Poll: Best High-End DDR mobo for P4 Northwood?

[optimistic]

Enough of this powderpuff P4 mobo threads! I'm looking for the best high-end DDR mobo to pair up with a P4 Northwood!

By HIGH-END I mean:
- RAID! Either ata100/ata133
- Overclocking options: Vcore/Dimm Multiplier/FSB adjustable
- USB 2.0 if possible
- 6Ch audio is a plus

Go vote in the poll!

Or go vote in the Best Low-End P4 Motherboard Poll

 

[optimistic]

^^

 

[dbwillis]

What..no Asus P4S333 on the list?

 

[optimistic]

I made two threads, High-End & Low-End to get a better idea of which motherboard is best for which feature set. Doesn't matter which chipset except the i850 because I already own DDR ram.

 

[Insane3D]

I really think their is no competition for the ultimate high-end P4 board...the Soyo P4I Fire Dragon is the most feature packed of any of the P4 DDR mobos. You will pay for it though...it's $210 over @ Newegg.

 

[optimistic]

I agree, the P4I is the sure winner in the feature department. But since none of us are infinetly rich, lets keep price as one of the deciding factors to which is the best DDR mobo for the Northwood. But if you think the feature set on the P4I are worth the $50+ price premium, then by all means vote for the P4I.

 

[Daovonnaex]

I cannot bring myself to vote as I cannot reasonably lend my support to DDR SDRAM for the Pentium 4.

 

[Underclocked]

How could one offer up an intelligent vote unless they had been exposed to each board on a personal level and had familiarity with each's features and capabilities?


Oh I get it!!. It's just like a presidential race.

 

[optimistic]

<< I cannot bring myself to vote as I cannot reasonably lend my support to DDR SDRAM for the Pentium 4. >>


Its okay The i850 does shine in memory benchmark tests! But as I said before I already have DDR ram ready to go.

 

[manko]

>Dao's Rigs

OT, but I was just checking out your rigs, Daovonnaex...

Subjectively speaking, how does your Northwood box compare to your XP 1700+ (yeah, I noticed the 8500 is in the Northwood). Is it a huge difference? Where do you notice the most (if any) difference?

Just wondering...(point me to another thread if you've already compared them elsewhere). Thanks!

 

[optimistic]

<< How could one offer up an intelligent vote unless they had been exposed to each board on a personal level and had familiarity with each's features and capabilities?


Oh I get it!!. It's just like a presidential race. >>



Can everyone just post YOUR OPINIONS of these boards intead of crapping on this thread so "We can get familiar on each motherboard through your personal experience" :|

 

[lahockey]

I'm usually lucky enough to get the products in my hands for little/no cost.
(and I usually get them early)
I make decisions for my company about which products to use.
The Asus P4B266 and the Soyo boards (both the SY-P4S Dragon Ultra and the SY-P4I Fire Dragon) are excellent choices.
Some of the other statments have been centered around the PRICE of the boards ... why should that matter?
(ok ... ok ... hard for me to make that call when I just said I get samples of most of the boards for FREE!)
but ... really ...
we are talking about what is the best choice ... not what is the best choice for under $99
If I were to invest my hard earned $ (and believe me ... I work hard to earn it - and I don't get enough)
I would have a hard time picking one of the three boards.
I guess I would have to pass on the Fire Dragon just because I don't really need iEEE 1394 (fire wire)
Then it's between the Asus P4B266 and the Soyo SY-P4S Dragon Ultra.
My choice would be the Asus P4B266 for TWO reasons.
1) The i845 chipset is DESIGNED by Intel for an INTEL CPU ... and they make STABLE (not always the most overclock friendly - at least not since the i440BX) chipsets.
2) Asus DOES have a great name for motherboards ... (although SOYO has been working very hard to bring themselves up to the levels of Abit / Asus / MSI)
So ... Asus P4B266 wins ... and can be purchased for about the same price as the Soyo Dragon Ultra ... sometime less .. but with LESS "features" (no hardware 6 channel sound ... no IDE RAID ... no 10/100 LAN ... no front 3.5" bay adapter thingie included w/ smart card reader AND front USB)

 

[Underclocked]

That wasn't a thread crap and neither is this. How can one seriously judge a motherboard without having at least one of the others to compare? The only one I've experienced is the P4B266 and I don't think I would give it the glowing result this poll seemingly does. Nice enough board but I would like to know what my cpu temperature is really doing.

Okay, I admit it!!! I should have included the smilies.

 

[rogue1979]

Look at the thread about Tomshardware review including some P4's running on a 533MHz RDRAM boards. An overclocked 2.2a@3000MHz gets beat by a 2.66GHz on a 533MHz board with RDRAM in every single benchmark. There are a few RDRAM boards out there now with clock generators that support a 533MHz speed. I have been studying up and came up with this conclusion. The P4 systems based on the Northwood cpu are affordable and very overclockable. However, it seems with a DDR platform they do not offer any performance increase over an overclocked AMD XP system, unless you are willing to shell out $475 for a 2.2a. And even at 3GHz the speed of the P4 is only slightly more than a 1800MHz XP. Put a 1.8a on a RDRAM board at 133MHz for 2.4GHz and you have an easy overclock that will beat the AMD XP system performance wise at about the same price, impressive! And I think it would take much less effort to get the 1.8a to 2.4GHz than any good AMD XP cpu to 1800MHz.

 

[optimistic]

Hmm, I read about that too. DDR begins to bottleneck the P4 after 2.4GHz

 

[optimistic]

Man! Today, Fry's had the Soyo P4S bundled with a retail P41.6 for $229!!. Too bad its the 256k cache version though.

 

[ruel24]

You know, Asus would run away with this poll even more if they'd just release the anticpated P4B266-E in the US!!! I'm still waiting for it...

Any opinions on the GA-8IRXP? It seems close in features.

 

[manko]

<< You know, Asus would run away with this poll even more if they'd just release the anticpated P4B266-E in the US!!! I'm still waiting for it... >>

SAME HERE!

but I figure by the time it comes out in a few weeks (hopefully), we might have a few more options with the new SiS chipsets on the way soon too. On the other hand, I may go with RDRAM.

My lonely little Malaysian orphan is waiting for a good home...ASUS, you listening?