Advice-best mobo for LAN gaming rig?

Currently I'm running an Asus CUBX (w/CMD controller), with a pIII 700@933 (1.8v) & 256 MB of generic SDRAM (has infineon chips, however-CAS222)

I believe the CMD controller may be going bad, and I was looking into upgrading in any event anyway;

My preference has been Intel, mostly due to them running cooler than AMD rigs, and perhaps with more insurance that the chip won't be toast if the fan on the heatsink goes out.

I do use a CUSL-2 in my work/photoshop station-

Which boards would be the best to look into for a LAN gaming rig?

I'm not sure if getting the newer B-step 815 boards might be a better idea, or entertaining the distant idea of looking into the new northwood board would be better? I'm not necessarily looking to push much past 140-150 (if that) for the FSB, but I am looking for stability as well.

For cooling, I'll likely continue to use my Alpha PAL6035, it hasn't seemed to give me fits about shifting during transportation like the other HSF's I've tried.

Thanks!

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I would personally suggest a P4. Even if you didn't already have a preference toward Intel, i would have recomended one anyway. The Northwood would be nice, but any 478 pin P4 would be decent. I have an ABIT TH7II-RAID which is really nice for lan parties. The board is study enough and if you get a nice case you couldn't have to worry about the stuff shifting in transport. The P4 comes with a stock heatsink and fan. This will be enough for mild overclocks. I'm not familiar with the Alpha pwhatever. But since you are using a P3 it wouldn't fit the 478 chip. For overclocking RDRAM is the best, but you could get a board that supports SDRAM to use what you have.

I too suggest getting an Abit TH7II-Raid (even if your not using a raid array, its not a bad idea to get raid in case you ever want to upgrade) with a p4 and rdram. You may be able to obtain a higher FSB with DDR but the memory bandwidth will be less than DDR as well as being slower so I think rdram is your best bet.

swidey said:

I would personally suggest a P4. Even if you didn't already have a preference toward Intel, i would have recomended one anyway. The Northwood would be nice, but any 478 pin P4 would be decent. I have an ABIT TH7II-RAID which is really nice for lan parties. The board is study enough and if you get a nice case you couldn't have to worry about the stuff shifting in transport. The P4 comes with a stock heatsink and fan. This will be enough for mild overclocks. I'm not familiar with the Alpha pwhatever. But since you are using a P3 it wouldn't fit the 478 chip. For overclocking RDRAM is the best, but you could get a board that supports SDRAM to use what you have.

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The Alpha's made for socket 7/370/462/etc chips, it wouldn't fit..

Though I'd likely get either their model, or swiftech's, for long-term usage..

I wasn't looking into using SDRAM with a Northwood, though, the memory would be a major bottleneck..

Possibly OT, but my guess is that coupled with Rambus's larger memory bandwidth, and a Geforce3 or better, I ought to begin to really see what additions the P4 has to offer..

Maybe I'll look into it more seriously once my taxes are done, I believe I ought to get something back I could use to spend

Thank you!

Once you decide on a chip then its time to look for a mobo and RAM

Actually, in all of the work I've been busy with over the past week, I've forgotten I still had a BX6-Rv.2 lying around unused...I believe I may give this a try, I think it will be a good workaround until the next time I decide to upgrade (uncertain when that will happen)

Sure, it's old, and it's a slot board, but I've got a slotket that will allow for voltage adjustment, too...it needs to be moved? It'll be simpler to just take the slotket (and CPU) out if it's going to be a concern about the HSF shifting during transport.

I do appreciate for the advice given, thank you