I need Motherboard Advice for P4 or Xeon

[studiogenocide]

I have toyed with a P4 or Xeon. I am really wondering which motherboard is best suited for either platform. I have all the extras, I really need some sound advice. I am upgrading from an AMD XP 2000 with the A7M-266 Asus board which is the AMD 761 Chipset I believe. Maybe if I had a solid chipset to go by, I could get the mobo I need. I will be running Cubase 32 / Wavelab 4.0 / Sampletank XL / Cubase SX / and using a Tascam US-428 as my DAW. I will eventually upgrade to the Firewire Tascam FW1884.

 

[jazzrich9]

asus!

It's seemed the way to go for Intel chipsets for a long time. My experience has been that while you'll save a few bucks with abit or chaintech or whoever... they're just not as reliable. (especially if you overclock, which you won't likely in audio)

Definitely would recommend an intel chipset too.

One note of caution, hyperthreading... it's very nice when it works, but some audio manufacturers are having trouble with it. (I only say this because I think it might be a known issue with the tascam controller, pure speculation though, I just "kinda sorta" remember reading something)

Anyhow, it sounds like you know what you're doing, so I'll leave it at my 2 cents.

Cheers.

Rich

radiumreactor.com

 

[Stealthtech]

ASUS P4P800 standard or deluxe
North Bridge Intel 82865PE Chipset
800 MHz FSB
with Intel P4 2.4gig or higher CPU

 

[Marquis]

Re: asus!

It's seemed the way to go for Intel chipsets for a long time. My experience has been that while you'll save a few bucks with abit or chaintech or whoever... they're just not as reliable. (especially if you overclock, which you won't likely in audio)

Definitely would recommend an intel chipset too.

One note of caution, hyperthreading... it's very nice when it works, but some audio manufacturers are having trouble with it. (I only say this because I think it might be a known issue with the tascam controller, pure speculation though, I just "kinda sorta" remember reading something)

Anyhow, it sounds like you know what you're doing, so I'll leave it at my 2 cents.

Cheers.

Rich

radiumreactor.com

How can you lump a first-tier mobo manufacturer like Abit in with a 2nd (arguably 3rd) tier manufacturer like Chaintech?

Plus, I think any allegations of instability for overclocked systems with Abit motherboards is highly unjustified. Abit is regarded in the overclocking community as a whole to be amongst the best of the best when it comes to stability, usually even better than Asus (though I don't wish to disparage Asus as they do make good boards).

As for motherboard choices, here goes.

For a P4:

Abit IC7-G Max2
Abit IC7 Max3
Asus P4C800E Deluxe

The least expensive is the IC7-G Max2 (about the same price as a P4P800 Deluxe). You get the 875 chipset, and CSA-connected Gigabit Ethernet. A really good deal I think. The others are a bit more expensive, and depending on what you actually need may turn out to be overkill for your situation. All three are great boards, and I have built a ton of overclocked systems using all of them with good success.

For a P4 Xeon:

Asus PC-DL Deluxe, end of story.

For a DAW, you don't need the stuff that most workstation boards come with. The PC-DL uses the 875 chipset, which is significantly faster than the 72xx and 75xx series of chipsets for the P4 Xeon.

 

[jazzrich9]

I do agree

I didn't really clarify my abit feelings... and am kind of glad you cut me down... my disclaimer is this: I personally have had a couple of bad experiences with abit boards that needed to be RMA'd. Their specs and operation is much better than most other folks, although I still think Asus is more reliable when overclocking.

My Caveat's aside, I've never had Abit say 'no, we won't fix the problem' so there is something to be said for that.

Everything else you said, I totally agree with.

Thanks for keeping me honest

cheers