MB suggestion for OC a P4-1.6a

[Avus]

I am getting a P4-1.6a in the next few days... need suggestion for a good OC motherboard. (OC to 2166/533) I want to keep the cost down, (hence OC..) so i WON'T get a RDRAM motherboard. (RDRAM is dying anyway) The store owner suggest me to get an Asus P4S333 or P4S333-M (micro-ATX, onboard LAN and Audio). Are they any good? (they are pretty cheap) I don't mind it is a micro-ATX motherboard (P4S333-M) as long as it has an AGP and can OC. (i only have an Audigy, NIC and GF3 to put in, if the motherboard has LAN i don't even put my NIC in) Last, i will be getting 2 256mb 266-DDR RAM. I don't have to OC the RAM right?? (again it is cheaper and too hard to find 333-DDR now, may be upgrade them in future)

My objective is to spend the least $$$ to get the most performance upgrade. (guess most of the people want) I don't need the extreme performance but stability is a must.

Many thanks in advance for any input on this.

Avus

 

[KK]

I have a P4S333 and can OC up to 140FSB with a 4:5 ratio. The micro board will cut your PCI slots down alot. You got a nic card, just go with the regular board, you can get the one with audio. It runs around $105. As far as memroy goes you can get a 512 Chip of PC2700 for around $200, maybe couple dollars more than PC2100.

 

[XBoxLPU]

Asus P4S333

I have one and I am totally stable...

I also have a GF3, and an Audigy.

OC to 148 FSB and memory set to Auto. I am having no problems

 

[Nate420]

Asus P4B266

Running 156FSB without a hitch

 

[dbwillis]

Asus P4S333, mine is running stable and strong!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Welcome to the AT forums Avus
Either of the boards suggested will make you a happy camper, the P4S333 is less expensive but the P4B266 has a few features that are worth the extra $$$ IMHO.

 

[SmackdownHotel]

Either the P4S333 or the P4B266 will do you fine.

 

[dbal]

<< (RDRAM is dying anyway) >>



I don't wanna flame war about this statement (cuz I totally disagree) but just an advice- don't be so absolute regarding technology where everything evolves and changes from one minute to another, plus you don't have to be so quarellsome from your very first post.....:disgust: Pity for a new member....

P.S: It's like visiting someone's house for the first time and calling his BMW car crap just because you wanna buy a Mercedes......:|

 

[dexvx]

You might want to try the P4b-266 or p4b-266C (comes with less features, but is about $30-40 cheaper). Even though the SIS645 chipset is getting rave reviews, Tom over at tomshardware (yea yea) did mention the fact that i845DDR boards were more stable than SIS645 boards (who knows, it could be 99.999% uptime vs 99.99% uptime).

As far as RDRam is concerned, it *will* be the highest performer. Samsung 16device PC800 RDram (basically garunteed to run at 1066) costs less than brand name PC2400 DDR ram. So you may want to reconsider buying an RDRam system (although i850 boards cost about $20-30 more than their i845 counterparts), but it requires finding the right memory clock generators.

 

[DBandit]

question cause i really want to know.

where is everyone buying the cheap rambus from?
i can get some samsung pc2700 for around $82 + shipping http://www.svcompucycle.com

problem with rdram is i gotta buy two, and most places even newegg jack prices on shipping 2 products.

n/m: found some cheap stuff off pricewatch.

 

[dexvx]

Googlegear.com has 16 device Original Samsung PC800 Rambus 256MB sticks for $77 each (i ordered them at that price).

From what I hear, most cheap generic Rambus won't do the 1066Mhz dance (not even if they have Samsung chips).

 

[ahsia]

I would get the Gigabyte 8SRX, which is what I have. Read through this thread:

Gigabyte 8SRX vs. ASUS P4S333

The guy who started this thread recommended the ASUS, but in the end, Gigabyte won his heart over. There was another site that showed the Gigabyte performing the best out of all the SiS645 boards.

I have my P4 1.6A OC'ed to 2.3GHz. Get the Gigabyte!

 

[DBandit]

after reading all that stuff from the asus boards, the gigabyte sounds sweet especially for $74 from mwave.

thanks for all those links you guys. this thread has been very helpful to me.

 

[Avus]

One more thing to ask, does anyone have any problem using USB when OCing? I heard this in another posts... specially when using Asus P4S333,
P2B266 & P2B266-C. USB is necessary for me (mouse and my favorite Act Labs steering wheel)

(for now, I am leaning toward P4S333 since many of you are successfully ocing with it)

Thanks again for all your input

Avus

 

[DAPUNISHER]

The P4B266-C is the only Asus P4 board I heard of having problems with overclocking and USB. However, that doesn't preclude the possiblities that there are others, although I can personally vouch for the P4S333 being fine up to 150FSB using USB.

 

[Avus]

Thanks again for your info.... now i am sure to know what to buy...

Avus