Computer Upgrade, motherboard question
 

In the process of updating my computer within reason. Getting a P4 3.6 HT with SATA and a 250 GB Hard Drive. Now I have two IDE drives (160 & 200 GB) that I want to use in the new system as well as my LG DVD burner.
Does anybody make a good motherboard out there with SATA and Dual channel IDE? Any problems with doing this?

Thanks

best mobo on the market that uses the 448 pin arrangement is the ASUS P4P800 Delux. It has what you need. If you're going 775 pin, you're limited to only two Intel chipsets, anyway. any board that uses the 915 chipset will satisfy you. If you want more IDE channels, buy a PCI IDE controller card. Again, ASUS arguably makes the most stable and highest performing mobos on the market. If you want reliability, avoid a cheap mobo and go straight to an Intel mobo with the 915 or 925 chipset.

The Abit AS8 is one motherboard with the older style stuff (865PE chipset, dual IDE channels) but uses the newer socket (775).

http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/...es=1&model=191

If you're using hardware acceleration (Avid/Mojo, Premiere/Matrox/Canopus/etc.), you need to pay attention to motherboard selection for compatibility problems.

Otherwise, I don't see any problem with the Abit AS8 or a motherboard just like it.

Having had an Asus board that had issues from the start, I wouldn't advise anyone to go Asus. Abit is a decent board with good support.

An Asus p4c800e delux would be my choice. 875 chipset, Sata, Ide etc.

Hi Jeff,

If your main reason to get a new motherboard is just to be able to use SATA, you might consider simply buying a cheap add-in PCI card (although realize that an older Mobo won't support hyperthreading. Otherwise, if you're buying a new processor, new motherboard, and new hard drives you'll probably end up buying new memory to fit the Mobo, too. In that case, you've essentially got a new computer, not just a minor upgrade!

One small caution -- if you have an existing WinXP system on which you're upgrading periperals like the HDDs and even the processor, you probably won't have to reactivate WinXP. But you may have to reactivate if you replace the motherboard as well, because a lot of the hardware that XP tracks to reduce piracy is Mobo related. If you end up having to do a telephone activation, make sure to emphasize that you're doing a Mobo replacement/upgrade, NOT building a new system for which M$ would like you to buy another copy of XP. I haven't tried that complete of an upgrade myself since moving from Win2K to XP, but I have upgraded processors on XP boxes without having to re-activate.

The 875 chipset is great and probably the best bang for buck right now as the newer chipsets currently aren't yet showing much of an improvement at a given processor speed. Their value will mainly be forward compatibility/longevity of your system...that might be worth paying extra for. And as Bill and Glenn alluded to, you MUST make sure that you match up your processor and motherboard as far as the sockets go.

Brand of mobo is an opinion thing. Keith obviously has had good luck with Abit. I didn't. Got a board with a design flaw. Finally figured out -- NO thanks to Abit's lousy, useless web site -- that the board did indeed have a design defect. Eventually got it replaced at point of sale with an updated version. And then it died not so long afterward and sits in the back of a closet; it was such a pain that I just won't buy Abit. But I'm sure lots of folks, like Keith, have been happy with Abit. Phil and I are happy with ASUS. My main editing box is an ASUS P4C800Deluxe, which by now is an "aging" 875 chipset board that I like very much. And I also like Gigabyte well enough to have bought the same model Gigabyte board a second time when I built a system for the kiddo. One web site that gives pretty good and definitely in-depth reviews of PC stuff, including Mobo's, is Tom's Hardware. A quick search ought to turn up that site.

Enjoy your custom computer, whichever way you go!