• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

My brand new Epox 4BDA2+ fried... What motherboard should I get now?!?

A

agrall

Senior member
Well, my brand new Epox 4DBA2+ motherboard fried on the 2nd boot up... So, I'm back to square one. Which motherboard should I order tomorrow to replace it?

The place I got it from (mwave.com) no longer carries it... So, either I order another from there, or ask for a refund upon RMA and get one from somewhere else...

Should I try to go with that board again? It seems as if it is getting harder to find as Epox moves to its successor the 4GA4+, but I have heard bad things about overclocking the 4GA4+...

Should I go Gigabyte instead? Asus? Help! I would like to order tomorrow... I am looking to o/c my P4 1.6a to around 2.4. I was hoping to use the ATA133 capabilities of my hard drive too.

Here are my components:
  • case + PS: Antec PLUS660 (plus an extra fan)
  • processor: P4 1.6a
  • motherboardEpox 4BDA2+
  • memory: Samsung 512 MB PC2700
  • hard drive: 60 GB Maxtor ATA-133 7200 RPM
  • video card: GF4 4400
  • CPU fan: Arkua 8568
  • mouse: MS Optical Intellimouse
  • keyboard: MS Internet Keyboard
  • scsi card: Tekram PCI
  • thermal paste: Arctic silver
  • sound card: SB Live
  • OS: Win XP Pro Upgrade Academic

Thanks for your help!
 
agrall, have you considered the EPoX 4SDA+ SiS645 chipset based board? I really vacillated between the 4DBA2+ and 4SDA+ board for my P4 1.6A, and am glad I went w/ the 4SDA+. The onboad High Point controller will give you ATA133. It's a good overclocker; only feature it lacks is fixed PCI. And, the 645 natively supports PC2700 DDR. Finish it off w/ a killer price - $92 @ Newegg.com.

What I don't see coming from EPoX is the SiS645X chipset. Anyone know anything about that?
 
Sorry to hear the mobo died. What happened? Check out your mounting, PS etc to be sure everything is setup ok. There is also a 4BEA and 4BEA2+ board available. Its like the 4BDA except it has the 845E chip and an extra DIMM slot. The ABIT BD7 an BD7II's are also good bets. If you can find another 4BDA2+, that would also be a good way to go. ASUS does not support 3:4 over 132 FSB. I would not buy one for that reason. Gigabyte, you have to be careful. The 845D boards had bad cold boot problems, and no PCI/AGP lock. I believe their 845E boards are better.

I would not get hung up on ATA133. It will give you a 0% increase in speed over ATA100. In fact, you can use IAA (Intel Application Accelerator) IDE drivers with only the Native Intel i845 IDE ports, not the 3rd party RAID ports. This will give you the fastest IDE performance available on a P4 platform. Mwave still has the 4BDA. If you want the Abit, Newegg has the BD7 for $82 and the BD7R (RAID) for $94, the BD7II for $118.

I'd stick with an 845 board if you want the best performance. SiS is ok, but they dont hit the high FSB speeds, no Lock, lower mem and IDE performance. They aren't really much cheaper either.
 
Ok... Newegg has a whole lot of Abit boards... and I know they ship fast, so I could get this damned thing built... 😉

Between the BD7II, BD7II-RAID, BG7m, and the IT7 MAX, which is the way to go?

Thanks.
 
Do I need RAID? No, not really... Would the RAID board be cable of running the HD at ATA-133? I know, I know... no real performance increae, but I'm just curious...

I would like the PS2 port for the mouse/keyboard and the parallel port for the printer would be nice...
 
no real performance increase
Click to expand...
Most likely, a performance decrease (not kidding). I run a WD 1200JB drive off the ATA100 ports. There is NO performance hit. My IDE performace is stellar. Get the BD7-II RAID if you want the legacy ports and the RAID. BG7 looks good if you could do without the RAID ports.
 
Oh, I see the BG7 has onboard video... That's certainly unnecessary.

I'll probably go with the BD7II...

oldfart - How do you set up your memory in your BIOS? I realize we have similar memory configs, so I was curious...

Also, do you know if this motherboard will lock the AGP/PCI?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top