Motherboard for P4 3.2

[Mike.c]

What motherboad is good with what CPU has always been a mystery to me. In the next couple of months i am going to be upgrading to a P4 3.2 and was wondering what motherboards best suit this chip. Any suggestions are great but i cant spend too much on the motherboard.

Thanks!

[LayZeh]

The P4C800 by Asus seems a favourite amongst enthusiasts and with the non-deluxe version coming in at just under a ton (£99) it's definitely worth a look. For a detailed list of features visit: http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/sock...d/overview.htm

I don't think there's realistically any other board that compares to the P4C800 at the moment and building a P4 based system with any other motherboard just wouldn't seem right. On the cheaper front though as you mentioned you've not got too much to spend you may want to take a look at the IC7 or AI7 from Abit though they're only £20 cheaper than the P4C800.

You may want to take into account that Intel are moving to the new socket shortly for their prescott CPU's this means to coincide with the move they'll be a flurry of new motherboards.

[lock]

just to say i am useing that board with a p4 2.6b and i the best had had to date ...

[Proplus]

Asus P4C800 without a doubt.

[neonplanet40]

i would have thought the Abit IC7-MAX3 was the best........... especially if u wanted to overclock. are my wrong?

PyRo

[2800CC]

After having just built a system with a P4C800 I can say that it is VERY impressive.
The build quality seems very high and it is loaded with many features not only hardware but in the BIOS. The bundle is also prety decent as well.
I have a P4 3Ghz running on it, it's got a nice AI overclocking system. I set mine to 5% OC last night and it took the CPU up to 3150 Ghz by tweaking the memory up to 210 FSB and lowering the memory timing too boot !!

I got mine for £99 from overclockers.co.uk delivery was £8 and it came the next day
Delivery is a little high but I got the CPU and memory shipped for that as well.

I wouldn't have gone for a 865i chipset, the only other 875i I was looking at the was IC7-g MAX2 MEGA HYPER mobo from Abit and at £135 it can stay MEGA HYPER MAX2

Good luck

[neonplanet40]

yea but im also doing the same next month. im getting a 3.2 p4 800fsb ,abit ic7 max 3 mobo, 1gb twinx pro series corsair ddr 4000. i thought that the max 3 was the best board to get as i dont mind the price tag. or are my wrong and the max 3 isnt the best? im also looking to put the entire asetek waterchill on the mobo (cpu, northbride etc) is this ok on this board? ie is there enuff room? also would any of u's change the above specs to somthing that u feel would be better?

|Kind Regards

PyRo

[LayZeh]

P4C800 is the best board for overclocking, it's also far easier to volt mod the memory banks aswell.

[matt_hobson]

I have done loads of research into this as i am looking to make my own system with p4 3.4Ghz 1GB Ram etc etc...

ASUS made all the best P4 boards..until Abit brought out the IC7-G which won PCWorld magazine's best P4mobo 6 months in a row, and MAXIMUM PC's best mobo of 2003.

So naturally i am going for the IC7 - Max3 as it is the newer version with better cooling than any other mobo out there.

If you put it up on the forum, or do loads of research then u will get 3 main mobos for the £100 - £150 mark:

ASUS P4C800
GIGABYTE GA-8KNXP (the ultra is MUCH better but also a few hundred quid more)
ABIT IC7-MAX3

The max 3 is supposed to be by far the overclocker's dream. And Abit's motto is performance and reliability.

I dont think that you will have too much difference whichever board you choose.

Have a look here for some reading on p4 boards:
Tom's Hardware Guide for p4 mobos

matt

[DeludedGuy]

I have the Abit IC-7, its a great mobo, I cant fault it, only £80, very good for a budget mobo.

[neonplanet40]

Thanx Alot. I will also be gettin the ic7 max 3. i have an abit at7 max 2 for my athlon now and its still gr8!! so im going to stick to what i know. in the end its always going to be about how much money your willing to spend. but considering its a main board, cpu and ram im going to go for the best to get the overclocks that iw ant and also the speed and reliability. all watercooled then up the asus 9800xt as far as it will go to

gd luck

PyRo

[Mike.c]

Thanks for the replies!

Well its a toss up between the Abit Max3 and the Asus P4C800.

Will have to see how much my budget will stretch when the time comes!

Thanks for the help!

[bouncin]

i used to get 10 fsb more out of my abit max3 than i do out of my asus.

But due to an officail bios update it lost that edge and started giving me a lot of trouble which just couldnt be sorted out. the best i could do was put on a modded bios and performance was still never the same so i opted never to buy an abit again due to gettin 3 borked nf7/s,s and there own bios bustin my p4 board

and tbh im overjoyed with the asus clock for clock its got better performance than the abit and the main thing is its a solid reliable board i just hope it likes its newest girlfriend a 3.4c

might have to swap out this ram though. its overkill for a 3.4c i really like it too

[antonjw]

Has anybody any experience or views on the MSI 875PNEO-FISR or FIS2R?

I'm looking at getting the FIS2R version of this 875 P4 board. MSI seem to have an excellent reputation, and I'd specced MSI in a previous AMD system I was going to buy, based on recommendations & review of the board in a PC mag.

After reading the P4 mobo roundup at Tom's Hardware, I've seen nothing to change my mind... oh... except you guys banging on about the Abit

I realise that the Abit is a 'clockers board... but to be honest.. I really don't plan on getting into 'clocking... certainly not straight away anyway. I figure at least this board gives me those options if I wish to get into that.

Any thoughts?

[Gardner84]

I was always under the impression that for a high performance p4 motherboard the IC7-MAX3 was the best partially because of it's OTES cooling. I do know that the Asus board is a great overclocker but that the Abit one was the prefered one in terms of stability at overclocked levels.

[bouncin]

The otes cooling makes very little difference to be honest. as it only cools mosfets and other power components. Its more likely to do with the fact that the northbridge has fan cooling instead of passive