Thinking of Buying a P4?, very good motherboard roundup at Firing Squad

[damocles]

A thorough review of the most popular P4 motherboards. Lots of benchmarks etc

If you've followed this comparison closely, you've probably got a good idea where things stand in the final results. From a tweakers' perspective, the ABIT TH7-RAID and ASUS P4T stand out from the others with their powerful overclocking prowess. The differentiating factors between the two boards are also pretty easy to sum up.

With its head of the class performance, the P4T is the board to buy if you crave the fastest Pentium 4 motherboard available. This is largely due to the "RDRAM Turbo Mode" setting available in newer BIOS releases. With this setting enabled we noticed a slight (~2%) increase in our results, just enough to allow the P4T to finish first in many of our tests. On the other hand, the integrated RAID controller present on the TH7-RAID gives it a more robust feature set. We have a feeling most will go with whichever board is cheapest at their retailer of choice - quite frankly there's nothing wrong with this strategy as P4 boards sell for a considerable premium over older Pentium III products.

Link

 

[Degenerate]

i still recommend waiting for the .13 northwood. But anyway, the link is cool

 

[damocles]

I'm still holding off, but it's dammed hard

 

[Athlon4all]

Yeah, if I build a P4 it will be Northwood. But still looks like a good comparision.

 

[dalnar]

It always is damocles it always is.

 

[MasterHoss]

Yup, keep waiting. Hopefully Northwood will right Intels woes.

 

[damocles]

must be why i walk funny

 

[EdipisReks]

i'm going to wait until northwood until i replace my crap computer. if the northwood chips and motherboards offer good performance with a decent price, i may get that instead of my planned palamino. RDRAM is no longer expensive, and intel can't afford to have an expensive, poor performing processor, so i am looking forward to seeing what happens.

--jacob

 

[Midnight Rambler]

My rule of thumb for Intel-based systems is simple:

a.) If not overclocking, buy an Intel motherboard also. They're #1 in my book, their only fault is the lack of being able to tweak. But in terms of construction, quality, etc., Intel mobos rule. Shoot, they gots capacitors the size of beer cans ... ... well, not quite that big, but they are impressive. 3 yr. warranty is nice piece of mind too.

b.) If overclocking, buy an Asus board. Second only to Intel in quality, and they always seem to have exclusive features as well. Never been disappointed by an Asus board either.


Certainly there are other capable mobo manufacturers out there, but they are often hit or miss. Abit can make a darned good model, then turn around and pump out some real junk the next time. MSI the same thing.

 

[damocles]

I agree that Intel usually makes rock solid mobos, but that review didnt think much of Intel's P4 mobo. Even if i was't O/clocking i would prob go with a P4T for a P4