Looking to upgrade: Which Intel P4 board is best?

[Satyrist]

Abit AI7

Asus P4P800

DFI 875 Lanparty Pro

cliffs:
I'm more than a bit fed up with NF2 in light of the recent problems that it has with CPC and 512mb ddr modules, (which tends to hamper overclocks/stability) and the fact that with only 512mb, (2x256 mushkin special promo build, BH-5 chips) the swap keeps getting hit heavily while playing ut2k4/BF:V..The fact that the OCZ EB modules appear to be very hit or miss with NF2 in general aren't appealing to me either.

With the onset of nf3, and the fact that nf2 seems to quickly becoming budget legacy technology, (as I perceive it) NVidia seems to have less incentive to keep an updated driver set for nf2 as well...the problems they've had with getting a reliable native ide driver doesn't help either.

the setup:
XP2500+ mobile (I've gone to about 205x11.5, vdimm 2.8, vcore 1.7 with it so far)
NF7-S v.2
SLK-900 heatsink w/80mm blue led thermaltake smartfan2
2x256 Mushkin Special Promo Build Pc3200 (BH5)
FIC radeon 9700
seagate 7200rpm 2mb cache 120gb hdd
pioneer 16x slotload dvd
fortron/source aurora 350w p/s-blue led 120 fan
chieftec dragon mini-mid case (antec sx635 clone)

I've been on the fence for the longest time about this, what sort of performance change would I see going back to Intel?

Which of the top motherboards might be a good setup to upgrade to--Also, I'd probably be looking at a 2.6/2.8c northwood for the cpu. (prescott way too hot, as it seems to be)

Lastly, what's a good memory match--OCZ EB modules, or Komusa AData modules?

Thank you.

 

[o1die]

Why don't you go with athlon 64, and don't be too concerned about overclocking. Some setups overclock to 2400-2600, and some don't. Otherwise, I would wait for lower priced versions of socket 939, which may be released by the end of the year.

 

[ToBeMe]

Originally posted by: o1die
Why don't you go with athlon 64, and don't be too concerned about overclocking. Some setups overclock to 2400-2600, and some don't. Otherwise, I would wait for lower priced versions of socket 939, which may be released by the end of the year.

How exactly does that ^^^^ answer this????

Which Intel P4 board is best?

:roll::disgust::roll:

Now, to answer the original question posted in this thread....................

The AI7 is a very nice board for the $$ and a good O/C'er but the others are not slouches either.................I personally have had outstanding expieriences with Abit boards within the last 2 years or so especially. As far as ram, some have great results with OCZ.......................other find it, as you said, "Hit & Miss"......................I've tried it, and it was fine in the system built, but, I usually opt for Corsair XMS for O/C'ing systems and Crucial for system that will not be O/C'ed........................

 

[Satyrist]

actually, the EB chips were built with a certain batch of micron chips, (-5b c, I seem to remember) that would do as well as BH-5/6 with less voltage.

The catch is that the tightest settings these modules will take, generally, is 2.5-2-2.

I may take a look at the new Ballstix modules from Crucial as well, (PC3200, 2-2-2) seem a little less than OCZ/Mushkin/Corsair.

As it was stated above, the NF2 architecture apparently has problems (in some cases, at least) with running >200fsb when using dual channel, and 512mb modules--and NOT solely OCZ/Micron either.

I didn't put down A64/socket 939 as the street price is still WAY too high, for what I want to do. It's a pity that socket 754 didn't take to the market and continue onwards.

 

[Satyrist]

up

 

[187]

im also intrested in these three mobos. what is the best i875p mobo for a 2.8 northwood?