Though still few and far between, Canterwood boards look to be awfully pricey. It’s unsettling to see Newegg offering the Asus board for almost $250.
Perhaps even more unsettling in the long-term, the manufacturers are charging over $150 for these boards. Add air freight and distributor/reseller profits, and it’s hard to see these boards going for less than $200 any time soon.
Is It Worth It?
For most prospective buyers, I suspect the question is irrelevant. They just won’t spend $200 or more for a motherboard.
This leaves Springdale boards, which won’t show up for another month. The 800MHz versions are likely to be somewhat pricey, too, figure about $160 for fairly loaded 865PE boards.
The unknown question at the moment is “Will it be worth the difference?”
I think the answer to that will end up being the following:
If you want to take a 133MHz FSB CPU and crank it up as far as it will go; Springdales will be good enough.
If you want to seriously overclock a 200MHz FSB chip and extract every last possible inch of performance, you’re going to need a Canterwood
I would bet that most of those who make this choice will choose door number one.
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