Intel 845GE/PE with 8Xagp?

[cagemusic]

Upgrading my system to a P4 2.4B and need a rplacement for my Asus P4B266. Tom and everyone else seem to rave about the Asus P4PE. It has excellent features and stablity, but still uses 4X agp. I know this doesn't matter now, but what about in 6 months when you want a new NV30?

Granite Bay is too expensive and requires 2 sticks of ram. Besides as soon as you get one of those boards ($240) they are going to come out with new ones that support DDR333. A single channel board has enough performance for my needs.

So...back to the point. Has anyone heard anything about an agp 8X version of the Intel 845GE/PE chipset?

 

[halkebul]

Granite Bay is too expensive and requires 2 sticks of ram. Besides as soon as you get one of those boards ($240) they are going to come out with new ones that support DDR333.

Hello. The Gigabyte 8INXP Granite Bay motherboard, although it officially supports up to Dual-Channel DDR266, IS capable of Dual-Channel DDR400. That is, those other chipsets coming out soon, Sis 655 and Via's Dual-Channel DDR/P4 chipset, have NO ADVANTAGE over Granite Bay.

Granite Bay is too expensive and requires 2 sticks of ram

Requires two or four sticks of ram for Dual-Channel DDR. It can operate with one stick of ram.

Has anyone heard anything about an agp 8X version of the Intel 845GE/PE chipset?

Motherboards with single-Channel DDR offer poor processor upgradability. Putting a 800MHz QDR FSB processor into a motherboard without dual-channel DDR, I THINK NOT. I highly recommend the Gigabyte 8INXP. No matter what it costs. Three things you don't want to go cheap on: Motherboard, Power Supply and RAM. And no 8X AGP on Intel 845GE/PE.

<i>It's your world kid!!!</i>

 

[cagemusic]

Thanks, good points. I was not aware one could use anything besides DDR266 in Granite Bay. I have a good 512 stick of corsair ram, so I am focusing on the mobo and cpu. No doubt the P4PE will not be good for future P4s, but will serve the 2.4b quite well. By the time prescott comes out there will be new dual mobos that have even more features and are cheaper. Thats kind of how I am looking at it. Your points are well taken. Just trying to get the most out of a tight budget.

 

[incinerate]

It is useless to operate a granite bay board with one stick of ram. With all due respect I think u are too much of a granite bay, or more specifically 8inxp fan and ur strong opinions on it are a bit biased =)

 

[halkebul]

It is useless to operate a granite bay board with one stick of ram. With all due respect I think u are too much of a granite bay, or more specifically 8inxp fan and ur strong opinions on it are a bit biased =)

Edited out.

<i>It's your world kid!!!</i><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by halkebul on 12/18/02 00:39 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[incinerate]

Dude, i dont see what my being new to this board has to do with the topic at hand...
He was asking about the i845pe and u try to sell him a granite bay? Then you make it sound like it's perfectly fine to run a single ddr333 stick in it. I know the granite bay is a sweet board and all, but dude you need to lay off the granitebay/8nixp advertising.
First off, referring to the poster's original question, no the 845pe does not have agp8x, but that doesn't matter cuz agp8x is useless and will continue to be useless for quite some time. By the time u can take advantage of agp 8x the radeon 9700pro will be a joke.
Secondly you have a fine stick of ram. Unless you plan on getting another stick to complement it, and then running at a 166fsb to even take advantage of ddr333, then I think you can save A LOT of money by getting an 845pe mobo. Running a single stick of ddr333 on granite bay is a joke. That does not even take into consideration the enormous cost of a granite bay board compared to 845pe.
Finally, in terms of upgrading, I seriously doubt granite bay will be able to take FULL ADVANTAGE of the future 800mhz cpus, but i can be wrong on that.
Taking into account your situation I would say the 845pe represents much better value for you.

 

[cagemusic]

Thanks to both of you for your comments. I am learning a lot and with that comes some stupid questions. I realize the P4PE chipset doesn't offer 8X agp, but I figured I would be bummed if there was one the minute after I made my move. It seems like mobo companies will do something for single-channel boards, because not everyone is going to be able to afford granite bay.

Granite Bay sounds awesome and I wish I could afford to go there, but right now with a decent stick of 512 ram in my hands I have to prioritize. I have a good power supply, ram and now I need a decent mobo. Although Halkebul your look to the future does make good sense.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[halkebul]

A thousand apologies incinerate. I mistook you for a trouble maker. We get some here once in a while. Among the many reviews I've read about Granite Bay boards the Gigabyte 8INXP stands out as the best. The Asus granite bay board is turning out to be very good also. It only makes sense to recommend the best, correct? I don't really recommend granite bay itself, rather I recommend a particular motherboard. Despite popular belief, some of these granite bay motherboards ARE capable of Dual DDR400 and a 800MHz QDR FSB. Which means you have no reason to wait for springdale or canterwood. The main advantage 8INXP and the asus Granite Bay board have over motherboards with a single-channel memory controller chipset like 845PE is upgradability. 845PE cannot supply the bandwidth necessary to support future 800MHz QDR FSB processors. So, if someone gets a 845PE motherboard now, they will have to buy a whole new motherboard should they decide to get a 800MHz QDR FSB processor. If you have any doubts about granite bay's ability to reach 800MHz QDR FSB, read <A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20021216/p4_41-02.html" target="_new">this article</A>:

<i>Here is some information on our favorite component, the Asus P4G8X that we used for this exercise. It is stable at an effective FSB speed of 195 MHz, which comes close to the bandwidth of the forthcoming Springdale platform. (800 MHz FSB is a figure conjured up by Intel's marketing department.)</i>

It's a good read. Check it out. And good points all around. Good day, Sir!

<i>It's your world kid!!!</i>

 

[cagemusic]

Good info! Thanks halkebul.