Which Pentium 4 Motherboard ?

[BigLance]

A customer wants me to build him a Pentium 4 box. I am undecided on which board to use, reliability is more important than performance. Please make some suggestions of good boards. Thank you for your time.

 

[Dre]

If all he cares about is reliability, go with an intel mobo.

 

[BigLance]

Intel, I like that idea. However, does Intel offer a Motherboard that can use DDR instead of RDRAM. I found a Tyan (510) that uses DDR but also is based on a VIA platform - yuck !

What do you think ?

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

The stability of Intel, the performance of VIA, the name that is neither: SiS.


ASUS P4S333

 

[zzzz]

There is an intel ddr mobo out. It is shown not in stock in NEWegg. This might mean it will be released soon..

 

[Heisenberg]

I have an ECS board (P4S5A) that uses the SiS 645 chipset (DDR or SDRAM) and I'm very pleased with it so far.

 

[BigLance]

Interesting... thanx ...

I'll check into that Intel board, I hope its out, if not I will have to go w/ another.

 

[JackBurton]

Is there a reason you are trying to stick with DDR memory? Get an Asus P4T-E (i850 chipset) and throw in some PC800 RDRAM. RDRAM isn't very much more expensive than DDR right now.

 

[BigLance]

Yea I guess your right, DDR isn't much more.. only about $10 per 256 for 2100ddr. Ok, I guess i850 will do the trick then... duh on my part

 

[boomerang]

I'm waiting for the last of the parts to arrive to put together a system based around the DFI NB70-SC. This system will be for my sister-in-law and I was looking for stability the same as yourself. Anyway, I picked it based on
Anand's Intel 845 DDR Motherboard Roundup - December 2001. Check it out.

 

[Daovonnaex]

Wrong forum. This belongs in the motherboards forum.

 

[NOX]

Like others have stated before me. If it's reliability your customer wants, then you should go with an Intel board. Yes, there are other alternatives out there, which are just as reliable, but nothing will prove more reliable then an Intel board and Intel CPU coupled together.

The 845 offers both SDR and DDR. The performance (benchmarking) may not be up to par compared to the other offerings, but for people who are looking to get some work done rather then how much FPS they will get in Q3, both the SDR platform or DDR will do just fine. Believe me you wont notice the difference when opening Word or Excel. Both also offer onboard LAN, and Audio.

Or like someone else suggested, go with the Intel 850. Not much more then DDR.

 

[RalfHutter]

The Intel DDR board is out. It's called the "D845BG". I got one for my dad's new box last Friday from Mwave, but I just checked the page and they're out of stock until 1-11-02. It's a basic, stable Intel board, nothing too exciting to this AMD/EPoX guy, but it's what my dad wanted: a stable P4 rig.

 

[Challenger]

The P4B266 is what I'm going to get in a couple of weeks from KD Computers and the shipping rates are exactly what it costs to ship it UPS.

 

[Pabster]

Go for a SiS 645 solution. It beats everything else out there right now, and does it for less.

I like the P4S5A, but before people bitch and moan about ECS ... ASUS sells the P4S333. It's relatively cheap in comparison to the typical ASUS mainboard.

 

[imgod2u]

SiS is comming out with a slightly improved version of that, or so I think. Either way, if stability is of the upmost importance, either Asus or Intel would do.

 

[BigLance]

Hey I appreciate the help guys !

 

[Daovonnaex]

<< Intel, I like that idea. However, does Intel offer a Motherboard that can use DDR instead of RDRAM. I found a Tyan (510) that uses DDR but also is based on a VIA platform - yuck !

What do you think ? >>

Actually, you'd be really, really lucky to find that. Intel's DDR chipset really sucks. The Via chipset is good, and the Sis 645 is even better!

 

[Diable]

<< Go for a SiS 645 solution. It beats everything else out there right now, and does it for less.

I like the P4S5A, but before people bitch and moan about ECS ... ASUS sells the P4S333. It's relatively cheap in comparison to the typical ASUS mainboard. >>



Pabster, have you read any of the reviews of shipping SiS645 motherboards or did you get the "beats everything else out there right now" line from Anand's review of the SiS645 engineering board? The reason I ask is in the reviews of the three shipping SiS645 motherboards(Asus P4333 at GamePC, MSI 645Ultra at OC Workbench, ECS P4S5A at OC Workbench)they don't dominate the i850 or P4X266 like they do in Anand's or Lost Circuits review of the SiS engineering board(link to the Lost Circuits review).

A interesting review to check out is GamePC review of the Asus P4B266. In that review they compare the P4B266(using PC2100 memory)to the P4333(using PC2400 memory)and the P4T-E. In the twelve test GamePC ran the P4333 beats the P4T-E twice and only beat the P4B266 six times. What happened to the world beating SiS645? The only things I can think of are SiS either slipped Anand and other hardware sites a ringer or Asus, MSI and ECS have all forgot how to make motherboards.

 

[christoph83]

Actually, you'd be really, really lucky to find that. Intel's DDR chipset really sucks. The Via chipset is good, and the Sis 645 is even better!

I love how you continue to bash this DDR board for no reason. How exactly does it suck? It loses by less than 3% in most tests has the best stability out there and now it has some of the best overclocking you can find.

Asus P4B266 hitting 172FSB
Asus P4B266 running a 2.0A at 2.5ghz with retail cooling

 

[JackBurton]

<< Actually, you'd be really, really lucky to find that. Intel's DDR chipset really sucks. The Via chipset is good, and the Sis 645 is even better! >>


Ya, I REALLY like how you say an Intel chipset (i845D) sucks and then go on to say the VIA chipset equivalent is good. hahahaha...oh my God, I can't stop laughing...hahaha....That was funny man, do you have anymore jokes?

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

If you're squeemish of VIA, why not go SiS? Epox has a new board sporting the 645 chipset, and it should handily beat Intel's DDR chipset. It will also be capable of DDR333 and benches of the ASUS P4S333 indicate it can top the i850 too! Nice.

EPOX 4SDA+