Help me buy a new P4 motherboard

LegacyUser

I am looking for a new P4 motherboard which does not have SIS 648 or SIS 963 as the main chipset. I have had a msi 648 max motherboard but sis and driver updates have let me down. So i need an excellent well rounded motherboard to accomodate my p4 2.5ghz, my radeon 9800xt and a Samsung 160gig 7200 rpm hard disk.

The motherboard I had in mind was this: http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/components/motherboardsandaccessories/productView.htm?quicklinx=33S4

What do you guys think?

BloodBath

Not for that kind of money. Get an Abit Ic7 or Ic7-g.


BloodBath

Mountjoy Mugger

You could also look at the Asus P4C800 E Deluxe.

BloodBath

Aye but it's a fair bit pricier, you can compare the Ic7-max 3 to that then.

Both are great boards although the max-3 is slightly better.

You really don't need boards like this unless you have loads of sata drives and plan on some big overclocks. Otherwise they are a waste of money.


BloodBath

LegacyUser

Should I bother going for RAID or use the standard ise ata 133 type hard drives?

PS: I know nothing about RAID. Will it dramaticallu increase performance? I am also going to bbe buying a nec 2500 a as I am sick or constantly losing data every few months.

:rolleyes:

So an Abit IC7 then?

SickBoy

It's a pitty you weren't in the market for one a month or so ago. Komplett were selling off some stock at crazy prices!! I got myself an MSI NEO2 i865 for €40
You won't go wrong with the IC7 though!

BloodBath

Do you already have that Samsung 160gb? Is it sata or ide?

If you want RAID 0 you will need two harddrives of the same size and speed. Preferably identical from the same manufacturer.

It combines the speed of both the drives by splitting the data between the two. So say you install windows onto the RAIDED Hd's the data will be split between the two in blocks of 16, 32, 64 or 128 kb's. Then when the data is being read it is read from both hard-drives almost doubling your speed and load times.

Any programs you install will be split between the two HD's from then onwards.

The only downside is that if one of your harddrives dies you lose everything but HD's are pretty reliable and if you use siguardian to keep an eye on them you should be fine.


BloodBath

LegacyUser

My samsung 160gig is IDE.

Apparently the Abit ic7 are very noisy. Is this the case?

Any other suggestions for a good p4 motherboard with overclocking potential?

Clinical Waste

I'd be holding out a few months myself.

Intel BTX boards are due soon.
Not to mention a new socket Prescott/P4, 1066FSB, 925X Express chipset, PCI express graphics(16x), DDR2 400/533memory, onboard High Definition Audio, Firewire800 all arriving this year.

Santa is going to be busy.

uberpixie

Do you already have that Samsung 160gb? Is it sata or ide?

If you want RAID 0 you will need two harddrives of the same size and speed. Preferably identical from the same manufacturer.

It combines the speed of both the drives by splitting the data between the two. So say you install windows onto the RAIDED Hd's the data will be split between the two in blocks of 16, 32, 64 or 128 kb's. Then when the data is being read it is read from both hard-drives almost doubling your speed and load times.

Any programs you install will be split between the two HD's from then onwards.

The only downside is that if one of your harddrives dies you lose everything but HD's are pretty reliable and if you use siguardian to keep an eye on them you should be fine.

Raid is nice and all, but one bad write to one of the hard drives and you feck everything: not just if one of the hard drives dies.

Tis rare to happen but...

Friend of mine though raid 0 was the dog's bollox, until one bad write cost him loss of everything on both hard drives. Hasn't used it since:-)

Personally I think raid 0 is just an extra layer of complication and something extra to go wrong:-)

It will give you faster loading times in games, but i prefer stability myself:-)

LegacyUser

Abit Ic7 mobo chosen and purchased. Thanks for suggestions!