Author Topic: Need some motherboard help (Read 426 times)

Wolf14 · « **on:** June 27, 2007, 08:24:04 PM »

I'm in the market for a new motherboard to run an intel 3.2ghz P4 on. My current motherboard may be having some issues. I'd like to be able to use dual channel memory with hyperthreading, but avoiding a VIA chipset. All I have found for sale at the moment is mostly micro atx form factors. I'd like to be able to get the board in the standard form factor. Budget is also about $100 at most. I am also using an ATI 9800XT so I'll need an agp slot. Any idears?

Wolfy

humble · « **Reply #1 on:** June 27, 2007, 08:44:42 PM »

Abit I35-e uses the new P35 chipset and was on sale at frys for $94. (normally about $130 or so....) I settled on the Asus P5K-e but the abit is a very good board IMO. I just decided I wanted the 1066 DDR etc and that the asus was a better "server" grade board to build 9or rebuild) a business box on...

Abit

Wolf14 · « **Reply #2 on:** June 27, 2007, 10:02:08 PM »

Thanks Humble

. I found that MB wont work for me.

I forgot to metion I need a 478 socket.

humble · « **Reply #3 on:** June 28, 2007, 12:14:05 PM »

whoops, I've been an AMD guy for so long I lost track of the intel socket progressions. One thing you might consider is finding the cheapest core duo "combo and seeing if it matchs up with the rest of your hardware. If you look at the ASUS thread it highlights that even good MB's go bad. I've had pretty decent luck with even "junk" boards (if they work the 1st time). I got the 6600 for less in a combo then alone and the board is OK, I know Frys had a $179 core duo combo a couple of days ago.couple of specials at fry's

Fulmar · « **Reply #4 on:** June 28, 2007, 05:57:56 PM »

Do you need to use the ram you have now (as in not buy new ram)? If so, is it DDR or DDR2? Do you need AGP or PCI-E?

Wolf14 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 29, 2007, 09:51:34 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Fulmar
Do you need to use the ram you have now (as in not buy new ram)? If so, is it DDR or DDR2? Do you need AGP or PCI-E?

yeah i'd like to use my existing ram and the 9800XT is an AGP only card.

Wolf14 · « **Reply #6 on:** June 30, 2007, 01:57:21 PM »

ok I think I may have found a board that appears to suit my needs.

DFI LANPARTY 865PE

its a refurbished board. Granted I could be taking a gamble, but the price is right to reflect its refurbished and from my expweriance I have never had any problems with refurbished electronics. Theres always a first though.

Can anybody tell me if this company is any good? I havent heard really any good or bad. Course I may not be looking in the right places.

Wolfy

Fulmar · « **Reply #7 on:** June 30, 2007, 05:20:02 PM »

I'm be worried about buying refurbished boards. Anyways, I generally exclusively shop at NewEgg unless theres a steal on another site.

There are three motherboards (new) that would fit your needs. Socket 478, AGP and DDR support. However, they are micro ATX style. They'll still fit in your Midtower case but performance wise they are not going to be the same as a Socket 478 full size board that was still in production in the past. They have onboard video but this is easily disabled.

They run around $40-55 and I'd recommend either the Asus or Biostar, avoid the ECS.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200280%201070509907%201073407577&bop=And&Order=RATING

In all honesty, save your money. Buy a new motherboard/cpu/ram/power supply/video card when you have the money. You could do this for around $300-500 depending on how fast you want it.

Otherwise if you can chug along on your current rig for whatever you need for uses, then by all means replace the motherboard. Just remember that Socket 478 is quite dead and your options are very limited.

humble · « **Reply #8 on:** June 30, 2007, 05:49:15 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Wolf14
ok I think I may have found a board that appears to suit my needs.

DFI LANPARTY 865PE

its a refurbished board. Granted I could be taking a gamble, but the price is right to reflect its refurbished and from my expweriance I have never had any problems with refurbished electronics. Theres always a first though.

Can anybody tell me if this company is any good? I havent heard really any good or bad. Course I may not be looking in the right places.

Wolfy

I've got a DFI lanparty in my sons box right now. It's a good board. The guy who designed it built a great reputation at ABIT for designing OC boards. The LANPARTY series are his 1st DFI boards

SkyGnome · « **Reply #9 on:** July 01, 2007, 08:05:42 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Fulmar

There are three motherboards (new) that would fit your needs. Socket 478, AGP and DDR support. However, they are micro ATX style. They'll still fit in your Midtower case but performance wise they are not going to be the same as a Socket 478 full size board that was still in production in the past.

Huh? The size of the motherboard PCB doesn't determine its performance - usually a matter of number of expansion slots and number of onboard peripherals.

Wolf, why the aversion to microATX? As long as it's got enough slots for you, it's just smaller and cheaper (and usually a bit easier to get installed in an already populated case.)

Fulmar · « **Reply #10 on:** July 02, 2007, 06:27:22 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by SkyGnome
Huh? The size of the motherboard PCB doesn't determine its performance - usually a matter of number of expansion slots and number of onboard peripherals.

Granted their benchmarks tests may be similar with identical northbridge chipsets (Full vs Micro), what I meant by this was the lack of faster chipsets available. Basically like saying the Intel 965 is faster than the 945 in benchmarks (used a current chipset as an example because I don't remember thechipsets used back in the days of 478).

You have wider varieties and better chipset options with full size atx as compared to micro. Only time I'd recommend Micro would be in this case because there are no other manufactured motherboards (on NewEgg at least) that are full size that use Socket 478, or if your computer case is a micro ATX design.