Intel P4 Mobo - Epox 4PEA+ or Abit BE7-R or Asus P4PE or Albatron PX845PEV PRO ??

[gsethi]

Hello

i am looking to buy a P4 motherboard...i have done some research and cant decide between the final 4.

heres what i am looking for:
BUDGET: ~$130
Intel chipset please - NO SIS
DDR board
USB 2.0
Onboard LAN
Raid
IEEE (optional)
SATA (optional)

i already have a 2.40B chip w/ "C1" stepping and am looking to overclock...will be buying the Alpha 8942 HS for that reason. The memory that i have chosen is Twinmos PC3200 memory w/ winbond chips (2x 256 mb for D-DDR boards when they become affordable or should i get 1x 512mb now ?? for better overclocking right now).

Please recommend as to which board out of these 4 or any other board ? Abit IT7 MAX2 v2 is too expensive for me unless i can find it for $130.

also, some other questions.....what PSU should i go with..i am thinking about Antec 430W True Power....will this be enough...
System will have:
Radeon 9700 Pro video card
2 Hard Drives
CD-RW drive
DVD Rom drive
SB Live Sound card

Please let me know if i am wrong somewhere....i am looking to get atleast 3.0 Ghz out of my chip and running the memory atleast DDR400 speeds

 

[oldfart]

You narrowed it down to 4 really nice boards. Hard to pick one really. One stick of ram is better for maximum overclocking, but the PE boards seem to handle 2 sticks pretty well. 2 sticks would be nice for a future upgrade to a DC DDR board. There have been some complaints of cold boot issues with PE boards when overclocking. The Albatron seems to be (not really sure) a bit better than others in this respect. The Abit gets the most complaints of cold boot probs. The Antec TruePowers are very good supplies.

 

[THUGSROOK]

beware of BE7....

even HOCP had a boot problem with their recent board

 

[gsethi]

thanks for your reply oldfart...

heres some pros and cons i have found out after doing more research and am listing the boards in my order of preference but still want final inputs from you guys:

1) Epox 4PEA+
PROS:
High overclocking features
Board has all the features like Raid, USB2.0, IEEE, SATA and all
CONS:
FSB limited to 200 FSB
NO 3:4 memory ratio

2) Albatron PX845PEV PRO:
PROS:
High overclocking featues but not as high as Epox
USB 2.0, SATA
FSB upto 248 Mhz
1:1, 4:5 and 3:4 memory ratios
CONS:
Albatron name is quite new
no IEEE
no RAID

3) Abit BE7-Raid - EDIT: SCRATCH THIS
PROS:
Overclocking features identical to Abit iT7-MAX2 V2.0
CONS:
no IEEE, SATA
Cold boot problem ?

4) Asus P4PE
PROS:
ASUS name
high overclocking features
CONS:
lots of cold boot problem
only 1:1 memory ratio after 133 FSB ?

I am have used Epox boards (the famous 4G4A+ and the epox KT333 boards) and have been extremely happy with all of them and am also an epox fan, so i am slightly biased towards them. The only reason thats keeping me away from epox this time is the FSB limitation to 200 FSB ....

If i cant decide, i will be going back to Epox 4G4A+ (atleast thats the board that i liked the most)

Wish i had the money for Abit iT7-MAX2 V2.0 but its toooo expensive....thanks for the warning Thugs (glad to see you back)...that takes off the BE7 off the list now..
help me out here guys....

 

[oldfart]

Do you need the 1394 and RAID? 1394 cards are not very $$ if you need to add one in. The P4PE has all mem ratios available @ all FSB. The Epox only has the 4:5, no 3:4. It depends on your overclocking and how good the ram is. If you get high enough in the FSB, your ram my not handle the 3:4 ratio speed anyway. You won't know until you get there. If I were buying one, I'd give the Albatron a shot.

 

[gsethi]

i dont need the IEEE 1394 right now and i can get by without the RAID but i would highly prefer if i can get the RAID since i have 4 drives in total...

hmmm....looks like i have to try albatron right now.. wondering if Albatron has RAID ?

 

[THUGSROOK]

ummm i think the albatron has a limited 3:4 and 4:5 ratio.
you dont get both ~ you only get 1 or the other depending on cpu.

(could be wrong but might wanna look into it)

 

[gsethi]

hmm Thugs....recommend me a board....

this is what i have and i am going pure overclocking now...
P4 2.40B "C1" Stepping - DELL pull
Alpha 8942 HSF combo
Twinmos PC3200 memory w/ winbond chips (gonna order these) or any other that you recommend
Radeon 9700 Pro vid card


Price should be ~$130 shipped to CA....

just noticed that the Gigabyte boards are not bad too but they are expensive....these are the things that i want in my mobo:

OnBoard LAN
RAID
USB2.0
IEEE 1394 (optional - not required)

 

[oldfart]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
ummm i think the albatron has a limited 3:4 and 4:5 ratio.
you dont get both ~ you only get 1 or the other depending on cpu.

(could be wrong but might wanna look into it)

Now that you mention it, I do seem to remember some posts about that. I think if you have a 133 MHz FSB CPU such as the 2.4B, you get the 4:5 and 3:4. If you use a 100 MHz FSB CPU, you only get 3:4. Evan was able to use both when he tested using a 2.26.

 

[gsethi]

lol guys....recommend me the final board...

i will be hitting ~166 FSB if my chip can handle it (which it should) and then i think that i will be using only 4:5 ratio since i dont think that my memory will do 166fsb @ 3:4 ratio...

so in the end, i might go with the epox but still have my eyes on the albatron....what do you guys say ?

 

[oldfart]

I'm kind of an Epox fan myself. I'm still running my 4BDA2+ 845D board. Its been great. The lack of the 3:4 is the only downside I see on the 4PEA+. But, @ 166 FSB, I doubt you could use it anyway. The Albatron also looks good. Flip a coin.

 

[Steven the Leech]

I have the 4 pea+ and can say it is the best motherboard i have owned. 1 vote for epox

 

[gsethi]

lol....if i flip a coin, its always going to be in Epox's favor being their fan
thats why i dont want to do that....

i have used Epox 4G4A+ (845G board) with success (1.60A @ 2.60 Ghz using 3:4 ratio )
Also used Epox 8KHA+ (KT266A), 8K3A+ and 8K5A2+ (KT333) without any problems so far...

the only reason thats keeping me away from epox this time is the 200 MAX FSB limitation...what to do...what to do....

 

[oldfart]

200 FSB is not going to limit you on a 2.4B anyways.

 

[gsethi]

so go with the Epox ?

i was wondering about future chips...will they work on this mobo ? i have a feeling just to go with the older Epox 4G4A+ (the board that i have used and trusted) and is also cheaper...

 

[oldfart]

I wouldn't. I dont like the 845G boards. They are picky with memory, dont overclock as well. Has that whole odd thing with Intel infs and nVidia drivers. If you want to go with an older board, get a good 845E like a Asus P4B533. I'd take my 4BDA2 over a 4G4A any day. If you want 4:5 ratio, stay with the 845PE boards.

 

[gsethi]

i think that i will either get the Epox 4PEA+ (most prolly) or the Albatron one..

i dont think that i will ever need the 3:4 memory ratio.....

 

[Tates]

In defense of the BE7 and the "boot problem", HOCP did experience it on an occasion, and still ranked the BE7-R as a "Top Pick".

My BE7 runs 99% w/o any boot issue. The few times it has occured, it always reboots with a simple touch of the reset button. There is a modified BIOS that seems to have eliminated the boot problem.

The boot problem is overrated, IMHO.

 

[oldfart]

Just get a PE board. Forget the 845G idea.

 

[gsethi]

What about the Asus P4PE board ?

 

[oldfart]

You gotta choose for yourself. All of these boards were reviewed on the main site by Evan. Go through the articles and pick one. They are all good boards.

 

[D3xx]

Dont forget that the Abit BE7 undervolts. A friends 2.4b runs at 173fsb in his 4PEA
but my BE7 tops out at 166.

 

[gsethi]

alright made up my mind:

85% - Epox 4PEA+
14% - Albatron
1% - ASUS

thanks

 

[First]

Originally posted by: gsethi
alright made up my mind:

85% - Epox 4PEA+
14% - Albatron
1% - ASUS

thanks

Lol, that's one way of doing it.

 

[gsethi]

seriously man.....so many good boards out there that cant even decide which is the best one....

I think that i am gonna go w/ Epox more prolly or maybe will give Albatron a try if i can find it cheap enough to justify it.....but most prolly its gonna be Epox cause of all the extra features it has .....

anyway will let you guys know of my results....