I have gained alot of insight reading the posts here. There are alot of very knowledgable people here.
I am looking to buy a new P4 and my main question is which mobo to get.
I'm not looking to buy something high-end as it looks like a number of developments are going to make any choice now obsolete in a very short time. Dual DDR being one of them.
So for now I'd like to go with something like this:
-P4 2.2-2.4Ghz with option of updating to 3Ghz+ later
- 5-6 PCI slots.
- 2-3 Gb available for ddr ram
- Onboard audio
I plan to get a fairly cheap video card, maybe 32mb, and upgrade later. The same with a sound card.
I see no need for RAID.
Am I correct that you can buy PCI cards that will give you SCSI, USB 2.0, and Firewire? I'd prefer to save money on the board and simply insert a card if I need to.
I'm just looking to get a mobo that is pretty much stripped down but will allow for alot of upgrading as needed.
As far as I've seen the P4GE is a good candidate. (key word being 'as far as I know')
It would obviously be best to get a board that supports the fastest ram, but I believe I will have to upgrade to a new mobo in the next year and a half to two years anyway so am thinking ddr 266mhz may be enough for now. Maybe 333.
Also, I'm not sure what the difference is between ATA, DMA, and UDMA. Which choice would be best?
To my own limited experience it appears Asus, Gigabyte, and maybe Abit or Soyo are the top three or four companies for motherboards for the P4. Any other opinions on that? Anyone have a different top three?
Anyway, thanks ahead of time for any info you would like to leave here. My current pc is a K5-133 so the money is burning a hole in my pocket to upgrade right now!
Thanks again.
james
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Han on 12/16/02 04:05 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
I am looking to buy a new P4 and my main question is which mobo to get.
I'm not looking to buy something high-end as it looks like a number of developments are going to make any choice now obsolete in a very short time. Dual DDR being one of them.
So for now I'd like to go with something like this:
-P4 2.2-2.4Ghz with option of updating to 3Ghz+ later
- 5-6 PCI slots.
- 2-3 Gb available for ddr ram
- Onboard audio
I plan to get a fairly cheap video card, maybe 32mb, and upgrade later. The same with a sound card.
I see no need for RAID.
Am I correct that you can buy PCI cards that will give you SCSI, USB 2.0, and Firewire? I'd prefer to save money on the board and simply insert a card if I need to.
I'm just looking to get a mobo that is pretty much stripped down but will allow for alot of upgrading as needed.
As far as I've seen the P4GE is a good candidate. (key word being 'as far as I know')
It would obviously be best to get a board that supports the fastest ram, but I believe I will have to upgrade to a new mobo in the next year and a half to two years anyway so am thinking ddr 266mhz may be enough for now. Maybe 333.
Also, I'm not sure what the difference is between ATA, DMA, and UDMA. Which choice would be best?
To my own limited experience it appears Asus, Gigabyte, and maybe Abit or Soyo are the top three or four companies for motherboards for the P4. Any other opinions on that? Anyone have a different top three?
Anyway, thanks ahead of time for any info you would like to leave here. My current pc is a K5-133 so the money is burning a hole in my pocket to upgrade right now!
Thanks again.
james
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Han on 12/16/02 04:05 PM.</EM></FONT></P>