Got me a 1.6A, need help with mobo and Ram.

[Thrlskr]

I just got a 1.6A. What is a good board. It looks like a lot of people are using the asus p4b266. Is that a good one? I'm not up to much on the new P4s. I'm still playing with the BX boards... I take it that pc2100 is faster then the pc1600. Does the p4b266 work with the pc2700 ram.

I'll probably O/C but no more the 133FSB as that's fast enough for me.

Thanks.

 

[o1die]

I use the epox 4sda+, and it overclocks well. My 1.6a is currently running at 2.19 with fsb at 137, memory at +.2 volts, cpu vcore at 1.625, and cpu/memory ratio is 4/5, so memory is running at 171 fsb and is read as pc2700 at boot-up. The non raid version is only $86 (newegg). I have two different sticks of memory, so am only running one pc2100 elixyr (never heard of this one) but it runs fast in this board. The limiting factor for me is the modem, which disconnects if I set the fsb above 138.

 

[Thrlskr]

Man am I out of touch. Your memory is running at 171fsb? I have no idea what half of you said means. I need to learn fast I guess. So pc2100 is good enough or is 2700 the way to go? What chipset you have?

 

[o1die]

I would go with samsung pc2700 with 5 or 6 ns chips. Regular pc2100 worked for me, but pc2700 is worth the extra cost and should run more stable. I tried two different brands of memory together, and it was a no-go. The epox boards seem to be more sensitive to memory timing settings. If the settings are wrong, this mobo beeps constantly. Also, with 2 or 3 sticks of ddram, you may have to start with just one stick and change the ddram command setting from 1T to 2T (or auto) before it will post. The 4sda+ uses the sis 645 chipset.

 

[Sanitarium]

The MSI AR ultra 845 chipset is pretty good
got my 1.6A @2.510 fsb 157
using kingston value ram ddr 256mb
got from newegg I believe they don't have the MSI AR now but they have the newer MSI ARU 845chipset only difference I believe is usb2

John

 

[Thrlskr]

sounds like the MSI 845 ultra and the Asus p4b333 are both really good boards. And the Mushkin 2700 ram price is pretty decent.

 

[bocamojo]

So far, I'm very pleased with the Asus P4B266-C board I bought for my 1.6A. Very nice OC'ing features throughout. Only problem with this board is that the hardware monitor doesn't record the proc temp below 40C. However, there are lots of folks stipulating that this will be fixed with the next BIOS revision. Very minor thing. In fact, it doesn't even bother me at all, since I rely on MBM 5 to monitor my CPU / chipset temps. Also, I really like the 3:4 option at 132FSB. My DDR is screamin' along at around 175MHz with 2:2:2:7 timings (351MHz, if you consider the DDR aspect), which is great for PC2100 memory (it's a 256MB Crucial stick). This board has been very stable and forgiving. If I went to high on an FSB setting, all I had to do is turn off the system, and it let's me back in to the BIOS, so I can change it. No need to power off the system, reset the CMOS with a jumper, etc. Very nice.

 

[Thrlskr]

So the difference between the Asus 266 and 333 is only minor then? I have always been partial to Abit but from what I've read they don't look to be much of a player here.

 

[prontospyder]

Another recommendation for the Asus P4B266-C