looking for advice on motherboards

[cyberock]

I want to swap out my current motherboard on my system. I have a P4 2.0 ghz northwood. I plan on really soon upgrading to P4 2.4 or greater. I have my own video card and sound card so I don't need all that onboard crap. I'm looking for one that supports USB 2.0 and possibly ATA 133 since I have a ATA 133 hard drive. Any suggestions?

 

[Froid]

Cyberrock,

I have been doing a ton of research on Intel 845PE based motherboards. Check out Tom's Hardware for a review of 13 845PE boards.

I personally am trying to pick a new motherboard also. I don't preceive needing Serial ATA and Raid would just be a bonus. I have narrowed the choices down to this:

Asus P4PE/L (higher priced, great company, great reviews)
AOpen AX4PER (basic board, great reviews, no LAN, About $40 less than other options)
Gigabyte 8PE667 Ultra (Same price as Asus but with Raid, Great company, Great reviews)
Albatron PX845PE Pro IIS (Company is new to motherboards, mobo has great reviews, full of features)
Abit BE7-Raid (Full featured, High Rankings on Reviews, Abit's forum indicates an overheating & lockup problems with board)

So many choices and I can only take one home with me. I hope others weigh in on this thread and help us decide which motherboard is the best. Good Luck!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

The best of the bunch I can't speak to, but I can say that I use the P4PE/L and it's schweet! Rock solid, fastest memory controller of any board I've had, no cold boot issue, and a good overclocker if you're into that. The only negative I've found involves overclocking and te issue is that the integrated sound cops out at over 150FSB or so, but most don't overclock or at least not drastically so it's not much of an issue.

 

[cyberock]

The Asus P4PE/L is sounding the most promising to me right now. I'll just have to disable the onboard sound since I have a Sound Blaster Audigy platinum. Will it support my ATA 133 hard drive too?

 

[LouPoir]

I think you cant go wrong with any of the I845PE boards. I have the Asus P4PE and its on of the best boards I have seen in awhile.

Lou

 

[Froid]

I think Lou is right. You can't go wrong with the 845PE chipset and Asus seems to be winning in the reviews.

I finally made up my mind and ordered an Asus P4PE/L motherboard and an Intel P4 2.4ghz Northwood 533mhz processor. I can't wait! Looks like Christmas is coming early to my house!

 

[CraigRT]

EPoX 4PEA has all of those features and of course, it's EPoX, so it overclocks well and is fast.

 

[uncleX]

> want to swap out my current motherboard on my system.

Why? Doesn't it work?

USB 2 and ATA 133 are useless. ATA 133 HDs can't sustain data fast enought to overun ATA 66.

> I plan on really soon upgrading to P4 2.4

Why bother? You already have a P4 2.0. You have a lot of money you can't find anything else to spend it on?

 

[cyberock]

Originally posted by: uncleX
> want to swap out my current motherboard on my system.

Why? Doesn't it work?

USB 2 and ATA 133 are useless. ATA 133 HDs can't sustain data fast enought to overun ATA 66.

> I plan on really soon upgrading to P4 2.4

Why bother? You already have a P4 2.0. You have a lot of money you can't find anything else to spend it on?

I bought an external DVD Writer that works on USB 2.0. I don't have any open slots left on my current noard to drop in a 2.0 card. I've also have seen a very noticable difference with the 533mhz. I plan on donating my P4 2.0 to my fiancee who gets all my hand me down computers who's still back on a P3.