SiS 645 Chipset

[ResCue]

I would like recommendations from the experts as to what they feel is the best intel SiS 645 chipset motherboard and why please? Thank you in advance and Happy New Year.

 

[Duvie]

Looks like a great board...I read a review last night that showed it neck and neck with the beloved i850/rdram platform...

 

[KGB1]

Dude
PC2700 DDR!!! That is the only chipset that supports it, and motherboards are out there now! THG test's showed it kickin' the VIA and Intel chipsets to the curb. Plus SiS is a phenominal Chipset maker. Most times a heatsink is Not required on the chipsets. I'd buy one, but no cash. 845DDR will not support PC2700 neither will VIA (I wonder if at all)
Get the new revision of the Pentium4 and let the good times roll.
(I am pretty certain no AMD system could match at P4 with SiS 645, and 2.2+ gigs, even though there has been no tests done yet, but that is dependant on the new Pentium 4 architecture)

 

[o1die]

Gamepc has a review comparing the P4s333 with 3 other P4 mobos. Atacom has the asus P4s333 board with raid for only $129. If the 1.6 or 1.8 northwood cpu is reasonably priced, I'm gonna try one. I saw an article on these versions in Japan; I hope intel will offer them here.

 

[Athlon4all]

Well, ECS P4S5A using it has been out for a while. Some ppl have picked it up and have said it's great. I'd go for the P4S333 as the best SiS 645 board though.

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

If the 1.6 or 1.8 northwood cpu is reasonably priced, I'm gonna try one. . I thought that the northwood was going to start @ 2.2 GHZ.

 

[Mark0999]

I am using an ECS P5S5A on a secondary rig and I like it a lot. It's cheap, stable and fast. However, if I was running a P4 in my primary rig, then I would've probably gone with the Asus P4S333 (or maybe even the MSI 645 Ultra).

 

[Bingo13]

The RDRAM boards will still out perform the DDR boards with Northwood, no contest when running at PC1066. However, the SIS645 boards are excellent solutions although the shipping boards are not performing as well as the SIS reference boards at this time. The Northwoods will start at 2.2 with a "very" strong possibility of a 2.0 being available at launch (official date is 1/27 but they are shipping now in some areas).

Asus board is reviewed here- P4S333

 

[Athlon4all]

I thought launch date was this Friday? Or Monday the 7th? And Bingo, SiS 645+PC2700 at worst, comes within 3% of RDRAM which is negligable. And that really won't change not until Northwood is released using 533fsb and that won't be until Q2'02. Then, I agree PC1066+Northwood 533fsb will be a ripping combo, but for now, the performance loss on 645(If any) is negligable.

 

[ResCue]

Thanks you for all the replies and recommendations. I do have another question. What changes were made on the SiS 645 A2 chipset and who is supporting it? Ihave not been able to find any additional information other than what was reported at xbits. Again thank you for your valuable input.

 

[Tom]

That is a super review Bingo13, thanks for the link.

I'm also looking at building a P4 system and thought I knew what I wanted.

SiS645 board, probably the Asus P4S333 since it's only a few dollars more than the also good ECS and MSI.
Best Northwood for <$250, maybe a 2.0, we'll see..
Crucial PC2100ddr(which based on that review is going to have to run at PC2700 and maybe will)

But with the recent increase in DDR prices and lower rdram prices the picture is a bit more hazy.

Asus P4T-E (about $50 more for motherboard)
pc800 Samsung rdram (about $40 more for 512mbs worth, hopefully can be run at pc1066
same Northwood as above.

So for not that much money it's a substantially faster system at defaults(rdram800 vs pc2100), and potientally much faster overclocked.

Random thoughts-
rdram at pc1066 is going to be a big jump over the already faster pc800, I think.
overclocked Northwoods are going to be quite speedy.

 

[ResCue]

Is there any other SiS 645 MB that anyone can recommend other than the Asus that will support Northwood?

 

[venk]

i love my MSI board, rock stable

 

[Athlon4all]

ECS P4S5A will support Northwood as well as long as it's Socket 478 (I believe it is). Generally, any P4 board that is Socket 478 will support Northwood with a simple BIOS update.

 

[Bingo13]

I would highly suggest going SIS645 or Intel 845D if you buy a Northwood and will overclock. The RDRAM boards seem to be hitting a wall right now with the Northwood, mine included. Another great review on the Northwood is here- Northwood 2.0a Review