Please tell me what is the best mb I can buy for this hardware

[Subw00er]

Subject: Please tell me what is the best mb I can buy for this hardware

Ok, I have:

ATX case, 250 watt power supply, (2) fans
PIII intel coppermine 866 slot1 processor (although it reads as a 650mhz in benchmarking tools?!?)
AGP matrox G400 video card
(2) 256meg crucial SDRAM 32x16 100mhz chips
IDE hard drives (no scsi!)

I dont need isa slots, but will need one agp. The more pci slots the better. I guess I just want a reputable brand that has good bIOS options and is stable. I'd like to get (if I can) a mb that will support a bigger processor (P4) in the future, but still will support my sdrams - is that possible? Any replies are welcomed, thanks.

 

[CraigRT]

You'd be happy with a Soyo SY-6VCA mobo I'm sure.

Also, an Asus P3V4X is a good bet, many people have these and love them.

Your CPU is reading 650MHz it sounds like because it's a 6.5x multiplier on that 866 CPU
and it relies on a 133MHz BUS to read 866
hence 6.5x133 = 866
right now it's working at 6.5x100 = 650

These boards I mentioned will run at 133 and let your CPU run at 866MHz no problem!
Unfortunately your upgrade path is dead with this CPU but unless you want to buy a P4 NOW you can't upgrade this in the future... rest assure that a 866MHz PIII is still a pretty good CPU and won't need to be upgraded for a while.

 

[Subw00er]

Hmm, so I would probably need to upgrade my ram to 133mhz as well to run at 866, right? I'm calling crucial now and upgrading to 133mhz ram (just bought the 100mhz a while ago).

So does anyone have any opinions ons which is better, the asus P3V4X or the Soyo SY-6VCA? Are there any distinguishing features that I should know about? Looks like I'll be running at 133bus speed now.

 

[Athlon4all]

Yeah, the board u have now is a BX most likely so it runs at 100fsb, while the CPU is a 133fsb. Asus P3V4X is a good board, but Via Apollo 133A isn't as fast as 815, but still i've heard good about P3V4X. Truthfully though, I'd get a new CPU upgrade if you're getting a new mobo because like he said, P3 is a dead upgrade path. PIII is starting to be phased out, and P4 requires new case, new mobo, new P/S, and while there are SDRAM boards, it makes the P4 perform terrible, not recommended. DDR on P4 on the other hand is very good, nearly up to RDRAM performance. But there's only 1 board for a reputable manufacturer, Shuttle's AV40. Haven't seen many reveiws, but Anand says that he's doing a P4X roundup this week so read that when it publishes it if you are considering P4+DDR. Any q's PM me.

 

[Subw00er]

Ok, just put in an order for a:

ABIT SH6 i815E MOTHERBOARD SLOT 1 ATX UDMA66/100 66/100/133 MHZ

Hope it works! Looks like the 815 chipset is a better choice since its intel. Thanks for the help guys.
-Sub

ps- it was $159 after shipping, was that a good price?

 

[ErkDog]

lol, gotta love intel.. I NEVER pay more than $70 for a motherboard... hahahahhahahahah