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Which is the best P4 mobo for me?

I

IgoByte

Diamond Member
I know there must be dozens of threads on this topic right now, but...here goes mine too:

I need a P4 mobo with the following:

- Must overclock, and do so very very well. I plan to get a 1.6A
- DDR SDRAM
- ATA133 on board
- cheap
- USB 2?

Help me out if you can.
 
2 boards

8IRXP

and i beleive one of the p2b266 variants

the 8IRXP allows you a higher voltage but it has some issues which a bios fix should fix, (when they relese it who knows)
 
Asus P4B266, MSi 845 Ultra ARU are the top 2. I would avoid 8IRXP because it can't reach 133fsb with all DIMM's populated, also because of the bug, and finally, the cheapest I found it for was $155. P4B266-C (No Audio or USB 2.0) can be had for as little as $110, and the 845 Ultra ARU can be had for $125. Personally, because you want USB 2.0 and ATA/133, I think that MSi 845 Ultra ARU is the best solution for you. It can hit 140fsb with all DIMM's populated (Translates into 2.24GHz on a 1.6A), has USB 2.0, a On-Board Promise ATA/133, and for $20-30 cheaper than 8IRXP, while ocing better, and none of the 8IRXP's problems.
 


<< I would avoid 8IRXP because it can't reach 133fsb with all DIMM's populated, also because of the bug, and finally, the cheapest I found it for was $155. >>



Too bad about the gigabyte. It looks awesome, has USB 2, onboard ATA133 RAID, NIC and sound. It would be perfect.



<< Personally, because you want USB 2.0 and ATA/133, I think that MSi 845 Ultra ARU is the best solution for you. >>



I think you're right. I just quickly checked it out, and it also have USB 2, onboard ATA133 RAID and integrated sound, which is cool for a cheap machine. The heatsink is also pretty darn cool...assuming it's the one that actually comes with the board.

Thanks for the help, all.

 
One thing people forget is with that the Asus P4B266 offers some of the best memory bandwith out of all the i845d chipsets. With good memory and its 3:4 function you can hit very high memory speeds. Right now with crucial DDR im running the memory at 160FSB which according to sandra 2002 is equal to PC800 RDRAM speed. Most overclocked i845d boards will have memory benchmarks from the 2000/2000- 2200/2200(high overclock) range. I'm at 2500/2500 in sandra right now and the P4 really loves that extra bandwith.
 


<< Asus P4B266, MSi 845 Ultra ARU are the top 2. I would avoid 8IRXP because it can't reach 133fsb with all DIMM's populated, also because of the bug, and finally, the cheapest I found it for was $155. P4B266-C (No Audio or USB 2.0) can be had for as little as $110, and the 845 Ultra ARU can be had for $125. Personally, because you want USB 2.0 and ATA/133, I think that MSi 845 Ultra ARU is the best solution for you. It can hit 140fsb with all DIMM's populated (Translates into 2.24GHz on a 1.6A), has USB 2.0, a On-Board Promise ATA/133, and for $20-30 cheaper than 8IRXP, while ocing better, and none of the 8IRXP's problems. >>



you are wrong on a couple counts

the Gigabyte can run with 2 doublesided memory modules at over 133fsb

(the 845d chipset only supports 2 rows of doublesided memory)

the only other issue the 8IRXP has is once you manual set the voltage the system wont restart or boot once shutdown, (you have to unplug the power for 5 sec)

but then it runs strong and hard

and is the only board that allows you to run @ 1.85 volts without any modifacations

contact visionary over at vr-zone.com and he'll tell you the same

THe MSI is the worst board you could get,

 


<< One thing people forget is with that the Asus P4B266 offers some of the best memory bandwith out of all the i845d chipsets. With good memory and its 3:4 function you can hit very high memory speeds. Right now with crucial DDR im running the memory at 160FSB which according to sandra 2002 is equal to PC800 RDRAM speed. Most overclocked i845d boards will have memory benchmarks from the 2000/2000- 2200/2200(high overclock) range. I'm at 2500/2500 in sandra right now and the P4 really loves that extra bandwith. >>



Thanks for the useful info. . .I'll have to reconsider this ASUS again.
 
Which ASUS board is the best and why?

- P4S333
- P4B
- P4B266-C

Or is it something else? Does any one of the "good" asus boards have ATA133, USB 2 and sound, at least or are they all bare?
 


<< One thing people forget is with that the Asus P4B266 offers some of the best memory bandwith out of all the i845d chipsets. With good memory and its 3:4 function you can hit very high memory speeds. Right now with crucial DDR im running the memory at 160FSB which according to sandra 2002 is equal to PC800 RDRAM speed. Most overclocked i845d boards will have memory benchmarks from the 2000/2000- 2200/2200(high overclock) range. I'm at 2500/2500 in sandra right now and the P4 really loves that extra bandwith. >>

You are correct. But, I think that because 845 Ultra ARU hits the same fsb with all DIMM's populated as P4B266, and because he wants ATA/133 (which P4B266-E which is the only P4B266 that has ATA/133) that 845 Ultra ARU is a better value, expect for.....

<< you are wrong on a couple counts

the Gigabyte can run with 2 doublesided memory modules at over 133fsb

(the 845d chipset only supports 2 rows of doublesided memory)

the only other issue the 8IRXP has is once you manual set the voltage the system wont restart or boot once shutdown, (you have to unplug the power for 5 sec)

but then it runs strong and hard

and is the only board that allows you to run @ 1.85 volts without any modifacations

contact visionary over at vr-zone.com and he'll tell you the same >>

I stand corrected on my complaints about 8IRXP.🙂 But, IgoByte, don't weigh too much on the voltage up to 1.85 because if you run a Northwood at that high of a volatge, you will significantly reduce the life of the CPU. The "safe" voltage AFAIK is around 1.65v at the max.

<< THe MSI is the worst board you could get, >>

Strawberrymom, I too am curious as to why the 845 Ultra ARU is the worst IgoByte could get. In Anand's 845-D roundup, it was only beaten out by 8IRXP.

<< Which ASUS board is the best and why? >>

Ok. What about P4S333? Well, the real issue with it (and really every other SiS 645 board except for one, EPoX's but it doesn't have all the features as the 845-D boards here) is that they don't oc any where near the levels of 845-D and 850. Now about Asus' 845 board's. Here's they are:

P4B: Bare, no SDRAM slots. Avoid IT!!!
P4B266-C: Bare. Great ocing, no sound, ATA/133 or USB 2.0. Most common
P4B266: USB2, and Audio. In plenty of stores, but not at Newegg
P4B266-E: USB2, Audio, and ATA/133. Yet to be seen.

So, I do not know the price of P4B266-E but considering that the P4B266 is at this point more expensive than MSi 845 Ultra ARU which has all P4B266 has and is cheaper so it stands to reason that P4B266-E will be even higher compared to 845 Ultra ARU. So, to sum up here's my take for your situation (I am going to omit P4B266-C because you want ATA/133 and USB2 and I'm gonna omit P4B266-E because it's nowhere to be seen):

P4B266:
Pros:
Solid board
Prolly the best oc'er of all these by a hair over MSi 845 Ultra ARU
Cons:
Lacks ATA/133 you want
Expensive compared to some of these boards ($142 cheapest price, and not at Newegg.com)
MSi 845 Ultra ARU:
Pros:
Great Price ($136 at Newegg)
Has ATA/133, USB2 and Audio
Ocing comparable to P4B266
Cons:
None that I can see unless unless there is some serious problem with it (waits for Strawberry to respond)
Gigabyte 8IRXP:
Pros:
Same features as 845 ultra ARU plus LAN
Good ocing
Cons:
Expensive, compared to the other boards.

It's up to you. I think that from a stability standpoint all are equal, but in terms of overclocking, I really, hestate on 8IRXP (maybe Strawberrymom can tell use where did he max out on fsb when using only 2 DIMM's) because it hasn't been tested with 2 DIMM's for it's ocing. So, personally, I still stand that I feel 845 Ultra ARU is the best value for you. If you want Dual BIOS, and Audio but are willing to sacrifice a tad in ocing, and willing to pay a bit more, then go for 8IRXP but otherwise take 845 Ultra ARU, and at this time, P4B266 shouldn't even be considered when the 845 Ultra ARU has better features, similar ocing, for less money. Any Questions?🙂
 
You are correct. But, I think that because 845 Ultra ARU hits the same fsb with all DIMM's populated as P4B266, and because he wants ATA/133 (which P4B266-E which is the only P4B266 that has ATA/133) that 845 Ultra ARU is a better value, expect for.....

Yeah, Although I think that the 3:4 gives the P4B266 some better value. For example I'm running a 127FSB at the moment but the memory is running 160FSB because of this option. The Asus board overclocks just as well at the MSI although can only do 1.775v which is not healthy for the chip anyway. Like for me it helps alot because ive got a 2ghz northwood that wont go up as high in FSB and the extra 33 boost helps out a ton. Either way though the Gigabyte,MSI,and Asus are all very good boards.
 
Just wanted to add this.

<< Either way though the Gigabyte,MSI,and Asus are all very good boards. >>

I agree. Really it comes down to the user's wants and needs.
 


<< 845 Ultra ARU can be had for $125. >>



Just wondering where can you find this price? I checked pricewatch.com, and the cheapest price was 120 when I searched for MSI 845 Ultra-ARU, I am not sure if they are offering the Ultra-AR or Ultra-ARU model though. Thanks.
 


<<

<< 845 Ultra ARU can be had for $125. >>



Just wondering where can you find this price? I checked pricewatch.com, and the cheapest price was 120 when I searched for MSI 845 Ultra-ARU, I am not sure if they are offering the Ultra-AR or Ultra-ARU model though. Thanks. >>




He made a mistake at the beginning, but corrected it:


<< Great Price ($136 at Newegg) >>

 
Thanks a bunch to all of you for taking your time to explain all this to me, especially you, Athlon4all for addressing the needs/wants very specifically.

Perhaps it would help if I put down what I plan to put in the system...I don't know what it would bring me if I were to fill up all the dimms, etc., but I only want to use a single stick of RAM. This is supposed to be a very affordable machine.

Here goes:

Hope to put this into a rackmount case (for which I yet have to trade) with 350W Enermax PSU
P4 1.6A
256MB Crucial PC2100 or if necessary 256MB PC3000 OCZ
2 x 40GB Maxtor D740X HDDs in RAID 0 (for which I also have yet to trade)
Visiontek Xtasy GTS 32MB
Black floppy drive (fits with case) & eventually black CD-Rom or CDRW drive
 
get a couple kingmax pc2700 and make sure the chip you get is retail as Intel will warranty it (as long as you dont tell them it was OCed) and even running 1.8volts will outlast the 3 year warranty

MSI has more boards RMA'D then any other manufactuer I know of
 


<< MSI has more boards RMA'D then any other manufactuer I know of >>

Maybe but does that mean that "THe MSI is the worst board you could get,"? I don't think so.

<< Just wondering where can you find this price? I checked pricewatch.com, and the cheapest price was 120 when I searched for MSI 845 Ultra-ARU, I am not sure if they are offering the Ultra-AR or Ultra-ARU model though. Thanks. >>

Yea, sorry. The lowest is $136 at Newegg. Btw. the $120 one has RAID but no USB (the AR is RAID, and U is USB2)
 
P4B266, best board, best overclocker, stay away from the Abit BD7's, I just RMA'ed one, and LOTS of people are having the same problems.
 
Where are the reviews??? I respect your opinion, but I would also like to see a printed review. As I recall Anand loved the Gigabyte and the MSI. Now the Gig appears to have problems. I would love to buy an Asus but I want a positive review of an I845 DDR board, not comments about how great an older I850 socket 423 board is. R.
 
Too bad about the gigabyte. It looks awesome, has USB 2, onboard ATA133 RAID, NIC and sound. It would be perfect.

Review nuff said

one more clincher

now by no means am i saying anything...but look at the dates and you decide

just stating the facts

hope this helps

edit>listen to athlon4all he makes good sense 😉
 
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