Difficult mobo choice for P4C

[Overkiller]

After much pondering i have decided to go the route of intel instead of the barton 2500+/epox 8rda+/corsair 3200XMS....i fooled around on my friends P4C 3.0 and it was very very nice experience, espeically w/ HT enabled. The price wont be *that* much different either. this is a major upgrade so good responses apply


Asus P4P800 deluxe 865PE vs. Abit IS7 (865PE)...

i do not need the fancy features of the 875P chipset and in the anandtech review the 865 was basically neck in neck if not slightly faster than the 875....now which motherboard would be better for a 2.8C (getting this in case overclock does not pan out...i would still have a really really fast chip). - SATA is not supported by the 865PE...or isn't it only 2 drives....?

I am talking about stability, best overall o/c options, and compatibility with memory. I was leaning towards the IS7 b/c i have heard only good things about it but then again the same goes for the P4P800.

Furthermore, what would be the best memory to use b/c i have read that w/ the P4 u can use memory w/ looser timings as long as they can ramp up there in speed. (i will be running 1 gb in dual channel)

Choices:

Buffalo, OCZ 3700, Corsair

buffalo is a new company, corsair is old reliable, and i have heard a couple high positives for ocz but also a few negatives...

in the end i am looking to hit about 3.2 ghz range max. (this will be housed w/ an Antec 430W truepower case/psu).

Finally, is the slk-800U w/ smart fan 2 work on this setup?

thanks guys!

 

[SinfulWeeper]

Can't really help you all too much. But a SLK-900 or Swift MCX4000 would be a much better cooler than that SLK-800.

 

[Corporate Thug]

IS7

 

[UncleAelfrich]

having just bought a P4P800 deluxe and trying (first timer) to overclock, I would say it is more important the memory you buy rather than the choice between these two boards. I assume the Abit is every bit as good as the Asus, and the Asus is very good. I wish I had bought PC3500 rather than PC3200. Of course, I only have a Ti4200 video card, so it doesn't matter much now if I don't overclock the last bit out of my P4 2.4c.

 

[Overkiller]

Thank you for the responses. keep them coming

 

[Fallengod]

Originally posted by: UncleAelfrich
having just bought a P4P800 deluxe and trying (first timer) to overclock, I would say it is more important the memory you buy rather than the choice between these two boards. I assume the Abit is every bit as good as the Asus, and the Asus is very good. I wish I had bought PC3500 rather than PC3200. Of course, I only have a Ti4200 video card, so it doesn't matter much now if I don't overclock the last bit out of my P4 2.4c.

Well if you overclock, you pretty much have to buy 3500....If your not it doesnt matter.

 

[Shimmishim]

abit is7 + pc3700 gold = drool

 

[Fallengod]

And drool over how much money it costs heh.

 

[Overkiller]

aye but it is a 2.5 year upgrade...running 1.2 ghz tbred! 768 MB pc-133 @ 130 (cough cough..lol..dont wanna talk about it )