ABIT mobos. :tongue:

Falling down stairs saves time

 

[Guest]

i have heard, from some reviews, you can reach 175Mhz FSB with the 1.6A but 155Mhz with the 1.8A (obviously with some good DDR memory). is it generally true or only a rumor?

sign linguage - SSL/HAL.

 

[Crashman]

I would definately recommend AGAINST the IT7. It only has 4 PCI slots, and only 3 of them are usefull. Of course, I can't use it at all, because I have a digital camera that plugs into a serial port (of all things)!

<font color=blue>At least half of all problems are caused by an insufficient power supply!</font color=blue>

 

[Vince0000]

The PCI slots concerned me also, but If the Lan is Onboard, after you put in a SoundCard and you don't need a modem what else do you need the slots for?

With all the USB ports on it and being USB 2.0 I think it could be the right choice... I kinda need the Comm 1 Port for a programmer I use though... so I might have to choose the Asus...

Vince

 

[Crashman]

I use TWO lan cards, a modem (for emergencies), a SCSI card, a sound card, and a TV card. I'm running an external modem right now though.

<font color=blue>At least half of all problems are caused by an insufficient power supply!</font color=blue>

 

[chuck232]

Not many people have that much hardware man... You're obviously an exception.

Falling down stairs saves time

 

[Crashman]

Yes, I'm exceptional , but I don't think it's a bad idea to be prepared for the future.

<font color=blue>At least half of all problems are caused by an insufficient power supply!</font color=blue>

 

[AMD_Man]

Lastly... maybe I do like AMD_Man and put a Northwood "B" chip on the Abit IT7 board with DDR 2700 Ram...?

All I can say is that the P4 2.26B is an excellent overclocker. It should do 2.83GHz or 2.93GHz under the stock cooler and over 3GHz under better cooling.

<b><i>"A penny saved is a penny earned!"</i></b>