Abit AG8 or AA8

I was wondering does the ABIT AA8 i925x on DDR"2" vs ABIT AG8 i915P on DDR1 have a real big preformance diffirence. I could save $100 if I go with the AG8 and DDR1, but will the DDR1 hamper its preformance?
Also I plan to go with a LGA 3.2 ghz Intel and 6600gt, if it matters at all...

Jeez its been over a week and I still cant get a simple Yes or no?

DDR2 has the advantage of really high speeds. But, with 3.2 you'll be lucky to hit 250 FSB. I have the AG8 and I'm quite happy with it. If you already have extra RAM that will work (like me), then save the cash and get the AG8. If you have to buy RAM, might as well get the DDR2 for a better upgrade path.

You could also take a look at the AS8. Comes with AGP, DDR1 and a 20 pin PSU port. From what I have seen the vdimm goes up to 3.2, havn't checked yet cause my rig is stable at 250FSB.

I have an AG8 and it rocks from all the reviews I have seen it scores very close to the AA8 just depends on ram. I also have a 3.2 and it is stable at 3.69 with just a small bump to the NB.

I have one more question, If I go with the AG8 I will save a bunch of money by downgrading the MOBO and RAM. By doing this I will be able to upgrade my CPU to an LGA 3.4 and still save around $20. Will the 3.2 LGA, AA8, with DDR2 come out better over all or will the 3.4 LGA, AG8, DDR1. I'm mainly going to use this for gaming and lots of video editing.

Performance wise, you probably won't see much difference. The 3.4 might O/C a little higher, maybe 4 gig if you have good cooling, but the 3.2 will have a little higher FSB, so they will probably work out to be about the same in the end even if the 3.2 clocks speed was a little less.

With video editing, definitely run the RAM at 1:1 ratio and use at least 1 gig (2X512).

you should have little trouble getting to 4ghz with a 3.2 but for just 20 bucks more I would get the 3.4 then you can change the multi with overclocking your chip that much, on the abit board people are getting 280fsb on the AA8 and AG8.

I have just over $1,000 to spend to start out with, I plan to get a better PSU, an extra 512 of Ram, and hopefully later some WC maybe after the holidays. I don’t really plan to OC the CPU much since its going to be on AIR to start with, maybe just a .2 GHz OC at first. I'm fairly new to all this and have been doing lots or research since last year. Also, I have one last question that I don’t really understand. I see the recommended ram speeds and such for the Abit boards, but I see people with higher stock speeds then what are recommended. As far as ram I'm trying to stick with OCZ or Corsair. What will the AG8 take up to at least do you all think as I am trying to get the best performance out of all this?

To answer your question about the ram the board supports ram speeds up to DDR 400 that goes for every motherboard that uses DDR Ram on the 915chipset. The higher rated ram is for overclocking meaning you can run it out of spec with out trouble.

Well, I'm having a tough time picking out some memory now. Does the higher speed and bandwidth RAM equal out the performance with lower speeds models but with better latencies? This I don’t really understand. And since the p915 was ment to go with ddr2 at higher clock speeds would it be best to go with some DDR1 around 533, or stick with spec?

To help clear up it all up it works like this

The AG8 supports DDR 333 or 400mhz ram because that is what intel supports but other companys have come out with even faster ram, if you got a 3.4 or 3.6 cpu you can change the multipler to overclock the ram and frontside bus with out overclocking the CPU this will boost the speed of the ram most ram will overclock even the cheap stuff.

I just have some ultra overclocking ram with a spec of 400mhz and it runs fine at 250fsb

If you have money you can get the faster rated ram like 533 but if you caint overclock that high then it is not going to really matter much.

since nobody is answering your questions ill go ahead and step in here...

first off the processor. people should pick one of 3 options when it comes to the processor.

Pentium 4/ 2.4C GHz 800MHz FSB, 512K Cache.............136$
or
Pentium 4 520 2.8 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache,..........160$
or
Pentium 4 550 3.4 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 cache ..........282$

the reason for this is that with the 3.4 (not 3.0 or 3.2) abit and asus motherboards offer the option to change the multiplier to 14 this reduces the processor speed to 2.8ghz (14 x 200fsb) this allows you to overclock the fsb much higher than you normally would be able to due to the 4.0ghz being more or less the "redline" of processor speeds.

the reason people want a higher fsb is so that thier ram can run at faster speeds (ram runs at 2 times the fsb) because if you buy ddr533 ram but leave your computer at the stock 200fsb speed. then the fastest your ram will run is ddr400. whereas if you overclocked the fsb to 250 then your ddr533 ram would run at ddr500 and your processor would be at 3.5ghz
(14 x 250fsb). if you got your fsb up to 266 your ddr533 ram would run at its ddr533 speed with a processor speed of 3.724ghz (14 x 266 ).

as to making the decision between the 2.8ghz processor and the 3.4 ghz processor.

keeping in mind that no matter what speed processor you get 4.0ghz is an absolute redline. people can run past that speed. but not very far and not very often(are people able to get a stable overclock that high).

with that said overclocking your 2.8 processor to 3.724 with a 266fsb is a huge overclock. you are getting nearly a whole ghz more. it is very possible that your 2.8 processor may run out of gas so to speak. and not be able to overclock that high leaving you to settle for a lesser overclock.

whereas overclocking your 3.4 to 3.724 with a 266fsb is a much lesser overclock and chances are that your processor will be able to push that minimal distance.
however. a less than high quality powersupply, motherboard or ram may be a limiting factor in getting to 266fsb.

with abit boards the vdimm voltage (voltage available to give your ram) many times is not enough for the power hungry brand of ram the person chose to run.
a great priced high speed low latency non power hungry brand of ram to get would be as they only require 2.6 vdimm opposed to most 2.8 thru 3.0+
G.skill (Samsung TCCD) Dual Channel Kit 184-Pin 1GB(512MB x 2) DDR PC-4400
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-231-004&depa=0

here is a good review on that
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=2&artpage=949&articID=244

many people seem to think ddr2 ram is much more expensive id have to disagree with them

ddr400-ddr533 patriot xbl is 220$ here this ram runs at 2-2-2-5 (the tightest timings) at ddr400speed and 3-4-4-8 at ddr533
is only 220$ here
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-220-033&depa=0
with the site info page here
http://www.pdpsys.com/products/PDC1G512G3200+XBLK.pdf

and the DDR2 533 CORSAIR VALUESELECT is 222$ here
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-526&depa=0

with motherboards sometimes people choose to run The i865 chipset mobos. these tend to be less desirable because of their smaller power mosfets. and can be a limiting factor to your overclock.

The i875 chipset mobos generally seem to have a more robust power circuitry.
and are the better choice between the 2.

as for power supplys. this is the most underrated part in its importance for overclocking. it is imperative you pick a powersupply brand that is know for supplying CONSISTANT power at the rated watts. as many merely list thiers PEAK watts which is nowhere near the amount they can consistantly supply

toms hardware lists 3 brands they would reccomend here
http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20030609/power_supplies-18.html

here's a site with great info on picking a power supply for your system needs
http://www.bleedinedge.com/guides/psu_select/psu_select_01.html

and here is the place to get the best rated powersupply for 110$ the antec true 550 ( the one on newegg is not the real one that one only has 24A on the 12v rail)
http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Power-Supply-Units/Antec-True-Control-550/

last but not least the heatsink is a very important factor in overclocking your computer. you should pick one of 3 options when selecting a heatsink..

aircooled rankings
http://www.overclockers.com/articles373/p4sum.asp
watercooled rankings
http://www.overclockers.com/articles373/waterkit.asp

the thermalright xp-90 is the best aircooled heatsink there is. with a C/W rating of 0.13 it beats the top water cooler with a C/W 0.16
i recommend getting this with some artic silver 5 and a high output panaflo fan at
www.theheatsinkfactory.com

coming in 2nd would be the xp-120 with a C/W rating of 0.17 this is a good selection because with the bigger 120mm fan it can move lots more air with way less noise. the downside of this one being its uncompatibility with some motherboards. you can find this list at http://www.thermalright.com/

coming in 3rd for its ridiculously low price 20$ for the performance you get is the Vantec AeroFlow VP4-C7040 For Intel P4 478 it ranks the same as the 2nd place watercooler with 0.18 C/W http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-110-008&depa=0



hope this clears things up for you guys reading

my fault the heatsink factory link is http://heatsinkfactory.com/cgi-bin/HFAstore.pl

With the LGA775 processors, you need to get one rated 115w in order to be able to drop down to the 14X multiplier. There are some 3.4 that won't do this. Check the Intel s-spec finder for the ones that list 115w. For example... SL7PY 3.4 is rated 84w. I would also recommend trying to find an E0 stepping.

um how do you plan on running a 2.4c in an lga775 rig?!

he said 3.4 not 2.4, and if you meant my post i was speakin in more general terms. and he also hasnt said a word for 2 months. so i think its safe to assume he either got it and its working without problems or he hasnt gotten it and has forgotten about us.

Just to keep you all updated I got the AG8 with a 3.2 ghz intel LGA and some XMS 3200 at 2-2-2-5. The good news it boots! For about 90 seconds I have another thread in this ABIT forum if anyone could please give me some help...

EDIT : LINK Help me thread, click here