JJ,
I built my computer around an Asus P4P800 deluxe on the basis of many, many good reviews. Recommended RAM choice is a bit brand selective when fully loading all 4 slots, but 1GB in 2×512’s should be fine.
It’s a motherboard with very good overclocking stability should that be required. Run normally it is rock stable. As in Dave’s recommendation, it runs the Intel 865 chipset, which seems to be the choice in value and performance. It is also a full featured board, having firewire, USB 2, Dual Channel DDR RAM, good on-board 6 channel sound, SATA RAID, IDE RAID, LAN etc. Get the full specs at for comparison at:
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http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4p800-d/overview. HTM>
Fred.
If you have the $jing$ I recommend the Tyan S2668 with dual 2.8Ghz Xeon CPUs. It uses the Intel i7505 chipset and it smokes. I can render a radial zoom blur to an NTSC sized canvas(720X480 72dpi) on the best setting in around 20 seconds. 3 months from date of assembly and not one single crash. Not much onboard except LAN and SATA controller, but add a cheap Matrox G550 dually and a soundblaster card and you’ll be rock’n in floating point heaven.
Garrett,
No offense, but I can’t say a recommendation based upon the time to edit a 720×480 pixel image would be all that valid. Make that 7200×4800 and you might have some more credible performance times. Or, could it be that you have quoted something wrong here? I ask this because my dual 550MHz P3 system on an old Supermicro P6DGU (440GX chipset) will render a radial zoom blur at settings of 100 and "best" on a 720×480 px image in 6.8 seconds. By that measure, it blows your system out of the water when the reverse should be true. I’d nearly expect your system to perform that task within 2 seconds or less, to just hazard a guess.
Regards,
Daryl
he didn’t say fastest, he said rock solid. i’ve not seen a crash or slowdown or hicup or burp or anything since i got this mobo. first time genuine intel. it even runs (and comes out of!) standby mode. also a first. if you want faster that the d865perl and STILL rock solid, look at a faster intel board like the 875. i went with intel this time because i was sick of piddly little incompatabies.
and although this board supports overclocking (in bios!) that doesn’t lend itself to stability. if you want faster, buy faster.
JJ,
I’bve a lot of faith in A-BIT boards….
I never really addressed JJ’s question, so I’ll just add that my Supermicro (P2 / P3 class) board has been very solid, but it was also very pricey. Supermicro generally targets the a server or high-end workstation (dual processor) audience the most, so they aren’t very cost-competitive with other popular brands. I’d still see what they offer if I was building a new system, but my old A-BIT IT5H (Pentium class) also impressed me as very reliable and thus keeps A-BIT in my mind also. That said, my latest "wish list" finds me looking most at a Gigabyte board…reviews of their boards leave me with an impression of them being of good quality. While the same can be said also of ASUS, the problems I’ve seen mentioned in this forum tied to ASUS boards does leave me questioning whether I’d go with them over another vendor.
Daryl
1) Pick a CPU.
2) Pick a chip set.
3) Decide what onboard features you want.
4) Ask around for good motherboard companies.
5) Select the motherboard that fits your requirements.
6) Repeat every 2-3 years.
Every two or three years, ‘eh?
Maybe THAT’S what my computer is trying to tell me.
The cost differential between the intel perl/P4 and a comparable ABit, Asus or similar with an Athlon XP is significant enough to warrant careful scrutiny. Otherwise, I would have replaced my system months ago.
It’s only money!
The cost differential between the intel perl/P4 and a comparable ABit, Asus or similar with an Athlon XP is significant enough to warrant careful scrutiny.
I don’t think so if you consider the "aggrivation factor" of dealing with something that’s just not right. they wrote the spec, implimented the chipset and make the most compatable boards. If it makes you feel better, amatorize the difference over 3-4 years of use.
I suggested The Asus P4P800 Deluxe given my previous 3-year impeccable run with an Asus P3V4x board in my old machine. Also, given the amount of stuff it comes standard with, and the amount of stuff you can hang off it without modification, and given the price vs performance when compared to the i875 boards, it has to be one of the better boards around.
My old computer had 5 out of 6 PCI slots filled, the P4P800d has none filled, yet fulfills all of the functions (and more) of the old machine.
And – did I mention? – it is rock stable. (Though the first one was faulty, but was replaced within 24 hours, no questions, no cost).
Fred.
Like cars and hard drive brands, we all have brand preferences. Since the motherboard models change all the time, it’s probably a good idea to pick a quality brand that you like, with a manual that’s mostly in English, and BIOS settings that you can configure how you like.
I like Tyan motherboards.
I like Tyans too. Ran great for 4 years in my P3-800 system.
It’s not entirely clear from the original post but I assume that JJ wants to change motherboard on an existing system. If so, a big criterion should be that it works with the existing brand of memory as Fred hints at in his first post. I found my Asus Athlon board was very fussy about memory brand even with 1 Gb of 400 DDR. Asus do provide lists of compatible memory on their site so it is definitely worth checking this on manufacturers’ websites before purchasing.
Thanks heaps guys – appreciate your ideas. Love the forum – very helpful
Cheers!!
Thanks for the advice. Given me a few good ideas.
I hope they start with INTEL! 🙂
yeah dave – i’ve gone with your first advice – an intel d865 perl
cheers
cool beans! 🙂 I love mine!
