Prefered P4 Motherboard?

[Chris]

I'm looking to build a few Pentium 4 machines, using the 2.4GHz 800mhz
FSB P4 and I was wondering what the preferred P4 motherboard is. (I
don't say 'best' since that's highly debatable) In this instance these
are desktop machines for people who do a variety of graphics and office
applications such as Quarkxpress, Publisher, Photoshop (scanning apps)
so best performance for the money would be the ideal.

I'd probably use a Western Digital 80gb JB series hard drive (sata or
raid not really a requirement), I'm not really sure about the graphics
card.. I'd consider either an NVidia or ATI card but for the type of 2D
graphics that these would be used for what card / chip offers the best
price / performance ratio?

Thanks,

- Chris

 

[Larc]

| I'm looking to build a few Pentium 4 machines, using the 2.4GHz 800mhz
| FSB P4 and I was wondering what the preferred P4 motherboard is. (I
| don't say 'best' since that's highly debatable) In this instance these
| are desktop machines for people who do a variety of graphics and office
| applications such as Quarkxpress, Publisher, Photoshop (scanning apps)
| so best performance for the money would be the ideal.

For a standard high quality motherboard, I suggest something like the MSI 865PE
Neo2-S ($93 shipped from Newegg). It is SATA compatible. With the addition of
onboard LAN, the MSI 865PE Neo2-LS is $108 shipped.

Whatever brand and model of board you finally decide on, make sure it has an
Intel chipset (865 or 875 series). It's usually best to stick with an Intel
chipset if you're using an Intel CPU.

| I'd probably use a Western Digital 80gb JB series hard drive (sata or
| raid not really a requirement), I'm not really sure about the graphics
| card.. I'd consider either an NVidia or ATI card but for the type of 2D
| graphics that these would be used for what card / chip offers the best
| price / performance ratio?

If you're basically interested in 2D and 3D ability isn't important, go with the
Matrox G550. The regular card has one DVI out (adapter to DB-15 included) plus
one standard DB-15 out for dual-monitor support. At $99 shipped from Newegg,
nothing I know of at a readily affordable price is better. Unlike a number of
other graphics card manufacturers, Matrox keeps drivers reasonably current and
doesn't tend to neglect support for cards that are more than two or three years
old.

There are a couple of newer Matrox cards for business graphics, the P650 and its
bigger brother the P750. But newer — or more expensive — isn't always
guaranteed to be better. Reports I've read indicate little or no visually
apparent performance difference between them and the G550.

Larc



§§§ - Please raise temperature of mail to reply by e-mail - §§§

 

[jmnugent]

The ABIT IC7 and IS7 series boards are getting great reviews.
See TomsHardware.com or hardocp.com

--jmnugent

 

[Stacey]

I'm not really sure about the graphics
card.. I'd consider either an NVidia or ATI card but for the type of 2D
graphics that these would be used for what card / chip offers the best
price / performance ratio?

2D, Matrox G550 is the king.