best pentium 4 ddr motherboard?

[Oboy]

I got a P4B533-V and loven it! This is what I got with my 2.26.

[ALBPM]

I'm going to catch you Bro

Running nicely at the moment at 35 degC with the Alpha 8942 and a 50 CFM YS Tech 80mm fan.

Here's what the DDRAM memory can do at this FSB.



I would advise that you check the CPU database at Overclockers before getting the 2.4A.... 2.76Ghz is the only entry for a 2.4A. Not very good.


Paul

[testjoe]

ASUS P4B533-E *DOES* support DDR333, DDR433, DDR452 and BEYOND.

Originally posted by lecter
I would suggest an ASUS P4B533-E. It doesn't support DDR333 but everything else seems to be more than satisfactory.

Oh yeah? I beg to differ. The P4B533-E is an awesome board that not only supports DDR333 and *DDR433* at default voltage, but also allows memory up to (and probably beyond) DDR452. I've tested it firsthand.

Its not a motherboard issue, but rather an issue of whether the memory module supports a given clockspeed, combined with setting a few dip switches on the motherboard to change the bios setup's memory ratio default option of "4:3 / 1:1" to "1:1 / 3:4". Since motherboard makers have yet to make a board that allows changing memory speed INDEPENDENT of the cpu frontsidebus speed, you'll have to overclock your CPU beyond 133 default FSB if you want to go beyond DDR333 in 3:4 memory ratio setting, since the memory speed changes with the FSB speed.

I have run a Geil PC3500 256MB DDR433 module on a P4B533E (after increasing the memory voltage) at 452MHz (CAS 2.5) in one of my systems and it blew past PC1066 RDRAM in SiSoft Sandra. I also have 2 x Geil PC3500 512MB DDR433 modules in a production system (i.e. needed for work and can't crash due to overclocking tinkering) with a P4 2.26 system running FSB 150 with the memory running 3:4 ratio = DDR400 at CAS2! This is awesome memory. I haven't pushed the 512MB PC3500 modules to see how high they'll go because I didn't want to break them, but they ran DDR433 without even upping their voltage during an initial test. I'm not the only one singing the Geil's praises, by the way, just read around on google for "Geil PC3500" and you'll see. At DDR433 (PC3500), its practically dead-even with RDRAM PC1066. At DDR452 it surpasses it. Note that some review sites test the 512MB version without testing or considering the 256MB version. Since I have both, I can attest that the 256MB was higher performing in terms of going BEYOND the DDR433 rating all the way to 452 before my fear of overvolting or breaking it stopped me there.

BELOW IS WHAT DDR433 LOOKS LIKE, image borrowed from Burnoutpc (I get the same numbers +/- 5 if I remember). Keep in mind DDR452 is even FASTER than the graph, I just don't have the time at this moment to go and play around on my other PC to do some screenshots @ 452DDR, but I may later in the week and update this post).



So, no one be fooled by those telling you to stay away from 845E chipset.. If you'd like to know which dips to change on the P4B533-E to allow 3:4 mem ratio, let me know. It's undocumented in the manual - but apparently not a 'default' option without the dip change due to some political issue with not wanting to undermine their other lines of MOBO's from what I've read.

Last thing I'll say is that once Dual-DDR motherboards start appearing and get matched up with PC3500 or faster modules, things will be looking even WORSE for PC1066 than with little-known DDR433 and DDR452's.

Joe T.

[Wombat]

Last thing I'll say is that once Dual-DDR motherboards start appearing, I'd hate to be in RDRAM shoes

Doesn't really matter if the CPU isn't built to handle it. It would be nice if the P4's cache algorithms weren't built around Rambus though.

[lecter]

testjoe, you are right about this, what I meant was neither Intel nor ASUS officialy suport DDR333, it doesn't even have a BIOS option like the i845G boards. But in any case, it's a damn good board, worth buying in my opinion.

[testjoe]

political..

Like I said, its an obvious political issue to do with Intel dumping RAMBUS completely out of their chipsets over the next couple quarters without wanting to shout it from the hilltops... Asus is obeying Intel.

[Wombat]

Yeah, you tend to "obey" the chipset maker when it makes a chip that doesn't support what you'd like it to do. How is this Asus's fault again?