Down to three...

[Nilonym]

Okay, after an entire 16 hour stint of research (as partially evidenced by my flood of questions here today), I have narrowed my decision to this:

Intel 1.8a CPU (I woke up this morning planning on an AMD1900+...)

One of these three MBs:
Gigabyte GA-8iRXP
MSI 845 Ultra AR
Asus P4B266

I really like the features on the Gigabyte, but looking at the database on www.overclockers.com, it looks like a lot of you "in-the-know" hotshots prefer Asus boards for overclocking.

Also, I have been told that only the Epox boards allow 4:3 memory clock at 133MHz and greater. If this is the case, then presumably I will be locked to 1:1 at 133MHz, and would therefore get no benefit from DDR333 vs. DDR266. Correct?

Any further help on narrowing this decision would be most appreciated. For the record, I intend to only push the 1.8a to 2.4GHz.

You have all been a tremendous resource for me today. Thank you sincerely for your time and patience with a newbie!

Jeff

 

[zzzz]

well, if you don't have the ram already, it would be better for you to get a RDRAM based board, but out of these 3 I would choose the Asus.
The epox and Abit have the 4:3 divider after 133 fsb and locked pci/AGP. So you might want to consider them as well.

 

[THUGSROOK]

i highly recommend having memory ratios for a 1.8A.
chances are it will overclock only to the 133-145fsb range, leaving you with a lousy 290DDR speed.
in my case i dont care about memory ratios - and prolly couldnt use them if i had them.
but in your case - youre gonna want them.
eventually the asus P4B266 series will have ratios, .....eventually
oldfart says the epox i845Ds are great boards and have memory ratios. i respect his opinion so i would also recommend it.

there is also a new Asus P4B533 coming over the horizon - no idea if it has memory ratios or not yet.

HTH

*you can run the p4b266 @ 132fsb 3:4 ratio 351DDR - but at 133fsb youll lose the 3:4 ratio.
...and wait for a bios update.

 

[Nilonym]

I was under the impression that Intel was publicly backing off of Rambus chips. Didn't everyone come away from the Intel Developer Forum this year with the strong impression that Intel was refocusing on DDR for the future?

Even if there is a slight price/performance edge to Rambus today, I want to ride the winning horse.

Thanks for the reply, zzzz.
Jeff

 

[Nilonym]

It strikes me that if the SiS 645DX supports DDR333 and 133FSB, then motherboards based on that chip must provide a 4:3 memory clock at 133MHz.

Maybe that's the route I should go, since I could then drop a 1.8a in and run it at 133FSB with DDR333 memory, and the only variable in a successful overclock to 2.4GHz would be the quality of the core itself, and not the mb.

Jeff

 

[THUGSROOK]

Nilonym the SiS 645DX is a good chioce for a 133fsb overclock. those boards have trouble going over 150fsb tho, so the more serious overclockers stay away from them.
the ASUS P4S533 would be your best chioce there.
you need to realize tho - the SiS645 has its own weird issues too.