Price Guides October 2004: CPU and Motherboards

Intel Motherboards

Last month, we mentioned that the new Socket 775 boards might be something to hold off on until some time has passed and they have proven themselves to be durable enough in the real world. Well, it's been about a month and a half since that statement and we have yet to see the flood of frustrated and angry users that some may have been expecting. We take this as a very good sign for the new socket design and have very little reason, other than price, not to recommend the new socket in this guide. Abit's 925x (775) AA8-DuraMAX motherboard may have a long name, but it has a list of features just as long to make it worthwhile. Dual-channel memory, GB LAN, PCI Express for graphics and expansion cards, SATA, DDR2 support, 7.1 audio support, and a handy 2-digit diagnostic LED display make this board one to write home about. Of course, there's one minor catch if you go with this board. It will require a new video card (unless you just can't let go of your Voodoo 3 2000 PCI), memory, and of course, a new processor. For this particular reason, we can only really recommend this board, and others with the same or similar specifications, to someone looking at building a new system from scratch or someone who has a good bit of money to spend.

If neither of the two descriptors above applies to you, then sticking to a Socket 478 board is probably the more appropriate choice. For this market, Abit has their 875P IC7-G MaxII board. This board is one of the best around for your 478 P4 and has Intel's own Pro 1000CT GB LAN controller sitting atop the CSA bus, SATA, sound, firewire, etc. Basically, it's what you would expect from a high-end motherboard.