Need some advice for picking the BEST P4 Motherboard

hi guys;

i am looking for a p4 motherboard and a p4 processor, very simple:

for the motherboard, it got to have a onboard raid (must from highpoint chipset) and would support the highest memory that's available today, and i also need a onboard sound too. (yeah, i know, i am cheap)

as for the p4 cpu, i don't know... what's the best for OC under $250?

and here are the stuff i have ready for the new p4:
- Mushkin 512MB PC2700 Level2
- 4x WD1200JB
- Thermalright AX478 + Delta
- Chaintech GeForce4 Ti4600 SE

at this point, i think EPoX 4G4A+ is a good choice, but the coming sis648 seems to be pretty decent as well. need all your p4 experts' help, as this will be my first p4 system. (i have been amd fan for a while now, but i just can't stand watching you guys OC 1ghz for a chip anymore)


Rod

Proc: P4-2.4B OEM for $203 at Newegg.
HSF: Cooler Master IHC-H71
Mobo: Asus P4B-533E

Some of the SiS and VIA P4 chipsets advertise sexier features. But this is a combo that delivers.


BHD

thanks BHD; i like this mobo a lot myself, but the only problem is it uses Promise raid controller. but thanks for your input!!

If you're looking for a monster OC you could go with a 1.8 (cheap too). You have the possibility of getting to 3 GHz if you have a good OCing mobo and stuff.

Sorry, I missed the part about the RAID controller. The Abit BD7II has almost as many fans as the Asus board, and the Abit uses the High Point RAID controller.


BHD

check out the abit it7, it has 4 raid channels,for 8 devices or 1 per channel (raid works faster with only 1 drive per channel)

steve

skou; thanks for your suggestions. yep, it7 does look very nice, but any thoughts on the coming abit sis648 mobo?

looks like intel will have a revision for their popular i845E and i845G chipset by end of this month, i guess i will wait until then. as for the sis648, they seems nice, but the lack of OC based on some of the reviews makes me worry.

although that shuttle as45gtr looks very very nice, even got the sata raid controller on it, amazing.

thanks for the input guys, greatly appreciated.

rod

i'm just wondering..what is wrong with the on baord promise raid? i have it on mine...my main problem is it VERY slow in loading the drives...are there other problems?

Being able to run RAID with only one HDD on each port is sweet. Runs Corsair 3000/3200C2 at over 420MHz stably. Defenitely go with the 2.26B or the 2.4B.

Have you tried using different ports to see if there is a difference?

exsilio said:

what is wrong with the on baord promise raid? i have it on mine...my main problem is it VERY slow in loading the drives...are there other problems?

Click to expand...

hi exsilio; the problem with the onboard promise raid is that the limit of the strip size. i am not exactly sure the limit size is, but i think it's only up to 64KB. since we are spending the same amount of money, might as well get a raid controller that have better feature.

Whatever you do, don't get a Soltek SL-85ERV or any other P4X400 board. IT really sucks.