I need guidance on a P4 Mobo !!!

[sirsleepsalot]

Hi all !

After a long period of inactivity, I'm back... (I'm sure you don't care, but heh, just wanted to point it out)

Anyways, I'm here seeking advice.

My moms friend wants me to build her a computer. This thing has to be absolutely rock stable since it's used for work. I was thinking of something along the lines of a Pentium 4 Northwood A (as there isn't that much of a need for the extra FSB in the B).

But I don't know anything about P4 motherboards. This is where you guys (and girls) come in. What would you recommend as a very stable board for the pentium 4. Intergrated graphics could be interesting as well as onboard sound and networking. I suppose RAID could be another interesting option, but not essential. And since I want to keep the cost of the system relatively low, DDR ram will be fine.

Thanks a lot for any input !

 

[mechBgon]

How about a plain old i845G board from Intel themselves, or Asus, EPoX, MSI or Gigabyte?

Alternatively, I've been building the following for work, and they are working out great:

• Retail AMD AthlonXP 1800+, 3-year warranty
• Asus A7N266-VM, retail box with GF2MX video, Dolby sound with S/PDIF, nForce NIC, 3-year warranty
• Antec PerformancePlus 660B case with TruePower 330W PSU, 3-year warranty
• Maxtor 20Gb 7200rpm IDE hard drive, 3-year warranty (or used to be, a pox on these new 1-year warranties! :|)
• Sony CD-ROM drive
• Floppy drive
• 256Mb Crucial PC2100 DDR, lifetime warranty

Even after opening Word, Excel, Outlook, Access, PowerPoint, Publisher, Quickbooks, My Computer and Acrobat Reader all at once, this still comes out to memory usage of well under 200Mb (on Win2000), so even though the onboard video uses a bit of memory (16Mb is what I pick), there doesn't seem to be much point in going beyond 256Mb of RAM. The systems are super-stable, judging by the 12 in my fleet so far. I was so impressed that I got an A7N266-VM for my own work system, which doubles as an impromptu file server for our Office2000 administrative installation point, drivers, patches and software. No disappointments

edit: for the record, with an Antec 660AMG case, black Sony CD-ROM drive and black Mitsumi floppy, two extra Enermax thermally-regulated case fans and Windows2000 OEM for the operating system, the above comes to about $600 shipped from Newegg.

edit 2: substitute an Intel-brand i845G board with LAN, and a retail 1.8A, for about another $110 if you prefer. 3-year warranties on those as well.

 

[oldfart]

You didn't say what the budget is, so it's kind of hard to make recommendations. I assume you are not thinking of overclocking. For the CPU, I'd say go with a P4 2.4B GHz. The Northwood "B" 533 FSB does not cost a premium. It costs the same as the "A" version. It's the best bang for the $$ right now. For a mobo, it depends on if you want all that extra stuff. If you want integrated graphics, there are many nice 845G boards around. The EPOX 4G4A or 4G4A+ (RAID) is a good one for the $$. Get some good quality PC2700 from Samsung or equivalent and you are looking good.

Round numbers:
P4 2.4B $200
EPOX 4G4A $100
256 M DDR333 $75

Total = $375

 

[sirsleepsalot]

Well, here's my system as of now...
think it would be good ?

Amd Athlon XP 1800+ (1.53GHz)
512 MB PC-2100
Epox 8K7A+
I'd put in some cheap vid cart
Leave my 2 IBM 40Gig HDDs in
Get a decent case with good PSU
Change CPU fan (she'd go crazy with this lil Delta)
Throw in a decent CD-Rom...
I think it'd be good... No ? Yes ? Maybe ?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: sirsleepsalot
Well, here's my system as of now...
think it would be good ?

Amd Athlon XP 1800+ (1.53GHz)
512 MB PC-2100
Epox 8K7A+
I'd put in some cheap vid cart
Leave my 2 IBM 40Gig HDDs in
Get a decent case with good PSU
Change CPU fan (she'd go crazy with this lil Delta)
Throw in a decent CD-Rom...
I think it'd be good... No ? Yes ? Maybe ?

I can't envision anyone not being able to do office work on that, looks fine to me. KD Computers has a decent copper-based Taisol for $15.

 

[RalfHutter]

If it's for work and it has to be absolutely rock-stable you might want to think about pulling the 2 IBM HDDs (if they're 75GXPs or 60GXPs) and replacing them with something a *little* more reliable.

 

[CrazySaint]

Originally posted by: RalfHutter
If it's for work and it has to be absolutely rock-stable you might want to think about pulling the 2 IBM HDDs (if they're 75GXPs or 60GXPs) and replacing them with something a *little* more reliable.

Yes, as an example, a HD that uses a hamster in a wheel to rotate the platter would be more reliable.

 

[Regalk]

Here is a link I found that may suit your needs

http://www.asus.com.tw/mb/socket478/p4ge-v/overview.htm

Take a look at that board - It may suit your needs. Asus boards are always great for such purposes as you intend.

 

[sirsleepsalot]

Originally posted by: RalfHutter
If it's for work and it has to be absolutely rock-stable you might want to think about pulling the 2 IBM HDDs (if they're 75GXPs or 60GXPs) and replacing them with something a *little* more reliable.

Actualy, I believe I got lucky with my 60GXPs as the only problem I had with them has been narrowed down to my PSU... One of my connectors isn't working too good... After plugging it to my DVD drive, the harddrives worked fine, windows booted in half the time and my DVD didn't get any power... Conclusion : PSU problem...

Anyways, jiggled the wire around a bit and now that's working fine...