Good P4 Motherboards

[merkel04]

Hello everyone, my case is on its way :) so its time for me to look at some motherboars. I have been looking around but really dont know what I need or want to take full advantage of a pentium 4 2.8 ghz processor that I will be aiming for. I will be using the computer for games and other such things, also for storing alot of data. Thanks alot for you recommendations, and also, I will be using a case that has front USB slots and it would be nice if it could utilize those also. Money is not 2 big of an issue but its always nice to have a good priced component so I can save some for other cool things I can buy. Thanks alot. -Brian

[BlackTruckRyder]

I don't really know too much about Intel but i would say brands such as, Epox, Soyo, Intel, Asus, Giga Byte. Check out www.newegg.com see if you see any that look good to you and tell us which ones, then we can help you pick out a good one.:t

[merkel04]

Alright then, i'll go look around some more, is there anything I should look for specifically or are most motherboards pretty much the same?

[merkel04]

Here is two I have found, do either of these look ok? I am planning on using the computer for gaming, networking, and holding alot of files on it. Anyways, here are the 2 i've looked at so far:

Intel Motherboard D850EMV2 for P4 478 Processors INTEL D850EMV2 P4 533MHZ SOCKET 478 RDRAM ATX mboard WITH AUDIO AND USB 2.0 Support PC800 RAMBUS Retail
Specifications:
Front Side bus: 400/533MHz
Intel® 850E Chipset
Memory: RDRAM(2) up to 2 GB
ATX Form Factor,
PRO50
Slots: 1x AGP(1.5 V 4X AGP), 3x PCI, 1x CNR
Ports: 2x USB 2.0, 1x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard, 2x Serial, Audio ports
Onboard Audio: AC '97

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Epox Motherboard for Intel Pentium 4 Processors, Model# EP-4T4A+
Specifications:
CPU Supported: Intel Pentium 4 processor
Chipset: 850E / ICH4
FSB: 533MHz
IDE: 2x E/IDE Ultra DMA/100
RAID: 2x Highpoint HPT372 UDMA/ATA 133 RAID
RAM: 2x RAMBUS RIMM PC600/PC800/PC1066, 2GB Max
Slots: 1x AGP(4X), 5x PCI
Ports: 4x USB, 2x Serial, 2x PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse, 1x RJ45, Audio ports
Onboard LAN: Realtek RTL8100B(L) Fast Ethernet
Onboard Audio: Realtek ALC650 6 channel full duplex integrated sound

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Thanks alot for your input, also, do you gamers recommend not getting onboard sound, or does it work ok? I would really like to get some awesome sound for games and watching DVD's on the system. Thanks again. -Brian

Edit:
Page where these motherboards are on egghead.com (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=motherboard)

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Second Edits:
Also, I plan on buying a RADEON™ 9700 PRO, and i'm also confused on what kind of RAM I should get...soo soo many questions lol. Thanks again -Brian

[BlackTruckRyder]

If i were you i would go for the Epox, because it has onboard raid and lan. And i trust the name.

As for ram, you want PC1066 RDRAM.

If you want killer sound performence get a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 or save a little money and get an Audigy gamer or Audigy MP3+.:t

[Benssax]

Asus P4T533 with Rim4200.

[Philip1952]

If the built in sound is AC 97 by Yahama. Do yourself a favor and get a sound blaster of some sorts.

Look for USB 2.0 support. On board fire wire would be nice to.

On the memory both types are so close that this is your call. If you are going to be using memory intensive progroms like Photo Shop or cad or something along this line then Rdram has the highest band width. If all you are looking at just gaming and other light programs. DDR will do fine.

On board lan is nice.

On board Raid. No thanks. I would go to storage review and grab the option code for the FREE SCSI controller card offer from hyper micro and go that way. You can put up 6 of your favorite high speed SCSI HDD's on this card. LOL

http://www.storagereview.com/

http://www.hypermicro.com/store/index.htm