the best motherboard for Pentium III

[princejoe]

My Asus p3v4x motherboard just died along with my 250w case. I was wondering what is the best motherboard for Pentium III out there other than Asus P3v4x, I know it was voted the editor's choice in Anandtech and lots of other forums, but I can't seem to find it in any online stores. The motherboard is for my Pentium III 600mhz EB 133mhz, the asus p3v4x is a slot 1 motherboard, I was wondering what is the difference between socket 370 and the slot 1? Thanks

 

[AndyHui]

There is no performance difference between Slot 1 and Socket 370. Is your processor Slot 1 or Socket 370? You have not exactly made that clear.

For Slot 1, I would have said ASUS P3V4X or perhaps the ASUS P3B-F, but that's not exactly helpful if you can't get it hmm?

 

[princejoe]

thanks for the reply, andyhui. I have a slot 1 processor, I guess I have to buy a slot1 motherboard, right? But since I couldn't find any Asus p3v4x out there, are there any other good slot 1 motherboard out there? would it be as stable and good overclocking as the p3v4x? thanks

 

[Migroo]

My mobo is great for Socket 370 CPUs.

Gigabyte GA-6VX7-4A.

 

[cockeyed]

My choice for a new slot-1 mobo would be the Abit SH6. It is the only slot-1, i815 chipset mobo that I know of and it has the latest technolgy features. A friend has 3 of them and they all perform well.

 

[Athlon4all]

Yea, I've heard good things about SH6, but isn't there a 815 B-stepping version of Asus p3v4x? If so, I'd try to get it for future Tualatin support just in case.

 

[AndyHui]

No. The P3V4X was the last Slot 1 board ASUS ever produced. There is no Tualatin compatible version of this board (nor is it an i815 chipset board).

 

[princejoe]

thanks for all the feedbacks, guys. So is the Abit sh6 motherboard the best for the slot 1 now? I tried really hard to look for the Asus p3v4x, but couldn't find it, otherwise I would have bought it again.

 

[cockeyed]

I would go with the Abit SH6 or, if you want to save some money, you can pick up a nice Epox BX3 rev .5 from computer geeks for $35. The BX3-.5 takes up to a P3-850. If money is not an issue, I would get the SH6 with the newer features. As I recall, AnandTech did a review of it and rated it highly. It is as good or better than the 440BX boards.

 

[edjam]

Asus TUSL2

 

[Bovinicus]

I have a Soyo SY-7VCA that I just replaced for the sake of upgrading the CPU. I was very pleased with the board, even though it didn't use an Intel chipset (694a/686a). It is a Socket 370 but I believe there is a Slot1 variants that only differs in that one aspect. The ABIT SH6 is also good, it is just a tad on the expensive side.

 

[GregMal]

If you go for an older BX MB you're not going to get ata100 or AGP 4x.
If you go for the Abit SH6 you'll get a very good board but pay thru the nose
for it, and still have a slot 1 board.
You may be better off looking at the new Tualatin MBs (FC-PGA2) with a
Celeron (800-1 GHz).............Greg

 

[princejoe]

the CPU I'm having now is a slot 1 PIII 600mhz EB, I am planning to upgrade to the 1 Gb(or 1.1 or 1.2, but they are too expensive) if the price of it drops further more. The price of a 1 GB retail box now is about $150, the price suppose to go down more, right? If I get it, I will have a much powerful and faster machine(from 600mhz to 1000mhz)without paying lots of money to build a new system. If I get the Abit SH6 now for my slot1 600mhz CPU, will I be able to upgrade to a 1 GB or 1.1 or 1.2? Thanks

 

[Bovinicus]

First of all, it's 1GHz (Gigahertz: Billions of clocks cycles per second), not 1GB (Billions of bytes). Yup, according to the ABIT website, that board supports up to 1GHz. The CPU's faster than 1GHz are Tualatins. They are socket CPU's, and can only be used in certain motherboards.

 

[4824guy]

the soyo sy6ba+iv or sy6ba+100 were some of the top rated slot 1 BX boards made. They since have been disconntinued, bu may still be available new or used.

 

[Challenger]

princejoe look at this thread your board

 

[knutp]

You could get a asus tusl2-c and a celeron 1.1 or 1.2 ghz (the 1.2 is a stripped down tualatin, with 256 kb l2 cache). The 1.1 costs 89 $ retail from www.newegg.com

 

[princejoe]

knuyp, I am not upgrading to the celeron, but to the PIII 1 Ghz. If I buy the Abit SH6 for my PIII 600 now, by the time I want to upgrade it to PIII 1 Ghz, do I have to buy a slot 1 1 Ghz CPU for it as well? If that is the case, would there be any slot l PIII 1 Ghz CPU on the market next year? Thanks

 

[Athlon4all]

Prince Joe, just tyi, the Celeron 1.2 is Tualatin, and does have full 8-way associative 256k L2 Cache. Just fyi

EDIT: You would be better off getting a Celeron 1.2+Tusl2c right now. P3's are being phased out, and by mid next year all that'll be left are Tualatin Celeron's based on the 1.2 that's out now. And even now, it is very difficult to get a 1GHz Slot 1 P3. I'd at least get a mobo that supports Tualatin now so that you can use Tualatin CPU's next year, or better yet, get a new CPU now, and then next year upgrade to Northwood, Athlon XP or Hammer.

 

[princejoe]

athlon4all, thanks for the feedback, but isn't PIII 1Ghz much powerful than the celeron 1Ghz? I was wondering If I want to go for the socket 370 instead of the slot 1 motherboard, are there any converters out there that could convert my PIII 600mhz cpu which is slot 1 to fit into the socket 370 board? which one is better and cheaper anyway, socket 370 board or slot 1 board? thanks

 

[knutp]

The p3 1 ghz is faster than the celeron 1 ghz, but not the 1.2 ghz. I would guess that it would equal the athlon 1.2.

 

[YuenglingMike67]

i have a p3 1ghz socket 370
get an asus cusl2-c they are stable as all hell

 

[princejoe]

leunglingmike, I have a slot1 CPU, but the ASUS CUSl2 is a socket 370 motherboard. Do u know if there is a converter to convert slot1 CPU to fit into the socket 370 motherboard?