Know something about GA-8ST-L? Please help!!

[Mauricio]

Hi to everybody and thanks for come in and read my message.

I´m going to update my computer and i want to buy a MOBO, ram, a hard drive and a graphic card.
I´m a graphic designer and i want to focus the computer to that. I´m from Spain, so right now i don´t have access to the latest models of mobos and everything, so i will tell you what can i get and i hope that you could recommend me wich should i get

i´m looking for a mobo that features
fsb 533 mhz
ata 133
ddr 333 (better than rambus right?)
AGP 4X

i would prefer that the mobo won´t have anything else because i´m going to use some components from my old computer, like an adaptec duoconnect, and my soundblaster live value (Should the create conflicts?)

the mobos that i have seen with this features are the gigabyte GA-8ST-L, the Asus P4S533 and the MSI 645E MAX2-U
My priority is the STABILITY. Any recommendations, personal experiences... which one should i get? All these mobos use the chipset 645DX; Is this a good election according to the rest of the components or should i go for mobos with another chipset?

These are the rest of the components

pIV 2,4 533mhz 512 kb L2

Geforce 4 Ti 4200 (128 or 64MB? i heard that 64 is faster)

Maxtor ide 7200 rpm ATA 133

512 MB DDR 333

Thank you for your time. all your opinions would be appreciated.
Please try to fit your answers to this components, remember my availability problem

Thanks!


Dust

 

[snotling]

the 645 chipset is a stable one,

ddr333 is only better than rambus on a performance/price basis. it will also offer you more flexibility to upgrade as you don't need to match them in pairs and DDR will still be available in the mainstream market for years, RAMBUS is slowly going down.

AGP 4X is standard so don't worry about it unless you buy a realy cheap MOBO.

ATA100 and ATA133 performance are about the same.

the GF4 ti 64meg is indeed a little faster TODAY, but the next generation of games will prove the advantage of the 128M card. I on the other hand favor ATI and Matrox for graphics...In particular if you're a graphics designer Nvidia might not be the best...

your add-on PCI components won't cause conflict as long as you diseable the onboard equivalents. While I understand you favor the SB live over some onboard sound solutions, onboard firewire and USB2 will eliminate the need for your duo connect.

finally, intel's latest 845's are realy HOT and stable but will cost you more than the SiS chipset boards.

also, if you use photoshop and the likes: 2 HDs and LOTS and LOTS of RAM 512meg is the least you should live with!
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Snotling on 11/17/02 00:08 AM.</EM></FONT></P>