Originally posted by: eurovw
well, I'm staying with Intel 4, LGA775 3.0. Will cool it with XP120, now need to choose a mobo.
Good for you eurovw !!! :thumbsup:
Since you're going the route I was originally intending on taking when I started my
Mobo/CPU thread 2 weeks ago, may I suggest a few LGA/Intel chipset mobos for you. I think MOST people would agree that Intel makes the best, most stable, reliable and feature-laden chipsets to support their own CPUs ! Why go with an Intel quality CPU and then ruin it by purchasing a Sis or VIA-based board, right ??? For Socket T (LGA775)CPU this means going with the i915 (P or G) or i925 or i955 northbridge coupled to the ICH6R southbridge running a 800MHz FSB.
If you want onboard video (so you can save up for a "killer" videocard or just save money period, lol) you may want to consider this reasonably priced board that I was going to purchase, this
ASUS P5GDC-V DELUXE for $156. This board's features include Intel's onboard video via the Intel 900 GMA (graphics media accelerator), Gigabit Lan, PATA connectors 100 X 1 / 133 X2, PATA RAID 0/1/0+1, SATA-150 X4, SATA RAID 0/1/0+1/Matrix RAID, PCI-E x16/x1/Standard PCI X1,2,3 respectively, 8 channel audio, plenty of USB 2.0 ports and onboard firewire (1394a). A unique feature of this board is that it has BOTH DDR and DDR2 slots - 4 DDR and 2 DDR2 slots which can NOT be used simultaneously. This does gives one the option, however, of starting with DDR400 and moving over to DDR2 later if the user desires. The onboard video has poor performance in today's demanding games but is more than adequate for most users.
Since I think you mentioned that you do some video editing you may want to purchase a seperate videocard and go with an i915P/ICH6R mobo like this
ASUS P5GDC Deluxe . This board has all the same features listed above for the Asus P5GDC-V Deluxe, including the unique DDR/DDR2 support, but lacks the onboard 900GMA video and costs $8 less.
Now, if you don't mind springing for DDR2 (DDR2 400 is just slightly more expensive than DDR 400) and you want additional features like Wireless LAN and SATA RAID 5 along with all the other features of the Asus P5GDC Deluxe you may want to consider this
ASUS P5GD2 DELUXE motherboard. It is slightly more expensive at $175.
If you plan on using an EXTREME P4 at some point in time than you will need either an i-825xe or i-955x chipset-based mobo solution like either this
ASUS P5AD2-E Deluxe mobo or this
ASUS P5WD2 Premium motherboard. They both raise the ante however and I doubt you want to spend the kind of change required for an EXTREME processor like
this one or
this one !!!.
Now on the more economical side, if you can live with one less PCI-E x1 slot, one less standard PCI slot, and forgo either PATA or SATA
RAID, and live without DDR2 support (just DDR) and live with only 10/100Mbps Lan (no Gigabit) and no onboard firewire (1394a) but still have plenty of USB 2.0 ports, 8 channel audio and onboard video via the intel 900GMA then here's a nice little i915-G board, the
ASUS P5GD1-VM . This is a MICRO-atx board and reasonably priced at $102.
All of these boards have VERY NICE layouts. You may notice that I LIKE Asus. IMHO, I feel thay make the best Intel-based motherboards and I have used them personally. Some people will tell you that Abit makes the best oveclocking boards and others may tell you that DFI makes the best oc boards. But I truly believe that ASUS makes the best Intel-based boards that offer a reasonable balance of overclockabilty AND
stability !!!
However, if you want a DFI board here's an Intel I915P board, the
DFI LANPARTY UT 915P-T12 or if you need AGP video here's an i875-based board the
DFI LANPARTY 875P-T ! Let's face it though, the DFI boards, although popular, are really geared for the overclocking gamer - notice how the cover of their mobo boxes show a young kid or kids wearing headphones and gaming at a LAN party ??? And the MAJORITY of forum members who recommended that I go with a DFI board for my AMD Athlon64 system were young overclockers. BTW, PLEASE do not be offended if you are a young overcloker; I'm an old fart (46) and prefer an non-overclocked stable,
long living platform versus a superfast, overclocked
SHORT-living platform. I know some people are going to flame me for that comment and tell how their oc'd setup has lasted 2-3 years (ya-da-ya-da-ya-da) but if they are honest I think they would admit their systems required a LOT of TLC and maintenance.
BTW, the boards mentioned have the newer 24 pin P/S and although they are backward compatible with the older 20 pin P/S I can't tell you how many people recommended that I go with this
Seasonice S12-430 Power Supply. It has dual 12V rails, has ACTIVE PFC, has a large, slower, quieter 120MM single fan and is very efficient at low, middle and high power loads. I went with this
Fortron Source AX500A 500W Blue P/S based on reviews like this one at
Silent PC Review.
In terms of DDR400 RAM, lots of forum members recommended I go with this
G.Skill 1GB (2 x 512MB) 2-3-3-6 RAM for $98. It goes very quickly on NewEgg. They have run out of it twice in the last two weeks but it is so popular that the get it back in stock almost the very next day. As of today they have it, lol. I purchased this
Patriot 1 GB (2 x 512MB) 2-3-2-5-T1 RAM for $130. Two forum members that responded to my thread use it and like it's lower latency than the G.Skill - It overclocks fairly well also although I've heard that the G.Skill is good for overclocking and that may be why it is so popular.
BTW, I really wish I would have gone with an INTEL system for my new system build (please don't tell anyone else at this forum, lol). Let's face it, although AMD CPU's are known to be faster in gaming and MS Office Apps, Intel's P4s are known to be faster in audio/video encoding, 3D rendering and content-creation applications. Plus they are generally more stable and reliable platforms and are more compatible with different hardware and software configurations IMHO.
Well I hope I have been of some help to you and please let me know, by posting in this thread or by sending me a private message, which components you decide to purchase.
Greg
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