Motherboard needed

Nigel Moore · July 14th, 2003, 06:35 AM

According to the Abit website, the IC7 does support DDR400.

The difference between the "G" and "non-G" versions is the inclusion of gigabit LAN interface.

http://www.abit.com.tw/abitweb/webjs.../mb_latest.jsp

Don Parrish · July 14th, 2003, 08:04 AM

Thats what I meant by "plain IC7". the difference between the G and Non G was fifty bucks but lacked DDR400 support. The D865perl (at about 15 bucks less than the plain IC7) was a well rounded board for the price.

Nigel Moore · July 14th, 2003, 10:07 AM

But I don't know what you mean by "lacked DDR400 support" and "The alternative plain IC7 does not support the DDR 400". Both the IC7 and IC7-G support DDR400.

Am I being thick?

Rob Wilson · July 14th, 2003, 11:08 AM

Recently built a system based on the IC7G Max. It ROCKS. With a Intel 3.0 and 1 Gig of RAM, I've overclocked to 3.57 gig and it's still stable! Don't usually run it that fast when editing but shows it's a solid board for sure!

Yi Fong Yu · July 14th, 2003, 03:05 PM

just throwing another post of support for smp (dual cpu) system. the response time is truly incredible compard with single proc units. i mean even with adobe premiere 6.5 (uber slow) when i went from single to dual i totally felt the difference. when i click and move a something it really responds well. they don't measure that during 'benchmarks' but in real world the dual cpu system was made for NLE and the like. so my suggestion is if you want to NLE don't do it on p4 single, even with ht enabled, do it on either xeon or athlon mp. if you wait long enough you may even be able to do it on dual opteron or a64 in 64-bit =).

Scott Osborne · July 14th, 2003, 04:18 PM

Yes the IC7 and the G both support DDR400. All Intel 845PEs, 7205,865,and 875 support DDR400. There northbridge comes that way from Intel. No Motherboard Supplier disables it. The benchmark you were looking at probably had the PAT disabled. The performance increase is pretty big in realtime performance. PAT affects the memory speed and the bandwidth anything that speeds up the bus or memory is going to translate into real word performance increases.

Charles,
Crucial makes some nice memory but for My money I buy Corsair matched set low latency PC3200 DDR..This ram is specifically designed to provide a fast stable system when used with a Dual Channel DDR Motherboard. ...If thats a little too expensive for you Kingston HyperX ram is pretty nice.....Avoid Geil like the plague...out of about 20 sticks i have seen recently I have RMA'ed 16 for stabiliy issues

Don Parrish · July 14th, 2003, 04:27 PM

You were correct Nigel, I had read it wrong, does not support fsb 400 which is unimportant, sorry.

Charles King · July 14th, 2003, 08:34 PM

Thanks Scott. Crucial it is.

Christopher Go · July 15th, 2003, 03:51 AM

So that you can feel even better with your choice, Crucial has some outstanding service and support. A few weeks ago I had to RMA what I thought was a faulty memory stick. It was easy to get ahold of a human, and in a minute, obtain an RMA number.

They give you two options. You can either ship your memory up in which case they'll wait for it before shipping you the replacement, or they can charge your credit card temporarily (as if you were buying it) and send the new memory stick right away. Once they receive the old memory they credit back your card.

I opted for the second choice but soon discovered I had a good piece afterall. Interestingly, I neglected to inform them of this and guess what - they ended up emailing me asking where it was so that they could credit my card! Excellent service - I told them it was okay and they thanked me for letting them know.

Good to know their lifetime warranty is no joke - this was for a memory piece I purchased close to two years ago.

Charles King · July 15th, 2003, 08:02 AM

Great to hear Christopher although expensive but that shows you get what you pay for.

Yi Fong Yu · July 15th, 2003, 11:09 AM

for RAM i'm using a generic 1gb ecc registered stick pc2700 for roughly $185 (including shipping) on www.pricewatch.com

generic=not too shabby. i highly recommend it. brand name is one thing but what it comes down to is price. as long as it's ecc, it's proven. make sure you throw a ram sink clip on it.

Charles King · July 15th, 2003, 11:17 AM

Sorry for being dumb but what is a ram sink clip?

David Ziegelheim · July 15th, 2003, 04:07 PM

ABXforums is the best web site for the motherboards. If you are going single processor, you needs an 800Mhz board.

Those come in two chip lines of chipsets: Springdale (865) and Canterwood (875). Intel supposedly had additional performance features in the 875 but tests have been ambiguous. What the tests found is that the BIOS was more important than the chipset.

Abit and Asus have been at the head of the class. I would choose the Asus P4P800, and 865-chipset board because it doesn't use a fan on the northbridge (part of the chipset). It has been at the head of the class otherwise.

There are two Southbridge’s used. One includes 1394, the other does not. The P4P800 Deluxe has on-board 1394.

All of these boards use dual channel DDR400 memory. Not very expensive if you run it at DDR400.

Now comes the question: are you going to overclock. My older 2.4 runs at 2.875. My FSB is 160. My memory speed is DDR426 dual channel.

The newer processors overclock very well. If you overclock the memory are play with the memory timings you will need to buy quicker memory. DDR400 512mb SIMMS are under $100. DDR466 versions capable of a 2.0 CAS are closer to $200.

At DV Expo Adobe was using dual processor Xeon systems from Dell. Intel just lowered the price for the existing Xeon DP processors. The motherboards are slightly more expensive. ($400-500 vs $100-200). But note that these are all 533FSB not the newer 800FSB. For about $1100 you could have 2 2.8Mhz Xeons for a total of 5.6 Mhz.

The Xeon systems currently only support dual channel DDR266 and have minimal overclocking ability. So memory will be cheap.

David

Charles King · July 15th, 2003, 04:23 PM

David, I will be running single processor for the moment but now you got all wired up again. Everyone here was saying that the Abit IS7 -G was the board to go for. I checked the specs and it seems good. Now you're saying that the Asus is a better choice. Decisions Decisions. How can I make this come to choosing one or the other. i'm planning on using my new setup with Premiere pro and Avid.
Another thing I could never understand this 875 or 875E numders that these boards have. What the heck does it tell me?
All I want is a very good board that is stable can havdle alot of ram, fire wire, raid and the ATA's series. I didn't know it was going to be this hard. Phew!!!
You guys have been great so far.

David Ziegelheim · July 15th, 2003, 04:39 PM

Asus is the largest...support is out of Shanghai. Abit has been known for their overclocking capabilities. But with these Intel chip sets overclocking abilities are about the same.

If you get a non-defective and you don't short it, and 800FSB will probably be ok not overclocked. These all support hyperthreading, allowing captures and renders to go affected while you do something else.

I can also recommend the Antec Sonata case. It is sitting by my knee know. Quieter than a normal case, its 380w PS has one fan, the case has 1 120mm running 1600 rpm. If you aren't careful, the noisest part of your system can be the northbridge fan. It is on mine (Gigabyte motherboard).

Go to the abxforum.com

July 14th, 2003, 03:05 PM	#35
Yi Fong Yu Trustee Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vulcan Posts: 1,564	just throwing another post of support for smp (dual cpu) system. the response time is truly incredible compard with single proc units. i mean even with adobe premiere 6.5 (uber slow) when i went from single to dual i totally felt the difference. when i click and move a something it really responds well. they don't measure that during 'benchmarks' but in real world the dual cpu system was made for NLE and the like. so my suggestion is if you want to NLE don't do it on p4 single, even with ht enabled, do it on either xeon or athlon mp. if you wait long enough you may even be able to do it on dual opteron or a64 in 64-bit =). __________________ bow wow wow

July 14th, 2003, 04:18 PM	#36
Scott Osborne Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Rochester NY Posts: 116	Yes the IC7 and the G both support DDR400. All Intel 845PEs, 7205,865,and 875 support DDR400. There northbridge comes that way from Intel. No Motherboard Supplier disables it. The benchmark you were looking at probably had the PAT disabled. The performance increase is pretty big in realtime performance. PAT affects the memory speed and the bandwidth anything that speeds up the bus or memory is going to translate into real word performance increases. Charles, Crucial makes some nice memory but for My money I buy Corsair matched set low latency PC3200 DDR..This ram is specifically designed to provide a fast stable system when used with a Dual Channel DDR Motherboard. ...If thats a little too expensive for you Kingston HyperX ram is pretty nice.....Avoid Geil like the plague...out of about 20 sticks i have seen recently I have RMA'ed 16 for stabiliy issues __________________ Scott Osborne Infinite Video Productions

July 14th, 2003, 08:34 PM	#38
Charles King Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: sweden Posts: 795	Thanks Scott. Crucial it is. __________________ Charles 'What we perceive to be may not be what we believe to be.'

July 15th, 2003, 08:02 AM	#40
Charles King Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: sweden Posts: 795	Great to hear Christopher although expensive but that shows you get what you pay for. __________________ Charles 'What we perceive to be may not be what we believe to be.'

July 15th, 2003, 11:09 AM	#41
Yi Fong Yu Trustee Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vulcan Posts: 1,564	for RAM i'm using a generic 1gb ecc registered stick pc2700 for roughly $185 (including shipping) on www.pricewatch.com generic=not too shabby. i highly recommend it. brand name is one thing but what it comes down to is price. as long as it's ecc, it's proven. make sure you throw a ram sink clip on it. __________________ bow wow wow

July 14th, 2003, 06:35 AM	#31
Nigel Moore Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Switzerland Posts: 358	According to the Abit website, the IC7 does support DDR400. The difference between the "G" and "non-G" versions is the inclusion of gigabit LAN interface. http://www.abit.com.tw/abitweb/webjs.../mb_latest.jsp

July 14th, 2003, 08:04 AM	#32
Don Parrish Major Player Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Tavares Fla Posts: 541	Thats what I meant by "plain IC7". the difference between the G and Non G was fifty bucks but lacked DDR400 support. The D865perl (at about 15 bucks less than the plain IC7) was a well rounded board for the price.

July 14th, 2003, 10:07 AM	#33
Nigel Moore Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Switzerland Posts: 358	But I don't know what you mean by "lacked DDR400 support" and "The alternative plain IC7 does not support the DDR 400". Both the IC7 and IC7-G support DDR400. Am I being thick?

July 14th, 2003, 11:08 AM	#34
Rob Wilson Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Flagstaff, AZ Posts: 473	Recently built a system based on the IC7G Max. It ROCKS. With a Intel 3.0 and 1 Gig of RAM, I've overclocked to 3.57 gig and it's still stable! Don't usually run it that fast when editing but shows it's a solid board for sure!

July 14th, 2003, 04:27 PM	#37
Don Parrish Major Player Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Tavares Fla Posts: 541	You were correct Nigel, I had read it wrong, does not support fsb 400 which is unimportant, sorry.

July 15th, 2003, 03:51 AM	#39
Christopher Go Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 429	So that you can feel even better with your choice, Crucial has some outstanding service and support. A few weeks ago I had to RMA what I thought was a faulty memory stick. It was easy to get ahold of a human, and in a minute, obtain an RMA number. They give you two options. You can either ship your memory up in which case they'll wait for it before shipping you the replacement, or they can charge your credit card temporarily (as if you were buying it) and send the new memory stick right away. Once they receive the old memory they credit back your card. I opted for the second choice but soon discovered I had a good piece afterall. Interestingly, I neglected to inform them of this and guess what - they ended up emailing me asking where it was so that they could credit my card! Excellent service - I told them it was okay and they thanked me for letting them know. Good to know their lifetime warranty is no joke - this was for a memory piece I purchased close to two years ago.

July 15th, 2003, 11:17 AM	#42
Charles King Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: sweden Posts: 795	Sorry for being dumb but what is a ram sink clip? __________________ Charles 'What we perceive to be may not be what we believe to be.'

July 15th, 2003, 04:07 PM	#43
David Ziegelheim Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Warren, NJ Posts: 398	It depends on how much you are into this ABXforums is the best web site for the motherboards. If you are going single processor, you needs an 800Mhz board. Those come in two chip lines of chipsets: Springdale (865) and Canterwood (875). Intel supposedly had additional performance features in the 875 but tests have been ambiguous. What the tests found is that the BIOS was more important than the chipset. Abit and Asus have been at the head of the class. I would choose the Asus P4P800, and 865-chipset board because it doesn't use a fan on the northbridge (part of the chipset). It has been at the head of the class otherwise. There are two Southbridge’s used. One includes 1394, the other does not. The P4P800 Deluxe has on-board 1394. All of these boards use dual channel DDR400 memory. Not very expensive if you run it at DDR400. Now comes the question: are you going to overclock. My older 2.4 runs at 2.875. My FSB is 160. My memory speed is DDR426 dual channel. The newer processors overclock very well. If you overclock the memory are play with the memory timings you will need to buy quicker memory. DDR400 512mb SIMMS are under $100. DDR466 versions capable of a 2.0 CAS are closer to $200. At DV Expo Adobe was using dual processor Xeon systems from Dell. Intel just lowered the price for the existing Xeon DP processors. The motherboards are slightly more expensive. ($400-500 vs $100-200). But note that these are all 533FSB not the newer 800FSB. For about $1100 you could have 2 2.8Mhz Xeons for a total of 5.6 Mhz. The Xeon systems currently only support dual channel DDR266 and have minimal overclocking ability. So memory will be cheap. David

July 15th, 2003, 04:23 PM	#44
Charles King Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: sweden Posts: 795	David, I will be running single processor for the moment but now you got all wired up again. Everyone here was saying that the Abit IS7 -G was the board to go for. I checked the specs and it seems good. Now you're saying that the Asus is a better choice. Decisions Decisions. How can I make this come to choosing one or the other. i'm planning on using my new setup with Premiere pro and Avid. Another thing I could never understand this 875 or 875E numders that these boards have. What the heck does it tell me? All I want is a very good board that is stable can havdle alot of ram, fire wire, raid and the ATA's series. I didn't know it was going to be this hard. Phew!!! You guys have been great so far. __________________ Charles 'What we perceive to be may not be what we believe to be.'

July 15th, 2003, 04:39 PM	#45
David Ziegelheim Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Warren, NJ Posts: 398	Asus is the largest...support is out of Shanghai. Abit has been known for their overclocking capabilities. But with these Intel chip sets overclocking abilities are about the same. If you get a non-defective and you don't short it, and 800FSB will probably be ok not overclocked. These all support hyperthreading, allowing captures and renders to go affected while you do something else. I can also recommend the Antec Sonata case. It is sitting by my knee know. Quieter than a normal case, its 380w PS has one fan, the case has 1 120mm running 1600 rpm. If you aren't careful, the noisest part of your system can be the northbridge fan. It is on mine (Gigabyte motherboard). Go to the abxforum.com

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