Mother Board Recomendation

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » April 2, 2004, 1:18 am

My old board died so im looking to buy a new one. Motherboard/processor combo. I'm pretty new to ordering parts online so I'm not exactly sure where to go. Im looking for something in the 200-250 dollar range. A p4 with around 3.2ish ghz. Was also wondering if these combos include boxes, Im guessing it depends on the site. Anybody know any good sites? And i swear ive seen a topic on this before but i couldnt find it.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » April 2, 2004, 1:34 am

Sionistic wrote:My old board died so im looking to buy a new one. Motherboard/processor combo. I'm pretty new to ordering parts online so I'm not exactly sure where to go. Im looking for something in the 200-250 dollar range. A p4 with around 3.2ish ghz. Was also wondering if these combos include boxes, Im guessing it depends on the site. Anybody know any good sites? And i swear ive seen a topic on this before but i couldnt find it.

Well a P4 3.2ish processor will put you over the $250 range by iteself. 3.2 is aroud $280 or so.

A decent motherboard would be around $150.

Check http://www.newegg.com for prices.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » April 2, 2004, 9:30 am

ASUS =p

Well, just not f'ing Gigabyte.. they're idiots and release revisions of their boards instead of changing the board number, so you're never sure what you're going to get. Given I've seen their Rev 1.0 boards just refuse to work I won't go near them.

I've bought things from suppliers all over the place.. just make sure they offer the "pretested" combo and pay the extra $10 or whatever. a) it means you don't run the risk of f'ing up your new processor installing it, b) there's nothing worse than DOA boards.. given the amount of time it takes to get them installed, then get them out, then convince the vendor that no, you didn't break it, etc.

I also really like the nforce2 chipset.. VIA is a piece of shit and to be avoided at all costs.

Or you could just go to tomshardware...

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » April 2, 2004, 1:28 pm

I have two ABit boards, and i have been very satisfied with them. don't have anything in the P4 generation of products though, so i cant give a specific model recommendation.

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » April 2, 2004, 6:04 pm

Ok im looking at newegg's boards/procs and Im kinda lost in the words. Like for example, this asus costs 180$.

Supported CPU: Socket 478 Pentium 4(HT)/Celeron Processors
Chipset: Intel 875P + ICH5R
FSB: 800/533/400MHz
RAM: 4x DIMM support DDR400/333/266 Max 4GB
IDE: 2x UltraDMA 100, 1x UltraDMA 133(from Promise 20378) up to 6 Devices
Slots: 1x AGP Pro/8X, 5x PCI, 1x Wi-Fi
Ports: 2xPS2,1xCOM,1xLPT,1xSPDIF Out,1xLAN,2x1394(Rear 1),8xUSB2.0(Rear 4),Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: AD1985 6-Channel Codec
Onboard LAN: Intel 82547EI GbE
Onboard SATA/RAID: ICH5R, 2x SATA, RAID 0/1; Promise 20378, 2x SATA, RAID 0/1/0+1/Multiple RAID
Onboard 1394: VIA 1394 chip
Form Factor: ATX

Now I know supported cpu means what type of processors can work on it
chipset im guessing is motherboard, but im not exactly sure
fsb is front side bus, kinda like on demand processor
i know ram of course
ide completly loses me, are those the ports where drives are connected?
i know slots and ports
onboard sata/raid? onboard 1394? Form factor?

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » April 3, 2004, 1:27 am

Sionistic wrote:Ok im looking at newegg's boards/procs and Im kinda lost in the words. Like for example, this asus costs 180$.

Supported CPU: Socket 478 Pentium 4(HT)/Celeron Processors
Chipset: Intel 875P + ICH5R
FSB: 800/533/400MHz
RAM: 4x DIMM support DDR400/333/266 Max 4GB
IDE: 2x UltraDMA 100, 1x UltraDMA 133(from Promise 20378) up to 6 Devices
Slots: 1x AGP Pro/8X, 5x PCI, 1x Wi-Fi
Ports: 2xPS2,1xCOM,1xLPT,1xSPDIF Out,1xLAN,2x1394(Rear 1),8xUSB2.0(Rear 4),Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: AD1985 6-Channel Codec
Onboard LAN: Intel 82547EI GbE
Onboard SATA/RAID: ICH5R, 2x SATA, RAID 0/1; Promise 20378, 2x SATA, RAID 0/1/0+1/Multiple RAID
Onboard 1394: VIA 1394 chip
Form Factor: ATX

Now I know supported cpu means what type of processors can work on it
chipset im guessing is motherboard, but im not exactly sure
fsb is front side bus, kinda like on demand processor
i know ram of course
ide completly loses me, are those the ports where drives are connected?
i know slots and ports
onboard sata/raid? onboard 1394? Form factor?

Chipset is like the bridge that connects everything, Intel is OK.

IDE is 2 connectors ATA100 compatible, 1 connector ATA133 compatible. You can connect basically any IDE device to them, but the ATA133 connector is the only one that will take full advantage of an ATA133 capable HDD. Anyway, this is all good.

SATA is Serial ATA, it's a faster type of HD than the old IDEs, basically you have 2 different RAID controllers on the motherboard and can connect drives to each in RAID configuration. Unless you're looking to spend $2-300 on 2 new HDs at the moment you don't need to know about it really, but it's good that it's there.

Onboard 1394 is just a firewire connector.. cameras, external firewire HD connections, etc. Again, if you don't know what it is doesn't really matter, unless you're going out to buy a camera that supports it and then it's nice it's already there.

Form factor ATX just means that it will go into a computer case that is built for ATX boards. There's a few new standards come out recently but chances are your old case was ATX unless it's exceptionally old. You can probably tell from the power supply (should have one fat connector with 2 rows of 10 connections, and another with a block of 4 connections (for 12V). For that matter, you could look up your old board on the web and see what it's form factor is. If you've got < 350W power supply might be easier to get a new one while you're at it too.

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » April 3, 2004, 3:34 am

Ok I looked over prices and now im thinking 3+ ghz and mother board wont be feasible with less then $300. So im thinking of getting this p4 2.4ghz processor, http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... &section=3 , then getting some mb. I read some reviews and they say it overclocks really well even with just the case fan. For the mb, im still looking inbetween asus and abit

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » April 3, 2004, 9:09 am

Even a chip that overclocks reliably will run a shorter life.. rarely worth it imho. The real performance jumps come with new tech these days, not overclocking current stuff.

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » May 13, 2004, 12:57 pm

Update:
I ended up getting this Asus board from Maincomp.com
and getting this pentium4 1.6ghz from Starmicro.net via http://www.pricewatch.com
I decided to work slow first since money is a bit tight, but I will soon upgrade higher.

Both seem pretty nice, although I made a mistake with the memory so I wont be able to test them very well untill tomarrow. I am thinking of getting a Kingmax 512mb DDR pc2100 184pin from Newegg.com
I have alse seemed to make another mistake with the fan and heat sink. Do 478pin processors have a different kind of heatsink and fan? The heatsink fan does not want to fit. If you click the first link you can see the black brackets for what apparantly looks like something to hold the combo.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 13, 2004, 1:46 pm

Sionistic wrote:My old board died so im looking to buy a new one. Motherboard/processor combo. I'm pretty new to ordering parts online so I'm not exactly sure where to go. Im looking for something in the 200-250 dollar range. A p4 with around 3.2ish ghz. Was also wondering if these combos include boxes, Im guessing it depends on the site. Anybody know any good sites? And i swear ive seen a topic on this before but i couldnt find it.

Buy a P2.8 800 CPU and an Abit IC7-Max 3 875p motherboard and then OC it to 3.2MHz. That will save you $$ and be close to the 300.00 range. You still need some decent memory to go along with that though. If you meant 200-250 for just the motherboard then you're ok. I think the Abit Max3 is 199.00 these days and has all the latest features you;d want on a MB.

I have the Abit IC7 which is almost the same board predating the IC7-Max with less chip cooling features and it's worked great.

Llaffer · Post by **Llaffer** » May 13, 2004, 9:28 pm

If you want to think of going AMD, I use the following:

ABIT "NF7-S" nForce2 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU -RETAIL - $85.00

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ "Barton", 400MHz FSB, 512K Cache Processor - OEM - $179.00

That's $264.00 total.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 14, 2004, 1:24 pm

If you combine an AMD with a new 6800 you won't have to heat your home next winter!

masteen · Post by **masteen** » May 14, 2004, 1:45 pm

MSI makes some quality boards as well. I've put them into the last 2 PC's I built, and they've run like champions.

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » May 14, 2004, 5:20 pm

may I direct the previous posters 5 posts up, I already bought a board and processor

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » May 14, 2004, 6:51 pm

Sionistic wrote:may I direct the previous posters 5 posts up, I already bought a board and processor

Perhaps others may be considering a similar purchase and more advice is always a good thing.

Oh! Right! Of course, it’s always about YOU, isn’t it!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 14, 2004, 7:26 pm

You didn't listen to our expert advise but some others may! The board you bought has a flawed thingamajig and unstable woopdewazoo but you didn't ask our advice before buying it!

Janx · Post by **Janx** » May 14, 2004, 7:45 pm

I bought an MSI motherboard and the damn thing attached wires to my genitals and stood me on a chair =( 'F' MSI.

Vetiria · Post by **Vetiria** » May 14, 2004, 7:53 pm

Winnow wrote:You didn't listen to our expert advise but some others may! The board you bought has a flawed thingamajig and unstable woopdewazoo but you didn't ask our advice before buying it!

How are the phlanges?

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » May 14, 2004, 9:24 pm

We don't have any phlanges!

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » May 15, 2004, 9:06 am

Aslanna wrote:Oh! Right! Of course, it’s always about YOU, isn’t it!

Yes it is, whats the problem?

masteen · Post by **masteen** » May 17, 2004, 12:52 pm

I think Sion needs wires attached to his genitals...

Adelrune Argenti · Post by **Adelrune Argenti** » May 17, 2004, 9:10 pm

Well, I know you already bought a MB but my recommendation would be the Asus P4C800-E Deluxe. It has everything you would want in a board and then some. Great product. I have installed about 30 of these so far and only had 2 issues.

Tenuvil · Post by **Tenuvil** » May 19, 2004, 7:11 pm

I used to love Abit boards, but I have much love for EpOX motherboards now. Most stable computers I've ever built.

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » May 20, 2004, 2:53 pm

masteen wrote:I think Sion needs wires attached to his genitals...

you tease
anyway, thanks for all the advice, I certainly learned a few things, later then I would of wanted though. All my parts are in and the pc is working fine.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 20, 2004, 3:25 pm

Adelrune Argenti wrote:Well, I know you already bought a MB but my recommendation would be the Asus P4C800-E Deluxe. It has everything you would want in a board and then some. Great product. I have installed about 30 of these so far and only had 2 issues.

issue 1: they didn't work
issue 2: they were all returned

Viva le Abit!

JK, ASUS is good. I've favored Abit in the past for OCing but ASUS does a good job of that as well and is more stable with less memory compatability issues.

Adelrune Argenti · Post by **Adelrune Argenti** » May 20, 2004, 4:19 pm

Winnow wrote:
Adelrune Argenti wrote:Well, I know you already bought a MB but my recommendation would be the Asus P4C800-E Deluxe. It has everything you would want in a board and then some. Great product. I have installed about 30 of these so far and only had 2 issues.
issue 1: they didn't work
issue 2: they were all returned

Viva le Abit!

JK, ASUS is good. I've favored Abit in the past for OCing but ASUS does a good job of that as well and is more stable with less memory compatability issues.

bleh, no. The issue on both of the 2 boards were with the memory slots. They just stopped taking any memory in the dual channel slots. Asus swapped both boards out and no problems with the replacements.

VeeshanVault

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