chipsets bx & 810e

[cs7smj]

i was looking to get a p3 533eb witch is 810 but on the motherboards most 810 do not have agp, do i need to get 810 or will the bx chipset of the motherboard work ok.

cheers

[Ygor]

Until Rambus comes down to reasonable prices, BX is the better way to go.

Since you seem to be starting from scratch, you might want to consider an Athlon.

Oops, re-read your post and see you're looking at the 533 eb which runs on the 133 bus. I think Anand over at www.anandtech.com (http://www.anandtech.com) has a review or 2 you might want to read.

Several BX boards run well and with stability at 133 or higher. The problem is likely to be the agp running too high for the card to last unless it's a Matrox G400. That's according to Anand, who has access to and tests many more cards than most of us here ever get access to.

There are 815, 820 and even 840 boards (not sure the 840 is out yet, but it's been reviewed I think)The problem is they were designed for Rambus, which is ridiculously expensive.
When Intel realized that Rambus would not really be available, they put in a memory translator hub (MTH) to allow the use of sdram. This "works" both ways and results in a heckuva bottleneck. This is why at this time, a BX or Via based board is better than an 8xx series.
Problems and "bugs" with new platforms and motherboards at equal speeds for them is why right now, Intel & AMD are on the most even playing field they've ever had.
I want to upgrade but am waiting for the dust to settle (and board prices to come down) myself.

[This message has been edited by Ygor (edited 03-06-2000).]

[Axel]

There are 810 boards out there that take SDRAM - stay away from the MTH translators and 820 and 840 boards which intel has identified have a problem if you use SDRAM in them. Ygor is right - RIMM memory is ridiculous. I heard a rumor that RIMM was government restricted technology until recently, but I haven't been able to confirm that. That would go a ways to explaining the price.

Once the other system components and the bus can handle RIMM through-put, it will be worth it to cyberspace speedsters, but not to me - not at those prices.

I don't play 3D action games or run CAD programs so don't have a need for 800mHz ram speeds...... 100 is just fine for me and I can afford it.

I guess it depends on what you are going to use the systems for.