Tell me where to stick this memory

[Guest]

Santa was in a hurry so rushed me 3 sticks of Crucial 256 PC2100 2.5 32x64. With which I plan to build a video editing machine using my Pinnacle DV500 card. Unfortunately, this card is very hardward sensitive. My take is that the integrators just go with Intel P4/rambus. Although beta testers are working with Asus P4/845/PC2100. I could punt and do that. But that would limit me to 4 banks (512 MB), apparently enough for video editing. But Photoshop could sure use the full 768 MB. Which, leads us to other i845 MBs. But who knows if the the DV500 will ever work on them. And as long as we are fishing, that opens up VIA and SIS solutions. Which opens up an AMD solution. Where was I. Oh! The bottom line is stability. Months from now we'll all know what's totally stable. Right now I might take a chance on the most stable board that supports 6 banks. But what I'm reading almost seems anecdotal, particularly in regard to 6 banks filled. Any ideas? Or should I just cool it for a couple of months. (BTW. I talked to Crucial and although over 30 days, think I might get them to exchange it. But with prices up, I'd only get one 512 stick for my three 256 sticks. My best option?)

 

[Crashman]

Maybe the Iwill XP333-R?

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Guest]

Thanks. One nice thing about defining a problem. It helps channel your thinking. After posting my question I reviewed everything again and decided the Anantech article in Dec was the only one that flat out answered two questions. 1) The stability after filling all 3 DIMM sockets. 2) The stability of i845 versus other chipsets. The latter assertion falls under semi-empirical judgement I suppose. But since stability is my No 1 goal and they have had their paws on more MBs than most of the rest of us, I can't ignore that. So that narrows my search down to the following boards:

Aopen AX4B Pro
FIC VC15
Gigabyte GA-81RXP
MSI 845 Ultra

RAID aside, which one of these should I get?

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=1567

 

[Crashman]

Aren't some of those SDR SDRAM (PC133) boards? I know the MSI is DDR, but what about the Aopen?

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Guest]

I checked the home pages and yur right. The other 3 are DDR. But the AOpen AX4B Pro is SDRAM. (Their only DDR board is an sis645, AX45.) Then I checked the Anandtech article and the AOpen DDR board they tested was identified (incorrectly) as AX4B. Probably preproduction of a DDR version.

Which of these boards would have the most "stretch" in being upgradeable to faster P4's? The Gigabyte and the MSI can be voltage tweaked. (CPU, AGP and DRAM settings.) The AOpen only the CPU setting. But the AOpen can have the FSB speed adjusted to 248, whereas the Gigabyte and MSI can only go to 200. I don't think I will be O/C'ing, but am trying to guess which boards with BIOS upgrades are best candidates for faster P4's.

 

[Crashman]

I like MSI boards, but Gigabyte has a great reputation, so if the MSI doesn't support voltage mod but the Gigabyte does, I'd go for the Gigabyte. Otherwise, I'd go for the MSI.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?