Looking for a motherboard.

[Gargus 0]

I am going to get a new motherboard pretty soon and a cpu (early next year). I was looking for something that supports intel pentium 4 2.8 or 3gig cpu and want to use rdram 1066. I am looking for something with serial for new hard drives coming out and 8X agp. Ive seen several boards but they all use ddr ram. I was hoping to find a Abit board since Ive always used them and had great luck with them. Any suggestions?

Thanks

[jimf43 0]

If you plan to get the latest and greatest on your motherboard then:

1) wait to evaluate until just before you must have it, then read all the relevant reviews. Things like serial HD support and 8X AGP are just hitting the dealers shelves. Serial Drives aren't even on the shelves. I think that one would be wise to wait until that all shapes up.

2) Why RDram??? RDram is a very bad investment at this point with questionable advantages. Ask, 'Is their a reason why everybody is now designing for DDR?'

3) Abit is fine and undoubtedly has a board that will work for you, but, so do others. Don't limit your options.

4) Plan to pay top dollar, and you realize, by second quarter next year this will 'all' be obsolete ;-).

 

Good luck.

[adamvjackson 0]

The problem with Rambus RAM is that it has very high internal latency, and has to run at a high external frequency to compensate. I recommend DDR, as that's the direction the industry seems to be heading. If you read some benchmarks, DDR400 is close to, if not exceeding RDRAM 1066 performance.

[Gargus 0]

Nevermind your not listening to me.

[adamvjackson 0]

Well, you did ask for suggestions, and I provided just that... If that's not what you wanted to hear, please be more specific.

[Immortal 0]

Well, SIS is bringing out a new chipset for RDRAM PC1066, but i dont know wether it has AGP8x.

I think it will have SATA tho.

[jimf43 0]

Quote:

Well, you did ask for suggestions, and I provided just that... If that's not what you wanted to hear, please be more specific.

Ahh.. she don't want to listen... give her the hose ;-).

[Brian Frank 0]

Yes, that SiS chipset is about the only shot for an RDRAM board with AGP 8x (not that it makes a real diff right now).

 

With Granite Bay boards on their way out, RDRAM really isn't gonna have a shot, especially since Intel doesn't have anymore RDRAM chipsets in the works. The Granite bay boards that have been reviewed thus far are on par, if not faster than RDRAM boards. Plus, the stuff is a little cheaper.

 

I'm not sure why you have to have RDRAM, but if it's an absolute must, to get all of what you want, you'll probably have to hold up for Sis Rambus chipset. Otherwise, look at i850E boards and get one with as many features as they have availble. If Abit had an RDRAM board like their IT7MAX2, you'd be set. Unfortunately, I don't think that there is.

[Tom!! 0]

well there arel ots of botherboards at www.scan.co.uk

maybe u can have alook

RDRAM is gonna die soon anyway

[Gargus 0]

Ok what about ddr then? I looked some but Im a bit behind on my motherboards so not sure what runs what. Key things I want in a board are serial connectors, whatever fastest ddr the intel cpu's can handle (Ive seen 3500 but no boards for p4 that use it I dont think) 8x agp, pentium 4 533 cpu support and hyperthreading (Im sure HT is a given in most new boards though).

 

And jim I was asking for suggestions on a certain thing. Not a lecture on ram and what I should or shouldnt get. Not to mention I never said I had to have abit, just said I like them. I realize serial drives arent out but if I am going to get a board why wouldnt I want one with support for them? And of course Im going to pay top dollar, Ive never bought many things brand new that were dirt cheap.

[clutch 1]

Just to answer the question "ask yourself why everyone is designing for DDR", that has more to do with licensing and the initial cost of the high speed memory. If either were cheaper initially, things would be a lot different. However, DDR is now up to (and beyond in some cases) what the harder to find 1066 RDRAM can do, so it's not worth dealing with in any case. Personally, I'm a big fan of Intel chipsets, I would strongly suggest you stay away from Via, and SiS is OK. Now, as for 8x AGP, it's about as worthless a jump from 4x as 4x was from 2x. Almost everything is in local memory anyway, and you're running the card at 66MHz in the AGP slot vs. 33MHz for your other normal PCI slots. So if I had a toss up between an SiS and an Intel, and 8x AGP was the only determining factor, I would go with the Intel (SiS has been offering 8x while the Intel chipset wasn't when I got my ASUS P4PE). Here's an article with it and several other boards using the newer Intel DDR chipsets:

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/20021209/index.html

[Tom!! 0]

there r tons of motherboards that support p4 that use DDR

RIMM id say is best momory but far more expensive

the motherboard im getting supports Intel Pentium 4 Socket 478 processors with 400/533 MHz Front Side Bus

 

its a Abit BE7-RAID

 

quite a nice one for my needs anyway

 

try abit.com for a good selection