Need help in deciding which motherboard to get...

[NJGuy]

I am going to build a P4 system and need some help in deciding what is a good long term solution for a motherboard. I have narrowed my choice down to two motherboards: Abit TH7-II which uses the Intel 850 chipset or the Shuttle AV40 which uses the VIA P4X266 chipset.

They both accept a P4 1.7Ghz (478 pin) CPU, which is the CPU I want to get. The main reason for getting the Shuttle AV40 would be because it accepts DDR Ram while the Abit TH7-II uses RDRAM.

I understand that Intel will be releasing another chipset like the 850 that accpepts DDR RAM, but I really don't know exactly when that is going to happen. Sometime next year I think.

I am not looking to overclock anything or make any custom configurations to my motherboard. I like the mobo to be a simple painless install which is why I like Abit.

Anyone have any suggestions? Does the VIA chipset have anything else on Intel other than the DDR support? In terms of long term (2 years), will RDRAM still be around?

Thanks!


Oh and if you have other suggestions, let me know about that too. The Sis 645 chipset looks promising.

 

[DaveSimmons]

The Intel D850MV is another good choice since you aren't overclocking.

Another option is to buy now what you'll need for the next 1-2 years using the cheaper socket-423 (D850GBC) which saves about $45, since you'll need a new motherboard anyway when intel moves to 133x4 FSB.