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What's a decent i850 motherboard? :(

M

MrGrim

Golden Member
[note] I posted a similar message in the Motherboards forum but I got no replies so I'm trying my luck here. [/note]

I'm looking for the best i850 motherboard available, if it happens to have an onboard RAID controller then that's great but it's not a requirement. I've looked into Asus's offer (P4T533) and I think I'm going to stay away from it, the chances of getting a POS are way too high for my standards. I've heard good things about GA-8IHXP and the only thing it lacks is a AGP/PCI bus speed lock which isn't really that much of a problem for me (I'm playing on using 133FBS anyway).

I guess my question is, is there anything better than a GA-8IHXP available?

Thank you in advance
 
ah hem....the finest current i850 board is the Asus P4T-533c. If you want it for 145 and not 175....buy an Asus P4T-E (2nd best i850 board) and flash it to P4T-533c for free 🙂
 
Try waiting a few more weeks if you can. I've heard some VERY positive things about the Aopen AX4T II-133 series. They are i850e boards that can clock up to 200FSB in 1Mhz increments, some have IDE Raid, ICH4, RDRam voltage tweaks (finally), and of course CPU voltage tweaks all working in the bios.

But the best right now seems to be the Gigabyte i850e board, or the P4T533 (if you get a good one), or the Abit TH7 II (if you dont mind modding it).
 
Originally posted by: fkloster
ah hem....the finest current i850 board is the Asus P4T-533c. If you want it for 145 and not 175....buy an Asus P4T-E (2nd best i850 board) and flash it to P4T-533c for free 🙂
Click to expand...

yep. i agree. asus makes the best boards imo.
 
I own the Giagabyte and i personally think its great. Ive had it for 2 months now and paired up with my 2.26 and kingston 1066 this board screams.
 
Epox is coming out with the 4T4A+, supports 32bit RDRAM, onboard lan, sound, usb2.0, etc.. It lacks the 12V connector though, which worries me a bit. 🙁 Was thinking of trading in my P4T533 for one of them, just awaiting results/stability on them.
 
Well I currently have the Abit TH7-II RAID and I've had nothing but trouble from it (HDs wouldn't get recognised, the FIX option for the PCI/AGP bus speed doesn't work in the latest official BIOS, etc.). That's why I'm looking for a replacement. I will be buying a new motherboard in the next 3 weeks, so I guess I can wait till the last moment in case something good comes out.

I can't afford to lose my 512MB of RDRAM (16bit) so a 32bit RDRAM motherboard is out of the question. Asus is usually my first choise too but from what I hear (read) when you buy a P4T533 (the one with RAID and 32bit RDRAM) the chances of ending up with a complete POS (unstable at stock speeds!) are very high, especially in Europe. I mean how different can the P4T533-C be? Even if P4T533-C is problem free it really lacks in features compared to Gigabyte's offer (RAID 0/1, LAN, Sound, 10 USB2 slots), wouldn't you say?

I haven't made up my mind, I'm just debating so I can make a good choise when the time comes. If somebody thinks that going for the GA-8IHXP is a bad move please say so but also give me a reason. fkloster why P4T533-C better than GA-8IHXP? Is it in terms of stability? What makes you think it doesn't have the same problems as the P4T533?
 
Mr. Grimm...Asus used top quality components in all their mobos and thats one reason...Abit has always been a 'budget' mobo and I find when searching the BBS's.....All the guys that are really cranking their P4's are using the ASUS P4T-533c's...Hell I even flashed my P4T-E to a P4T-533c just to get that voltage functionality and the 120/30 setting in the fsb....trust me...if you like P4's and you own rdram...don't waste your money on anything but Asus.

I MAY NOT KNOW MUCH...BUT GOD DAMNIT I KNOW P4's AND WHERE THEY LIKE TO LIVE!! 😛
 
I agree that Asus is the best mobo manufacturer and I've always recommended them, but I'm really concerned about the whole voltage regulator issue. If I'm not mistaken you upgraded your P4T-E to a P4T533-C and maybe that's why yours is fine. (as a side note, P4T533 found in ASIA apparently don't have this problem). What if the new P4T533-Cs have the same problems as the P4T533s? Considering that if I buy a motherboard without onboard RAID I'll buy a seperate card for it would you still go for the P4T533-C?
 
Mr Grimm, I am not aware of any voltage issues with any Asus boards...let alone the P4T-E and P4T-533c....I have heard the P4T533's suck...but still am not sure why except that they don't over clock well but @ stock speeds are granite stable.
 
I'm afraid the P4T533 is a very bad board (I'm amazed Asus let this happen), they are not stable at all. They crash at stock speeds, that's why I'm so worried. Take a look for yourself.
 
My colleagues have warned me to stay away from them...but trust me P4T-E and P4T-533C are the goods Mr. Grimm...
 
Damn you, you are not making this easy at all. 🙂 Does the P4T533-C have a FIX setting for the AGP and PCI bus speed and if so, after the TH7-II fiasco I HAVE to ask, does it work? 🙁

Off to read a lot more reviews, thank you all for you input and thank you fkloster for persisting. 🙂 I'll let you know what I decided and why a bit later on.
 
Grimm, do some homework/research...& it will lead you to one conclusion...the P4T-533c. What do you mean by locking the divider?
 
As of now, the TH7 II is the best overclocking RDRam board. It doesnt have the DRCG's that go up to PC1066, but if you mod it, it can. Other than that it has FSB up to 250 in 1Mhz increments, LOCKED AGP/PCI bus (something the Asus boards dont have). If Abit released a new TH7 II based on newer DRCG's I'd be all over it.

The only thing remotely close the the TH7 II in overclockability will be the new Aopen AX4T II-133 series or the P4T533 using 32bit RIMMS. The P4T533 is a gamble, some have had great luck, some have had no luck overclocking it.

Personally, I had the choice between a P4T-E (which is now flashed to a P4T533-C) with the good DRCG's or the TH7 II with the bad DRCG's. I choose the P4T-E. Now, I wish I had choosen the TH7 II and just modded the board myself.
 
Iwill makes a really good 850E board. I dont remeber what features it had but if its from Iwill so you know the board is going to have a ton of OCing options and other goodies.
 
dexvx I'm sorry but I will have to disagree with you. I've had nothing but problems with my TH7-II. First of all the AGP and PCI bus lock feature doesn't work if you use the latest official BIOS. There is a beta BIOS going around that has apparently fixed this issue, yet the latest official BIOS dates back to 2001! From time to time the PC will refuse to boot up and just beep like crazy, I press the reset button and it is all good. There are cases where the HDs will simply not be recognised by the BIOS, after a couple of restarts it's all good again. Bottom line is that there are issues with this motherboard and the latest official BIOS dates back to 2001. Not to mention that the vcore only goes up to 1.625v.

flokster the feature I'm refering too will lock the AGP and PCI bus to 66MHz and 33Mhz respectively no matter what the FBS is.
 
I think I'll go for the GA-8IHXP. Unfortunately in the UK both GA-8IHXP and P4T533-C cost the same and if I choose the later I'll have to spend another £100 on a RAID card. I hope I don't regret it, if money wasn't an issue I'd have probably gone the Asus route.

Thank you all for your help, most appreciated.
 
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