Price Guides, February 2005: Motherboards
by Kristopher Kubicki on February 12, 2005 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
PCIe Intel
Intel users, unfortunately, don't get as many options in motherboards like the AMD guys this month. VIA's PT894 launch a few days ago indicated the chipset performed fairly similarly to Intel's 915P with the additional feature of SLI, but it might be too little, too late. Don't be surprised if Intel announces their next generation chipset before VIA's solution even hits shelves. However, with evidence suggesting that Intel might weigh more of its focus on Tier 1 motherboard manufacturers in 2005, PTxxx might be the only chipset that we see on motherboards from some of the better overclocking and feature manufacturers.
Prices being what they are, you are certainly much better off buying a Socket 775 solution over a Socket 478 solution these days. The older 865/875 motherboards are approaching their two-year anniversary – and unless you really need AGP support, you will pay more for a Socket 478 processor. Even this argument is somewhat flawed as Abit and MSI both have reasonably inexpensive Socket 775 motherboards with 865PE northbridges (and AGP).
Several manufacturers are still pursuing the lost cause that is 925X/E, so they are at least worth mentioning this time around. The cheapest 925X boards start at $160, which really doesn't make any sense, considering the nearly identical performance of so many 915P boards.
If you really need a Pentium 4 motherboard, there are a few options that we recommend highly. The EPoX EP-5EPA+ [RTPE: EP-5EPA+] won a silver award in our 915P motherboard roundup several months ago, but it still packs the mightiest performance per dollar today. However, the excellent ASUS P5GD1 (non-deluxe) also has some great features plus the flexibility of DDR1 memory.
If we look at the P5GD1 trend over the last few months, we see that the motherboard has clearly made some progress in dipping to an affordable level. Most other 915 motherboards have varied very little since September – which is unfortunate for the consumer. MSI's Neo2 Platinum [RTPE: MS-7028-030] also offers a solid feature set albeit at a higher price than the alternatives.
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ChineseDemocracyGNR - Sunday, February 13, 2005 - link
#9,no he's not kidding. There are several reports of dead boards, or boards that killed PSU's, memory modules and processors.
Both moderators of dfi-street had their boards die on them.
And not just related to this, but if you really want to know the truth you can't settle for AnandTech's review of any product.
bersl2 - Sunday, February 13, 2005 - link
On Thursday night, the MSI nForce4 Ultra board hit $145 + $5 shipping on NewEgg. It's out of stock right now, though.overclockingoodness - Sunday, February 13, 2005 - link
#8: You are kidding, right? The latest DFI motherboards are the best of the best. Check out the latest AnandTech review if you want to know the truth.arswihart - Sunday, February 13, 2005 - link
no one know what the DFI's performance is yet, so I don't know what you're talking about. And looking at various hardware forums on the net, there seem to be more problems with DFI than with Epoxoverclockingoodness - Saturday, February 12, 2005 - link
Yep, I agree with you justly. Just because SiS chipsets are not for extreme users doesn't mean they are not a worthy contender. As you already know, enthusiasts make minority of the PC buying population. Only if you guys reviewed SiS based motherboards, value users may want to look into them. NVIDA, VIA and Intel aren't everything.justly - Saturday, February 12, 2005 - link
I don't understand why Anandtech seems to have such a hard time recognizing SiS as a chipset option.Why is SiS listed at the end of the last page under "other deals" and not under "Athlon 64 AGP", the SiS 755FX is a "Athlon 64 AGP" chipset is it not?
When doing a search for SiS chipsets why "only" search for the 755FX chipset?
Maybe you could explain how "SIS clearly lost the "oomph" they once had", as far as I can recall every Anandtech review of (or comparison to) a SiS based motherboard (since the days of the 735 chipset) has shown SiS as a good if not a excellent chipset for all but the most extreme of enthusiasts/overclockers.
I just can't fathom why SiS (and ULi/ALi) seem to be looked at by the Anandtech staff as if they are lepers and can't be associated with the likes of nVidia and VIA when they often perform as good as if not better than equaly priced (or even more expensive) boards using these other chipsets.
PrinceGaz - Saturday, February 12, 2005 - link
I'm sure it'll be included in an upcoming nForce4 roundup. Epox's mobo will have to be something special to outperform DFI's though.arswihart - Saturday, February 12, 2005 - link
specifically, forgot to mention, they left out the 9npa (nf4), and did not mention 9npa-sli which will be released shortly. Also, did not mention the 9nda3+ that they reviewed. Thats not very respectful to Epoxarswihart - Saturday, February 12, 2005 - link
amazing, they totally ignored Epox, the best motherboard maker out thereand they have yet to issue an update to there negative review of the 9nda3+, to my knowledge, this is the most trouble-free 939 motherboard out there today. They have new BIOS code that fixes the early memory limitation Anandtech flamed about. Basically, now that I own a 9NDA3+, I can't really take Anandtech's reviews for a grain of salt.
Manzelle - Saturday, February 12, 2005 - link
Graph states 2001 as the year...