The End User Pays: 13 Boards With Intel 845GE/PE

Introduction

Tough Battle For Customers: With Features And Color

Deciding what to buy is not always easy for the go-getting user: a new board is on the cards and the platform's already been selected - a Pentium 4 with DDR memory. But these details are far too sketchy to ensure a failsafe choice. A handful of freaks have already decided for the exotic platform (Intel 850E) with Rambus memory in the last few weeks - and it wasn't such a bad choice. After all, the memory doesn't cost much more than the mass-produced DDR-SRAM, and the extra outlay for an 850 board is not going to break the bank. Alternatively, the fully developed Intel 845 chipset comes in a number of versions that work together with DDR266 and, in a recent development, even with fast DDR333 memory. And what's more, that's official. That's because, unofficially, the majority of boards in our last test (DDR333 for P4: 16 Boards with Intel 845G - Part II ) were already running on DDR333 including CL2 mode. There's no question that, particularly in conjunction with the new chipsets, the P4 platform has reached a stage of development of which its chipset rivals can only dream. Intel has returned to the big mass market, so to speak - for the first time since its legendary 440BX at the close of the 90s. In this benchmark test we'll be putting boards with 845GE and 845PE chipsets under the microscope.

Brightly shining LEDs in a transparent PC casing turn heads.