Price Guides December 2003: Holiday CPU & Motherboard Guide
by Kristopher Kubicki on December 7, 2003 1:18 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
It seems like each week we could write a book about Intel’s motherboard analysis. It’s no surprise, but Intel IGP chipsets are supposed to drop a few bucks in the upcoming weeks here. To us, this looks like simple retaliation for ATI’s incredibly acclaimed RS300 IGP chipset which hit the streets in full force a few weeks ago. Shuttle, FIC and ASUS seem to be the largest backers so far, but the usual Tier 1 guys (MSI, Gigabyte) will probably start pumping out boards once they see ASUS doing it.
VIA and SiS also have more toys at their disposal this week too. The quiet announcement of SiS 655TX came and went slightly before COMDEX. The SiS 655FX chipset was fine, but it really didn’t pack the punch the needed to capture anyone’s attention. The 655TX chipset (currently being pursued by Gigabyte, ECS) should have capability for much higher overclocking. The first batch of reviews should be a good read.
VIA, on the other hand, is finally producing PT880 chip in enough volume for boards. Longtime VIA buddy Soltek had the first production board on this chipset but now Abit, MSI, Chaintech and Soyo are also replacing their PT800 chipsets with PT880. As we noted earlier, VIA’s KT880 dual channel chipset is essentially based on the same core logic as the PT880.
We recently added a plethora of Intel 848P motherboards for the conscious buyers out there. They aren’t our particular choice of chipsets, but they do get the job done if you need an Intel board.
This week, when it comes to motherboards we suggest taking a look at the ASUS 865PE P4P800 Deluxe for good quality and an average price. The Abit 865PE and 875P boards are also selling aggressively but rumors about memory compatibility (particularly with performance timings) seems to continue to plague them. Now that manufacturers are starting to run out of PAT enabled 865PE chips, the MSI and ASUS 875P motherboards are also becoming quite attractive.
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KristopherKubicki - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link
Drewintheav;While over the last few weeks I have begun to agree with you. This board is designed by my particular favorite former-Abit employee (he also did the BP6), and really is a killer design. Anyone else object?
Kristopher
drewintheav - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link
I think the DFI Ultra Infinity should be recommended over the Asus A7N8X Deluxe. The Infinity is faster, overclocks higher, supports 4x SATA raid, Digital coaxial S/PDIF in and out, CMOS reloaded BIOS setup and costs less than the A7N8X!BlackShrike - Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - link
So uh why does INTEL price their only competing cpu to the athlon 51 FX at like twice the price?I mean I know they can bullshit their marketing to anyone they want without AMD making a single protest, but the serious gamers will never buy it. Not when the FX is better at less price.
KristopherKubicki - Monday, December 8, 2003 - link
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/chipsets/display/2003...It depends on the board really. Some manufacturers have a stockpile of unlcoked chips, others do not. Check the forums for which motherboards have it and which dont.
Kristopher
robschneider - Monday, December 8, 2003 - link
This is the first time I've heard that Intel is removing the PAT backdoor from their 865PE chips. Has this been verified? Is it too late to buy an 865PE motherboard and get that feature?Rob
LazyBoyTony - Sunday, December 7, 2003 - link
Those P4 EE are soooooooo expensive....i thought they were going for around double the non extreme version..... i guess the extreme editions come with extreme prices :PGlenn - Sunday, December 7, 2003 - link
no intel board prices either??KristopherKubicki - Sunday, December 7, 2003 - link
Sorry, typo mistake ;) Fixed.EglsFly - Sunday, December 7, 2003 - link
Ditto #1 - "Where are the AMD CPU prices?"LHolmstrom - Sunday, December 7, 2003 - link
Where are the AMD CPU prices?