[FrOzE]

What I am looking for:

STABILITY (I'll be overclocking.. therefore this board has to be stable)
Onboard RAID (Need those extra connectors to accomodate my HDD)
USB 2.0


Using DDR rams here.

[BaldHeadedDork]

If you want stability and you're using DDR, your best choice will be a mobo using an Intel i845E chipset.

There are a lot of great boards out based on the 845. The Asus P4B-533E and Abit IT7MAX are probably the most popular among the hardcore overclockers, but there are good 845 boards from all the major suppliers. And onboard RAID is standard equipment on all but a couple.


BHD

[CaptBill]

Without a doubt the Asus P4B533-E

[therecka]

Epox 4G4A+ the other boards don´t have a chance on it

[FrOzE]

But very sad, the Asus P4B533-E is not available here in Singapore.

There r other choices like Abit IT7-Max2, Gigabyte 8IEXP, Abit BD7-II raid, Epox 4BEAR, Epox 4G4A+.

Any recommendation?

[Johnny Knoxville]

Originally posted by CaptBill
Without a doubt the Asus P4B533-E

agreed

[skou]

ABIT IT7, awesome board.

steve

[Space Goat]

P4B533-E

[snowman]

I had the same problem of deciding mobo....

I`ve just ordered a P4 2.53 myself, but I did not choose the P4B533-E mobo.
My choice was the Asus P4S8X/LAN/S-ATA S478/P-4
SIS648, ATA/133, ATX, DDR, IE1394, 8X AGP

I primarily chose it because of the 8x AGP ability, it has Serial ATA, and the fact that I can use a pc3200 stick on it. I`m not an expert and would like the opinion of the gurus on this forum.

Is it a bad combination (chip/mobo), if I would like to overclock, or are there any other cons of not buying the P4B533-E?
Is the P4-2.53 a bad oc chip?

I would like to get some pointers/advise about the system I have ordered too, since I`m not a hardware guru. I can still change the specs...

The specs of the sys I ordered:
(not all high end, I have a budget ya know!)

-Asus P4S8X/LAN S478/P-4
SIS648, ATA/133, ATX, DDR, 8X AGP

-Intel Pentium 4 2.53 GHz Boxed PC533
Socket PGA478, 512kB "Northwood"

-DDR-DIMM PC3200 512MB DDR CL2.5
184-P (for DDR-PC400MHz)

-Western Digital Caviar 80GB IDE 7200RPM
Special Edition 8MB cache WD800JB

-Asus DVD IDE 16x/48x (DVD-E616)
Retail

-Asus CD IDE 48x/16x/48x
CRW-4816A, Intern Retail (FlextraLink)

-Gainward AGP GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB DDR
"Ultra/650XP Golden Sample", Retail

-Creative Soundblaster Audigy Player
PCI med Firewire

Thanx in advance

Cheers from the great white north!

[Loyalty]

ABIT IT7 for sure(save the money and forget the MAX2).

[NS13Stinger]

Hey snowman, do you like the ASUS P4S8X? I am thinking about getting this one myself. I know it has Serial ATA, but hard drives with Serial ATA are hard to find. Will IDE hard drives still work? Does the P4S8X come with IDE cables? Are you able to overclock the FSB, PCI/AGP, memory?

[snowman]

Originally posted by NS13Stinger
Hey snowman, do you like the ASUS P4S8X? I am thinking about getting this one myself. I know it has Serial ATA, but hard drives with Serial ATA are hard to find. Will IDE hard drives still work? Does the P4S8X come with IDE cables? Are you able to overclock the FSB, PCI/AGP, memory?

-I haven`t got it yet. Just ordered it 5 days ago.
The P4S8X are based on the SIS648 chipset. One of the big advantages of this board IMO, is that it has AGP 8x. If you`re going to upgrade you`re gfx card later it will surely be an AGP 8x card (the new ATI radeon 9700 will be the first AGP 8x card).

About Serial ATA: It`s a thing for the future. As of now I have a quite conventional ATA100 disk. I don`t even think there is any S/ATA HDs out there yet. Anyway... The P4S8X will still be able to use all of todays HDs (ATA - 66 -100 or -133)
The new Serial ATA HDs will be able to deliver up to 150MB/s, in comparison of todays best at 133MB/s.

About IDE cables: It think, if I remember right, i will get 2 IDE cables for ATA 100/133 and 2 cables for S/ATA. I even think I can use them all at once, since they have different outlets.... I`m not completley sure though..

About overclocking: Allmost all the ASUS-cards I have bought, have been very good for overclocking. I don`t think this is an exception.
I`m more unsure about the chip I have bought... P4 2.53MHz is not very suited for oc`ing I think. I would rather buy a 2.5 if you are into heavy overclocking. I got a nice price on the 2.53, so I went for it.

Cheers from the cold north,
Snowman

[NS13Stinger]

I bought the same CPU, P4 2.53, a few days ago myself. This might sound a little crazy, but the reason I did not buy the ASUS P4S8X is because I could not tell if it has digital sound output or not. I want to be able to connect my new computer up to my Yamaha receiver, which can decode 5.1 sound. I also have Paradigm speakers with a PW-2200 subwoofer connected to my receiver. This will make gaming INCREDIBLE!

I did notice that the P4S8X has "SPDIF" or something like that and it is "optional". What is SPDIF? Is this digital sound? If so, does this mean that I have to buy the PCI card seperately? I looked at pics of the P4S8X and did not see it. The SOYO SY-P4X400 shows it as being available. If someone can shed some light on this, I may buy the P4S8X.

[mysteriousjimmy]

Originally posted by snowman


About overclocking: Allmost all the ASUS-cards I have bought, have been very good for overclocking. I don`t think this is an exception.

Cheers from the cold north,
Snowman

From the reviews I have read on the new mobo's with the SIS 648 chipset they seem to max out at around 150FSB when overclocking... they have all said a great mobo but not so great for overclocking.