Price Guides August 2005: Motherboards
by Kristopher Kubicki and Howard Johnson on August 6, 2005 1:32 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
More PCIe Intel
NVIDIA's nForce4 for Intel has generally been too expensive and too insignificant to really pay much attention to. The last few generations of Intel chips have not done a great job of capturing the enthusiast, which is a primary component of AMD's successful processors lately. However, with the dual core race, AMD and Intel are once again on level ground - with the Intel Pentium D series (particularly the Pentium D 820 [RTPE: BX80551PG2800FN]) leading the pack for Intel. Now, a low cost, dual core Intel system makes sense; and if you plan on buying a single GeForce 6600GT or a 7800GT and upgrading to a second one later, SLI makes a lot more sense too. Unfortunately, the missing component in that equation is the motherboard; NVIDIA makes the only SLI capable motherboard for Intel if you disregard Tumwater.
The price for nForce4 Intel motherboards is quite terrible. Biostar leads the pack as far as price goes, and there was a massive $37 price cut just yesterday. Whether that holds long term remains to be seen, and with all other boards costing over $160 we may just be getting a short term sale. MSI has a nice rebate on the P4N Diamond [RTPE: MS-7160-010], and if you have to spring $200 for a motherboard you might as buy Tier 1.
Update: Since publication, we have found two great deals on nForce4 Intel boards including the Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI Pro and the MSI P4N SLI-FI. Both are great boards for the price, but unless you plan on using SLI capabilities the 945P motherboards still carry more features.
ATI's Crossfire Intel solution is on the horizon (again) as well. While there aren't any boards shipping now, nor will there be until September, competitive multi-PEG motherboards might be what this sector needs to bring the cost of this sector down.
We'll mention Intel's 915P lineup this week, although it may be one of the last times we need to. Intel roadmaps revealed that 915P is almost EOL in favor of the much more capable 945P lineup. Your money is better spent on a current generation Intel lineup or an AMD combo instead.
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Calin - Monday, August 8, 2005 - link
Both ECS RS480-M and MSI Xpress 200 RS480M2-IL are Socket 939, only MSI Xpress 200 RS480M-IL is socket 754.While I would support having a special page with integrated graphics Athlon64 mainboards (both S754 and S939), having mainboards based on Socket 939 thrown together with mainboards based on Socket 754 seems counterproductive.
I would buy such a mainboard provided it would have some kind of over/underclocking and under/overvoltage. But I think S754 would loose too much of its possible bandwidth to the integrated video, so I would prefer a Socket 939 board
Calin
xsilver - Sunday, August 7, 2005 - link
how many people are hanging out for s939 semprons?itching to get one so I can bundle it together with my AGP board -- get rid of it and upgrade to PCI-E :)
Calin - Monday, August 8, 2005 - link
I wouldn't mind one, to use with a Socket 939 Radeon XPress boardariafrost - Saturday, August 6, 2005 - link
I was on a budget for my college SFF rig so I went the s754 Sempron route - I got a x86-64 enable Sempron so it turned out good. The Semprons tend to clock up to 2.4-2.6GHz pretty easily too, so 'tis a good deal. :)Hacp - Saturday, August 6, 2005 - link
Also, DOn't you need ddr667 memory for Intel? At least thats what all the boards say is the standars... I mean I wouldn't put ddr333 memory in AMD systems, so ddr667 memory is optimal for Intel Dual core isn't it?Cheapest DDR667=100 bucks btw..
JarredWalton - Saturday, August 6, 2005 - link
PC4200 is DDR2-533, which is quite a bit different from DDR-333. DDR-5300/5400 is DDR2-667, and not all motherboards support that properly. Even if they do, the performance benefit is negligible. DDR2-533 is perfectly sufficient unless you're going after ORB scores.Holysmoke36 - Saturday, August 6, 2005 - link
I read the Ultra roundup and this board was not praised much at all.It was less than impressive if I remember right. Does anyone understand why the board is the pick here for 5 weeks in a row but in the roundup was not given good marks?
Seems like the Epox that won the roundup would be the choice.
Hacp - Saturday, August 6, 2005 - link
maybe because these guides don't take overclockig into account.. They expect you to run at stock, and the Chaintech mobo is a good one to run at stock.Holysmoke36 - Saturday, August 6, 2005 - link
sorry 5 Months in a rowformulav8 - Saturday, August 6, 2005 - link
I have to buy a s754 mobo and this will help alot :)