hardware compatibility list and XP

[kmogg]

Is a presence on Microsoft's Hardware Compatibility List for XP a priority consideration in the purchase of a Motherboard?
I am looking for a mobo for a pentium 2.4 that is stable and good quality. But I would like certain bells and whistles.. Firewire, RAID ( preferably Highpoint) USB 2.0 LAN and at least moderate overclockability.
I liked the look of the Abit IT7 Max 2.
Yet I could only find 5 Abits on the list and they were older boards.
So is the HCL a valid screener for reliability or is it just a marketing ploy for microsoft?
Some manufacturers seem much better represented than others. Will some of the newer boards that I am looking at now be added on at a later time because of a time delay for testing?

Any insight would be appreciated.

Asus seems to be better represented.. I think the P4PE is on there. Just had a preerence not to get the Promise RAID they bundle in.

Kevin Mogg

 

[snotling]

The HCL is first made with existing hardware at the time the OS is out. that explains the older boards.

about the newer boards, many manufacturers don't care much about being on the compatibility list and mention on their own sites what drivers to use with what OS... and if it works.

I think one has to pay MS to be on the list and the "testing" process on MS's side takes a while so appearance on the list would come when all the boards are sold anyway or when a new revision is out.

I check the list only for modems and SCSI cards or other "special" or server components.

 

[kmogg]

I have been browsing the certification list a bit more. Some manufacturers seem to get some of their new boards on it right away. For example Asus and MSI. Asus has their relatively new 845PE chip based board, the P4PE. Yet Abit does not have any of their IT7 or IT7 max2 boards and they have been out longer. Seems like Abit is just choosing to blow off MS.
So should the certification be factored in at all? Everything else being equal, it might be nice to have a greater degree of assurance. However I liked the Abits or Gigabytes cuz they have Highpoint RAID rather than Promise which I have read lets you adjust the stripe size and works a bit better.
A guy in another forum I visit was taking a strong stand about the certification and it got me thinking about it.

Kevin

 

[snotling]

In the end it's your call. Every big company offers some kind of certification both for hardware and software. IBM, MS, INTEL, AMD, ORACLE, SUN...

not all of them ceritfy the same products and in some case it's in the same context. It's only a matter of who you believe in and if your purchase has a mission critical role. But you must know that "Certified" does not mean "bug free"

 

[kmogg]

Althought the motherboard is certainly system critical, I get the sense that the HCL listing is not that high of a consideration for even a high quality motherboard selection.I have been scanning reviews and user comments and it seems that the recent ABits and Gigabytes are not any less bug free than recent Asus or MSI. I would be willing to pay a slight premium for more documented reliability but not sure the HCL would offer any more real assurance.

Kevin

 

[snotling]

I think you're a wise man...