Help with Motherboard Selection (for Pentium IV)

[Guest]

I received a 1.7 GHz Pentium IV (processor only!) as a gift for Christmas (Yaay!). It's 423 pin and I'm trying to find the best Motherboard for my needs. I may see if I can trade it in for a 478 pin so I can use the SDRAM I already have (I'm trying to spend as little money as possible right now).

Anyway, I'm looking for advice on motherboards for either processor type with the following:

RAID
LAN on-board (not a high priority)
Sound or video on-board not necessary
Probably will not be overclocking
Will be used mainly for 3D gaming and graphics

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Bradman



<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Bradman on 01/07/02 11:26 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[pr497]

<b>DO NOT BUY P4 W/ SDRAM!!!</b>
its a horrible idea...
SDRAM reduces the performance of the P4 to the equalvilant of a 1ghz PIII (i heard somewhere).
anyways...if you are going to trade you cpu in for a 478...get it with a DDR ram or RD ram motherboard.
im going to upgrade my motherboard to asus' P4S333 board.
that board uses the sis645 chipset and ddr ram (PC2100 and PC2700).
it doesnt have RAID but it does have onboard sound and optional LAN.
anyways...here's a <A HREF="http://www.gamepc.com/reviews/hardware_review.asp?review=p4s333&page=1&mscssid=&tp=" target="_new">review</A> on that board.

<A HREF="http://gamershq.madonion.com/compare2k1.shtml?2096468" target="_new">P4 + SDRAM</A> = <b>BAD</b>

 

[kinney]

Politely thank them, then return it for a Athlon XP processor. Athlon XP 1600+ will not only match a 1.6 P4 but also match that 1.7Ghz chip, it might even match the next level of P4s in some benchmarks, the 1.8Ghz.
My 1700+ not only matches 1.7Ghz P4s but also 1.8Ghz chips and I think it will hold its own even against a 1.9 in some tests. Pretty impressive for a "lowly" 1.46Ghz (1700+) processor and a fraction of the price, then pocket the dividend.

"dude your getting a dell", is that kid trying to say he wants to stick his 'dell' in you?

 

[o1die]

If you have rdram (rambus) in your system, I would keep it for awhile unless you have the money to upgrade to the northwood. A 1.7 p4 should be plenty fast for your needs, and if you sell it, I would sell the whole system and start over rather than part it out to upgrade to socket 478. The sheer cost of changing to the northwood isn't worth it yet. Prices are high, and if you must upgrade, I would go for an ati radeon 8500 or one of the cheaper version of Geforce 3 200 video card (oem, both about $175-200 with shipping). You'll get more bang for your buck by doing this instead of changing to socket 478.