Best DDR chipset/motherboard for P4 w/ 533MHz FSB

[sdausmus]

I would figure the Intel 845G would be the most stable, but are the VIA and SiS solutions worth the money saved? Also, what would your choices for the best motherboard using each chipset?

--Sean

 

[Crashman]

The SiS 645DX performs better than any other P4 DDR chipset, and has a great record of stability and compatability. In fact all of SiS's new chipsets for the past year or so have been virtually flawless. Normally I'd go for the Intel chipset, but I simply can't find any reason not to get the better performing, cheaper SiS chipset.

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

 

[sdausmus]

I've heard good things about the SiS chipset. What's a good motherboard that uses that one?

I am particularly interested in FUGGER, AMD_Man, Fatburger, and maybe Raystonn's opinions, as they've all been bouncing these subjects back and forth for a good while, now.

--S.

 

[pr497]

for a sis 645dx board...the asus P4S533 seems to be a popular one (i have the P4S333 btw...which is the original 645 chip)...

<b>L <font color=red>A</font color=red> e <font color=red>T</font color=red> a <font color=red>I</font color=red> K</b>

 

[Crashman]

The Asus P4S533 is a great board, it's also the most popular. I don't know if a better performing board has been released since, but I do know the P4S533 has a solid reputation.

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

 

[FUGGER]

Best DDR is the IT7, second best is the BD7-II

I dislike the SIS chipsets for overclocking, stock they are fine.

I would not consider a VIA chipset

I845G is onboard video, if you plan on using a AGP video card avoid the G version.

You are limited to what your mind can perceive.

 

[sdausmus]

Now, I'd be putting a P4 1.6A or 1.8A in and running at at 533MHz FSB. I also hoped to use PC2700 DDR RAM. The 845E chipset supposedly doesn't support PC2700 DDR RAM, correct?

 

[Vince0000]

Thanks for the good topic sdausmus... I'm trying to make my final descision on this also...

I've come to this conclusion... the Asus P4S533 with a Northwood "B" 533 Mhz Core (FSB) with DDR Pc2700 Ram... only thing that is left bothering me is I would like this board to have USB 2.0 support, but I don't really use anything like external Scanners or External USB drives that would use it so I think that will be my choice.

Maybe Asus will release another 645DX chipset board with all the P4S533 features and USB 2.0 support in the next 60 day's.. (smile, I hope so!)

My other choice is the Abit IT7 Board with a Northwood "B" 533 FSB chip and DDR2700 Ram and overclock it even though it doesn't officially support pc2700 DDR Ram... (This board does not have the old 9 pin comm port so I think I have to pass on it, as I need that port for a programmer...)

Lastly, Correct me if I'm wrong but a Northwood "B" 533 FSB chip with Pc2700 DDR ram will outperform a I850 Chipset with Rambus PC800... but NOT with the Rambus PC1066... and with PC1066 not readily available for me and probley little more expensive I'm left with the pc2700 solution... maybe in 60 day's pc1066 will be a good buy, it's not on my price list yet though.

L8r,
Vince

 

[Black_Cat]

I have the P4S533. I am running a 1.6a at 588MHz FSB and it is completely stable. I attempted 600MHz but was unsuccessful. I'm using Corsair XMS PC3200 RAM. Perhaps with the Samsung you may have better luck. I don't believe the 845E supports PC2700 RAM but the 845G does. With the P4S533 you don't get USB 2.0 but you get built in LAN which is nice so you have a free PCI slot.

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

 

[Guest]

olala it is too expensive all that stuff.
i suggest you a Celeron 1.1A for 58$, a DFI AD70-SC 62.5$ & 256MB DDR-SDRAM PC2100 generic memory 52.5$. for less than 200$ you have a complet configuration.



sign linguage - SSL/HAL.

 

[Black_Cat]

Lastly, Correct me if I'm wrong but a Northwood "B" 533 FSB chip with Pc2700 DDR ram will outperform a I850 Chipset with Rambus PC800... but NOT with the Rambus PC1066

In most benchmarks I believe that is true.

maybe in 60 day's pc1066 will be a good buy, it's not on my price list yet though.

RAM prices have been steadily going up. It might be a better idea to buy now.

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

 

[Oni]

olala it is too expensive all that stuff.
i suggest you a Celeron 1.1A for 58$, a DFI AD70-SC 62.5$ & 256MB DDR-SDRAM PC2100 generic memory 52.5$. for less than 200$ you have a complet configuration.

If he went that route what kind of upgrade path would he have? A Pentium 4 would be considerably more performance too.

Lastly, Correct me if I'm wrong but a Northwood "B" 533 FSB chip with Pc2700 DDR ram will outperform a I850 Chipset with Rambus PC800...

I believe PC800 rambus bandwidth is around 3100 theoretical (forgot the units), and PC2700 DDR is well....2700 Theoretical. You need PC3200 (DDR400) to beat PC800 Rambus.

I845G is onboard video, if you plan on using a AGP video card avoid the G version.

The 845G chipset has a multiplier in it that isn't part of the 845E chipset. 845G allows a 4:5 FSB:MEM ratio allowing for PC2700 DDR333 ram. The Abit BG7 (has 845G chipset) is proving to be a very nice overclocker, and the extra price for the onboard video is negligable, not to mention onboard video is a good backup in event of a video card going bad. I also agree that the SiS chipset is good for running when not overclocked. 845E or 845G win out if you plan to overclock.
As far as Via is concerned, I *would* consider the P4X400 chipset. The P4X333 that didn't get very popular was a powerful chipset, almost beating PC800 performance with simply PC2700 ram. From the name I'm guessing the P4X400 will support PC3200 (DDR400) and might even be able to give PC1066 rambus a run for its money. Via's chipsets are finally becoming half decent stability wise. My dads AT7 has an uptime of 3 weeks, 6 days, and 20 something hours (it rolls over 1 month uptime early this morning). My IT7 is typically only able to reach 1 week uptimes before something goes awry. Its just to bad Via doesn't have a liscense with intel, so a good motherboard with P4X400 might be hard to come by.

Gosh I'm such a nerd sometimes, but then again arn't we all.

 

[pr497]

I believe PC800 rambus bandwidth is around 3100 theoretical (forgot the units), and PC2700 DDR is well....2700 Theoretical. You need PC3200 (DDR400) to beat PC800 Rambus.

actually...the sis 645dx chipset with pc2700 ram is about on par with the 850 and PC800 ram...putting pc3200 ram with the sis 645dx will outperform the 850 w/pc800....and will be slightly less than 850E w/ pc1066...

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[Guest]

As far as Via is concerned, I *would* consider the P4X400 chipset. The P4X333 that didn't get very popular was a powerful chipset, almost beating PC800 performance with simply PC2700 ram. From the name I'm guessing the P4X400 will support PC3200 (DDR400) and might even be able to give PC1066 rambus a run for its money. Via's chipsets are finally becoming half decent stability wise. My dads AT7 has an uptime of 3 weeks, 6 days, and 20 something hours (it rolls over 1 month uptime early this morning). My IT7 is typically only able to reach 1 week uptimes before something goes awry. Its just to bad Via doesn't have a liscense with intel, so a good motherboard with P4X400 might be hard to come by.

GRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAARrrrrrrrrrr!
i put that right here on a thread since 5 days!


sign linguage - SSL/HAL.

 

[Oni]

Sorry, I didn't catch that thread, I havn't been keeping up on this forums, theres lots of hostility. HardOCP forums community is a lot more mellow and understanding.

Gosh I'm such a nerd sometimes, but then again arn't we all.

 

[Guest]

i have observed & tried other forums like HardOCP, AnandTech, SharklyExtreme & others... the level of knowledge, the aid there are inferior. this forum is alot better when ppl take the effort to post here. i think from now it's more related to vacation. moreover ppl here are sympathetic despite of several short arguing quarrels. the "other" section from where we can talk about everything is another plus.


sign linguage - SSL/HAL.

 

[AMD_Man]

I've heard good things about the SiS chipset. What's a good motherboard that uses that one?

I am particularly interested in FUGGER, AMD_Man, Fatburger, and maybe Raystonn's opinions, as they've all been bouncing these subjects back and forth for a good while, now.

I know people have been discussing RAM and motherboards for the P4 for a while now. Back when the P4 was just launched in 2000, your options were extremely limited but now, you probably have a wider array of options than you do with AMD mobo selection. You have a wide number of decent chipsets. However, there is no one best combo that I would recommend to everyone. I myself have tried the Abit TH7II-RAID and the Abit IT7 and both seem to be fabulous motherboards. At the moment PC1066 is the fastest RAM but it carries a heavy premium price that you'll have to pay. DDR333 and PC800 roughly match each other in performance depending on the app. Good quality PC800 still costs a bit more than good quality DDR333. Most motherboards with Intel chipsets have the ability to lock the PCI/AGP bus so you can overclock them higher. The SiS 645DX is a great chipset but it lacks the ability to lock the PCI/AGP bus above 133MHz. However, the SiS 645DX is the fastest DDR chipset because it can be paired with DDR400 without overclocking. DDR400 is slightly faster than PC800 and slightly slower than PC1066. The only board that has the SiS 645DX chipset and allows DDR400 that I know of is the P4S533. A great reasonably priced combo running at stock speed would be an Asus P4S533 with Samsung, KingMax or Corsair PC3200 (DDR400) RAM. As for stability, I wouldn't think too much about it. As long as you avoid VIA on an Intel platform, you're fine.

That takes me to another point:

Some people prefer to have an all Intel system; that is, an Intel processor with an Intel motherboard or at least an Intel based motherboard. If that's the case, and you still can't see yourself spending extra for PC800 or even more for PC1066, get an IT7 (if you don't care about legacy support; the IT7 is all USB and Firewire), or BD7II (if you still need legacy support, such as a parallel port, serial ports, PS/2 ports). However, if you have loads of cash and want the best of the best, I'd wait for the P4T533 and RIMM4200 RAM. RIMM4200 is a new standard of RDRAM. PC1066 is just as fast as RIMM4200 but it has to be installed in pairs. If you just want to go with PC1066 then get the P4T533-C. I wouldn't recommend the Gigabyte GA-8IHXP because the price is simply too inflated at the moment. Sure it has extra features but it's priced $100US higher than the other boards for no good reason, in my opinon. I'm sure they'll drop the price a bit in a while.

Well, I hope this helps.

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

 

[sdausmus]

Aren't the IT7 and BD7II boards based on the 845E chipset, and thus unable to support PC2700 RAM? If I'm going to get something with the 533MHz FSB, I want to use something other than PC2100 RAM.

--S.

 

[AMD_Man]

Yes, you can run your RAM at 354MHz when the FSB is at 533MHz.

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

 

[AMD_Man]

Yes, you can run your RAM at 354MHz when the FSB is at 533MHz.

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

 

[chuck232]

Well, I'm getting a P4 1.8A, 512MB of (hopefully real) Samsung PC2700 RAM, and a BD7II-RAID. These are the possibilities I'm considering right now:

P4 1.8A @ 150FSB - 2.7GHz w/ DDR400

P4 1.8A @ 150FSB - 2.7GHz w/ DDR300

P4 1.8A @ 133FSB - 2.4GHz w/ DDR354

Or something in between,

P4 1.8A @ 140FSB - 2.52GHz w/ DDR373

So, although the i845E doesn't *support* PC2700, that should disuade you from getting it. As you can see, if you've got good enough RAM, you can run it at PC3200 or higher if you wanted to.

Falling down stairs saves time

 

[pekstein]

i bought a P4S533 with 1.6a and pc2700 samsung ram from newegg about 2 weeks ago. everything is working fine and dandy. it overclocks great and i highly recommend it. i can run the processor stable at 2.32, with the ram at cl2.5 and a 4:6 ratio. i get excellent benchmarks with that setup on the sisoftware sandra 2002. anyone know how can i get this beast to 2.4?? i havent messed with the voltages yet...or any of those memory timings....
pekstein

p.s. id really like to get it to 2.4 because my friend who owns a abit th7_II or whatever its called (it has 850 chipset with pc800 rdram), a p4 1.6a, and some cheap kingston rdram has a huge ego and thinks his computer can beat mine at benchmarks. well anyway, we are having a lan party in a week or so and i want to kick his *ss so bad. so if you can help me id appreciate it. (sorry this is a little off topic)

<i> Garth, marriage is punishment for shoplifting in some countries. </i>

 

[pr497]

your memory could be holding you back...try setting the ratio to 4:5, 4:3 or 1:1 and try getting your 1.6 higher...

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[chuck232]

Set the ratio at 4:5, then raise the FSB. If that doesn't work, raise the voltage ... hmm it's at 1.5v right now right? If it is, I'd raise it to 1.525V first and see how much farther you can go.

Falling down stairs saves time

 

[Black_Cat]

Hey pek, do you have to hit reset everytime you reboot? If I set the cpu/mem frequency to anything other than auto I have to hit reset or it won't POST. Can I do something to prevent this? It's rather annoying.

anyone know how can i get this beast to 2.4??

Usually 1.55V should do the trick. You may have to burn in your RAM, however.

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