Mainboard Purchase

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Grinder

I'm considering buying a new mainboard, processor and memory. Your
recommendations would be appreciated. Here's my thinking so far:

1) I want a board with at least one PATA controller so that I can easily
use a PATA as a boot drive. I have a promise PATA dual controller card.
(SATA would be a bonus but I can always add-in.)

2) I want an AGP slot to support my existing video card.

3) Two PCI slots minimum, though more would be nice.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Here is a candidate:

ASUS P5VDC-MX
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=242&model=814&modelmenu=1
http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/P5VDC-MX/E2545_P5VDC-MX.pdf
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131587

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

With this processor:

Intel Pentium 4 650 Prescott 3.4GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116196

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

With one or two sticks of this memory:

Kingston ValueRAM 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144151
(This ram is on Asus' "DDR2-533 Qualified Vendors List")

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

With 2GB of memory, this wad comes in at about $310 delivered. That is
about as much as I want to spend on this upgrade. If I am feeling a bit
cheap, I might cut back to 1GB of memory.

Some of my questions:

1) Does my processor match my mainboard? As far as I can tell it does,
but I would hate to make that mistake.

2) What are the advantages/disavantages of DDR vs. DDR2 memory?

3) Are my choices reasonable given my budget and feature criteria?

Thanks for any input you can afford.
 
Grinder said:
Some of my questions:
Click to expand...

I thought of another one...

4) In general, does a micro ATX mainboard fit into a case designed for
an ATX board? Will the hole for the ports line up?
 
Ok, sorry, I know I'm going to wreck everyone's enthusiasm for
commenting if I keeping picking at my original post, but I have another
question.
ASUS P5VDC-MX
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=242&model=814&modelmenu=1
http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/P5VDC-MX/E2545_P5VDC-MX.pdf
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131587

Intel Pentium 4 650 Prescott 3.4GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116196
Click to expand...

5) Is it worth going for a dual core processor?

Intel Pentium D 925 Presler 3.0GHz
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819116254

It appears to be compatible with the aforementioned mainboard, and is
only $25 more. I'd be using the system for gaming, video processing and
other sundry tasks.
 
Grinder said:
I'm considering buying a new mainboard, processor and memory. Your
recommendations would be appreciated. Here's my thinking so far:

1) I want a board with at least one PATA controller so that I can easily
use a PATA as a boot drive. I have a promise PATA dual controller card.
(SATA would be a bonus but I can always add-in.)

2) I want an AGP slot to support my existing video card.

3) Two PCI slots minimum, though more would be nice.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Here is a candidate:

ASUS P5VDC-MX
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=242&model=814&modelmenu=1
http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/P5VDC-MX/E2545_P5VDC-MX.pdf
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131587

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

With this processor:

Intel Pentium 4 650 Prescott 3.4GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116196

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

With one or two sticks of this memory:

Kingston ValueRAM 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144151
(This ram is on Asus' "DDR2-533 Qualified Vendors List")

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

With 2GB of memory, this wad comes in at about $310 delivered. That is
about as much as I want to spend on this upgrade. If I am feeling a bit
cheap, I might cut back to 1GB of memory.

Some of my questions:

1) Does my processor match my mainboard? As far as I can tell it does,
but I would hate to make that mistake.

2) What are the advantages/disavantages of DDR vs. DDR2 memory?

3) Are my choices reasonable given my budget and feature criteria?

Thanks for any input you can afford.
Click to expand...

On Newegg, there are 30 boards returned by searching in the Intel
motherboard section, for AGP 4X/8X slot and LGA775 processor socket.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0200280+1070509908+1073407577&Subcategory=280

The P5VDC-MX has a few issues:

1) The version sold on Newegg is the FSB800 one. There is supposed to be
a version 2.0, with support for FSB1066. This issue is not important
to you, and I only mention it as a comparison criterion when looking
at other boards.

2) The advert for the Asus board warns:

"Note: Due to chipset limitation, the Intel Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology,
C1E, and TM2 are not supported in this model."

Which may or may not be true. I would have thought at least some of those
would not depend on the motherboard. Like TM2 (thermal monitor) is built
into the processor.

3) The P5VDC-MX appears to consist of two separate channels for memory.
One channel connects to two DDR slots. One channel connects to
two DDR2 slots. You cannot use both memory types at the same time.
Thus, the board has a single channel memory controller.

Another board to consider, is:

ASRock 775Dual-VSTA LGA 775 VIA PT880 PRO ATX $58
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157092

According to the picture of the board, it is dual channel, so
two matched DIMMs makes more sense. But I'd want to see someone's
benchmarks, to prove it really is dual channel, and not just
a clever layout faking a dual channel appearance.

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/13-157-092-04.JPG

There is also some review info on 775Dual-VSTA here.

One downside of 775Dual-VSTA, is it is not a good overclocker board
for FSB1066 processors. but if you have an FSB800 processor, like
you are planning on using, there'll be plenty of room for overclocking
one of those. And the board is a full ATX size, to fill up your
computer case.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2810&p=2
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2813&p=5

In answer to your second post, microATX uses a subset of the holes
used on full ATX. Full ATX is 12x9.6" and microATX is 9.6"x9.6".
Some motherboards cheat on the second dimension, so for example, you
can find full ATX boards as narrow as 12x7.4". When a motherboard
gets that narrow, you lose the right column of mounting holes,
and the right edge of the motherboard is unsupported.

As for what processor to get, who knows, maybe the single core
does run cooler. If a motherboard had a broken EIST feature,
maybe the processor runs at full power all the time (relatively
speaking). So there might be some reasons for processors to
run hotter on one motherboard than another. If the 650
has HyperThreading, it looks like two virtual processors to
the OS, but still offers about the same performance as a
single core. Selecting a slower dual core, would only show
its advantages if both cores can be hrought to bear on a
problem at the same time. For people using older software,
it is always possible that the 650 would be a better purchase.
For example, Photoshop has some filters that run on a single
core and some filters that run on multiple cores - some usage
patterns might see more of a boost from a dual core than others.
So it is a tricky issue to guess at. You should examine your
own inventory of software, and see if any of it is dual core
enabled. For example, some kind of video rendering software,
might use two cores. The software I own, would run better on
the 650, due to the higher core speed. I'm not a big video
guy.

The 650:
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL8Q5

The 925:
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL9KA

Check the CPUsupport charts, before you make your purchase.
The manufacturer of the motherboard, should have a list of
the supported processors, and you should check that before
purchase. If the 925 was recently introduced, for example,
you might need a more recent BIOS in the board.

Paul
 
Thanks for your responses.
Selecting a slower dual core, would only show
its advantages if both cores can be hrought to bear on a
problem at the same time. For people using older software,
it is always possible that the 650 would be a better purchase.
Click to expand...

One review of a Pentium D concluded that the dual core would be useful
to people doing a lot of multitasking, but would be of limited use to
single-purposed users like gamers.

Will a dual-core system, running XP (not x64), be able to utilize each
core for different applications. For instance, can I be processing
video with one core, while the other core is handling my more immediate
tasks.
 
Grinder said:
I'm considering buying a new mainboard, processor and memory. Your
recommendations would be appreciated. Here's my thinking so far:
Click to expand...
1) I want a board with at least one PATA controller so that I can
easily use a PATA as a boot drive. I have a promise PATA dual
controller card. (SATA would be a bonus but I can always add-in.)
Click to expand...
2) I want an AGP slot to support my existing video card.
Click to expand...

Does it really make much sense to limit your choices so drastically with this one ?
 
Grinder said:
Thanks for your responses.


One review of a Pentium D concluded that the dual core would be useful
to people doing a lot of multitasking, but would be of limited use to
single-purposed users like gamers.

Will a dual-core system, running XP (not x64), be able to utilize each
core for different applications. For instance, can I be processing
video with one core, while the other core is handling my more immediate
tasks.
Click to expand...

Not a problem with WinXP Home or Pro, at least according to this.
And yes, you can do two things at once. The OSes are equipped with load
balancing, to move stuff around as needed.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=254969

Paul
 
Not a problem with WinXP Home or Pro, at least according to this.
And yes, you can do two things at once. The OSes are equipped with load
balancing, to move stuff around as needed.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=254969
Click to expand...

Good enough. The ASRock board does have what I'm looking for, and more
of it, than the Asus board. I've ordered it and the 925. Rod's point
about limiting my choices by requiring and AGP is valid, but I just
don't want to spend the dough on getting a new video card.

Thanks for your assistance.
 
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