Official Toms 845E mobo review discussion.

[lhgpoobaa]

not too bad. good indepth article.
few things i find quaint/amusing.

1. ata100 southbridge but ata133 onboard raid lol
2. the IT7 doesnt hold the record for ATA devices on board... the abit board for the amd cpu got there some time ago now.
3. nice good MCH coolers allround...something i like to see.
4. what is it with that CNR connector? does anyone use it?

comments folks?

Proud owner of the <b>Beige Beast</b> :lol:

 

[Guest]

1. ATA133 RAID: it's an add-on chipset - standard one - from Promise or HighPoint - nothing to do with the Intel chipset, <b>IMO</b>.

<i> I like THG Interactive, Inc.</i>

 

[pocopanda]

Its too bad they didn't mention why anyone should choose any of these boards over boards with the 845G chipset.

Some dealers I went to said the 845G is the newer chipset.

 

[AMD_Man]

The IT7 should've won hands down. It has all the features of the Gigabyte board plus much more and it seems faster overall.

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

 

[Quetzacoatl]

*shrugs* Geh, Tom has been biased to Gigasuck for some time now

"When there's a will, there's a way."

 

[Guest]

yes the i845g mbs are coming out. i plan to buy one of those because i haven't anymore graphics card, sound card nor NIC card. it's really a cheaper solution along with a 1.8A processor. moreover i am wondering how the overclocking will react without pci cards (regarding the video is i845g chipset integrated & the sound chipset is motherboard integrated). moreover from THG review this upcoming chipset seems to be a bit faster than the i845e because it supports 333Mhz DDR memory. i have made some mb researchs & for now the ABIT BG7, the Asus P4B533-V & the MSI MS-6580 Max are selling. the flat is they haven't RAID support. i didn't find any i845g mb with this support. i didn't read yet any review about, i am wondering about their overclocking facility & efficiency, their stability & which one would be the right choice.


<i> I like THG Interactive, Inc.</i>

 

[twig]

I'm a bit confused.... in the features table (http://www17.tomshardware.com/mainboard/02q3/020708/i845e-17.html) it lists that the Asus P4B533-E does not support ECC ram. However, according to the Asus website, it does indicate that it will accept either ECC or non-ECC ram. Was an error made in the features table? Help.

-twig

 

[lhgpoobaa]

probably... but why are you worring???
ECC ram is only needed for critical systems and servers. plus its slower than standard ram.

i dont use ECC, yet i dont get ANY problems at all with my ram!


Proud owner of the <b>Beige Beast</b> :lol:

 

[AMD_Man]

The i845E also supports DDR333 (or rather DDR354) with the 3:4 mem ratio.

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

 

[orbz]

<i>

AMD_Man said:

The i845E also supports DDR333 (or rather DDR354) with the 3:4 mem ratio.

</i>
Yup, but the i845G has the correct mem ratio to support DDR333.

<i>

AMD_Man said:

The IT7 should've won hands down. It has all the features of the Gigabyte board plus much more and it seems faster overall.

Quetzacoatl said:

*shrugs* Geh, Tom has been biased to Gigasuck for some time now

</i>It's funny how they give 3 editor's choice and than another Editor's choice to gigabyte.


<i><font color=blue>"The editor's choice goes to Abit, for its IT7, to Asus, for its P4B-533E, and to Gigabyte, for its 8IEXP.</font color=blue> All three boards are just bursting with features such as FireWire, ATA/133 IDE-RAID (with Abit even offering it in four channels), surround sound, network controllers and a complete set of cables. Furthermore, all three offer digital ports, making hi-fi components a snap to hook up.

Abit is the first manufacturer to strip away every single classic legacy component, from the PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports to the COM and LPT interfaces. Let's be honest - this step was long overdue! With the current levels of 533 MHz FSB and processor clock speeds of well over 2 GHz, those stone-age components had been tripping up systems every chance they could get. Admittedly, USB keyboards are a tad more expensive than PS/2 models, but these obsolete standards are already in the process of being eliminated. But those who may still need a COM port in the future can still purchase an I/O PCI card for basically a song.

<font color=blue>Our Editor's Choice award goes to Gigabyte for its 8IEXP.</font color=blue> This board, which includes extensive features, costs around $130, while a similar configuration with the Asus P4B-533E will cost you around $190. Both candidates offer numerous features such as FireWire, ATA/133 IDE-RAID, Surround sound, a network controller and a full set of cables. In addition, they provide digital-out for connecting hi-fi components. Intel makes a significant step forward: for just about $125, it offers an overall successful board with a solid foundation, where stability is the main focus.

Last, but not least, Gigabyte has topped the others by offering its 8IEXP a touch cheaper and furnishing it with DualBIOS to boot."<i>

:frown: :redface: :lol: :tongue: - What do you want to feel today?

 

[Guest]

(update)

i have found a motherboard with all the above plus a HighPoint raid controller. the <A HREF="http://www.epox.com/html/english/products/motherboard/ep-4g4a+.htm" target="_new">EPoX EP-4G4A+</A> motherboard.
it's IMO a full features board integrating overclocking as well.

here the specs:

Socket 478 - Intel Pentium® 4
Intel 845G AGPset.
Winbond Super Multi I/O Controller.
USB v2.0.
IDE Port/UDMA100 x 2 (Up to 4 Devices)
HighPoint HPT372 ATA-133 RAID x 2 (Up to 4 Devices)
3x DDR-DIMM.
6 PCI, 1 AGP, 1 CNR.
AGP supports 4x mode 1.5v. (3.3v AGP card not supported)
AC97 sound
Compliant with AC97 2.2 specification
6 channel slot selectable DAC output for multi-channel applications
Supports digital SPDIF
Supports 2 general purpose I/O pins
Integrated Graphics Controller
Integrated Network Controller.
10/100Mb fast Ethernet controller using Realtek RTL8100B Lan chipset by RJ-45 connector.

Extended Functions for overclocking purpose
Supports Hardware Monitoring Function by W83627HF-AW
Supports CPU Vcore and Clock Settings via BIOS
Supports AGP Voltage Setting via BIOS
Supports Memory Voltage Setting via BIOS
Supports Magic Health and easy Boot
Supports Asynchronous Transfer Mode between PCI & FSB

<i> I like THG Interactive, Inc.</i>

 

[pr497]

...it lists that the Asus P4B533-E does not support ECC ram. However, according to the Asus website, it does indicate that it will accept either ECC or non-ECC ram. Was an error made in the features table? Help.

the asus P4B533 will support ECC ram...i can confirm this because i e-mailed asus and asked them if it did (and it does)....<b>BUT</b>...the P4B533 <b>DOES NOT</b> support Registered ram....i know this because the 845 chipset does not support that ram (i read that on asus' website) and i tried using ECC Registered pc2100 ram on the P4B533 as well...it didnt work (the board gave me a memory error)...

<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>

 

[RISC_Free]

Three different points here, but only the first is responding to lhgoobaa.

To lhgoobaa: The main reason I have never tried a CNR is I have not seen them for sale. Have you actually ever seen one for sale?

Part of the problem is Intel, which insists that CNR makers sell only through distributors and not through their web sites. Until CNRs start being carried by retailers, they will remain pretty much an Integrator Only item and a waste of board space for most of us.



2) The Abit board has no serial port and the author suggests using a USB modem. I wonder from who? The only USB modems I have seen were based on the Ambient chips. Intel bought Ambient and discontinued the chips.



3) Intel may have now have some decent boards but I'm not considering them. I want to read the manuals before selecting a board, and Intel leaves a lot of information in the integrator notes on the web site instead of their manuals. Intel has secured the manuals and integrator notes to "program members", so I can either mis-represent myself as a system integrator to get e temp login (they will surely figure out I have done this and cancel the login at some point), or just not consider using their boards.

 

[Guest]

btw i have a question. i don't know exactly how this i845g video stuff works.. when you use a i845g motherboard for OC'ing purpose, would it have a bottleneck during an FSB increase as from 133 up to round 150-180Mhz? would it be better (or necessary) to use an add-on AGP4X graphics card?


sign linguage - SSL/HAL.

 

[orbz]

Not too sure but I don't think it affects the overclockability of the chipset (depends on motherboard). If you were talking about overclocking and using the onboard video then why bother. The onboard video sucks (only for casual beginner user and low end) and it uses system memory so I would say it is necessary for a video card.

:frown: :redface: :lol: :tongue: - What do you want to feel today?

 

[Guest]

mmfff i would like to void spending a money adding for a 150$ graphics card (adding to the motherboard & the cpu) for OC'ing goal. what can i do?!? crossing my fingers?


sign linguage - SSL/HAL.

 

[orbz]

A gf2mx card is even better then the onboard video and I don't think that will cost you $150.

:frown: :redface: :lol: :tongue: - What do you want to feel today?

 

[Guest]

yes but to permit a fine overclocking you need a faster graphics card except you intend to lock the AGP bus which obviously affects & decreases the OCing performances. moreover the latest motherboards support only AGP4X/1.5v graphics cards.

i've plugged my home blower to my case ... dunno what happen ... that works?!?