which mobo is best to pair with P4?

[andylawcc]

my friend want a computer with P4 (or Athlon XP, I will write him a list of both to give him 2 options)
No Overclocking, and preferrable if the mobo use SDRAM (coz he has like 1 gig of PC133 from his existing computer)
and also I want the mobo to be able to use the 478-pin (northwood?) P4 instead of the 423 so he has more upgrade-abililty

his budget is about 200 bucks
so all he wants is just a mobo and CPU and new RAM if it is Absolutely necessary.
(he has sound card, vga card, hdd, and the rest)

1) Intel Rig
P4 1.6 and
??? motherboard


2) AMD Rig
Athlon XP 1800+
ECS K75SA

so any advice for the P4's mobo? or any better alternative to the ones above?

 

[Amused]

Tell him to bite the bullet and buy new RAM. Pairing a P4 with SDRAM is like buying a bull and cutting it's nuts off.

For a low cost solution, I suggest:

Asus P4B266-C

P4 1.6A

512 PC2100.

Can be had at Googlegear for about $340.

 

[andylawcc]

okay, that's what I was trying to tell him too, but I have no proof to backup my suggestion (i can't find any review/ benchmark that show SDRAM paired with P4 is not-preferrable, but common-sense already told me it is.)

anyway, I guess I will suggest him the Athlon XP version instead.
it is way cheaper.

 

[dancingpig41]

I would recommend the Shuttle AV45GTR. It is a very stable mobo with Highpoint Raid and performs nearly as well as the high end P4 boards. Not a great OCer, but at $72 you can't beat the price.

Jason

 

[Boogak]

Originally posted by: andylawcc
okay, that's what I was trying to tell him too, but I have no proof to backup my suggestion (i can't find any review/ benchmark that show SDRAM paired with P4 is not-preferrable, but common-sense already told me it is.)

anyway, I guess I will suggest him the Athlon XP version instead.
it is way cheaper.

This AT review has some benchmarks with the original 845 P4 SDRAM mobo and compares it with a VIA DDR P4 mobo and the 850 RDRAM mobo. The P4 is severely castrated (bulls with nuts off really does apply here) by the limited memory bandwith of PC133. Definitely stick with a AMD solution if he's that gung-ho about keeping his SDRAM.

 

[bjc112]

My favorite..

Epox 4g4a...

Overclocking GOD...

 

[andylawcc]

okay, thanks, I will tell my friend that for sure.