Old motherboard advice (Intel 775)

[my-planet]

Hi guys. I've got an old Celeron E1200 and am looking for an Intel socket 775 motherboard to overclock it with. I've got a £10 Amazon voucher I was looking to spend, and came across these two motherboards (because they have 4 DIMM slots):

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=P43DE
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/Produc...d=en-us0000449

I was edging towards the Foxconn due to it's 3 year warranty, but there are NO reviews out there. There is one for the ASRock however, and it seems a good board.

My main reservation is, I was looking for RAID, which I (for the life of me) cannot find on a ~£50 board!

Anyone advice? Any one know of any boards ion this price range with RAID?

[doddsy]

I've got an abit quadgt for sale in the classifieds section, great overclocker and is RAID capable. Admittedly you don't get a 3 year warranty though.

[Zak33]

my-planet

Both have the same overall Intel chipset, so you should choose according to their spec. and layout.

The Asrock has two PCI connectors, whereas the Foxxconn has three. Do you need 2 or 3 or none?

I use at least 1 (for a seperate sound card) and occasionally a second for an OLD PCI graphics card, so what is next to the slots.... ? How much room is there for your PCI Express graphics card to fit?

The Asrock has NOTHING to the underside (to the left when laid down in the pics) of where the PCI Express card will be for at least the width of a double cooler, whereas the Foxconn will have at least one PCI slot blocked by a double width cooler.

Will you be using a FLOPPY drive in the machine? On the Asrock the floppy connector is the VERY bottom of the board, one fitted in a case (ie far left of picture)

The Foxconn has it at the total other end.. see the black connector.. that will be the TOP of the board.

The FoxConn has LOADS of USB headers... loads. The three lime green plugs will EACH offer 2 USB headers, so that's 6 internl for you to use for your front or additional read panel headers.
The Asrock has 2 of the double, but I think one is inbetween PCI slots... can't be sure from the picture though.

Lots to think about

[vian_siu]

i am sure you can get a g41 or g 43 gigabyte mobo for a similar price

[my-planet]

my-planet

Both have the same overall Intel chipset, so you should choose according to their spec. and layout.

The Asrock has two PCI connectors, whereas the Foxxconn has three. Do you need 2 or 3 or none?

I use at least 1 (for a seperate sound card) and occasionally a second for an OLD PCI graphics card, so what is next to the slots.... ? How much room is there for your PCI Express graphics card to fit?

The Asrock has NOTHING to the underside (to the left when laid down in the pics) of where the PCI Express card will be for at least the width of a double cooler, whereas the Foxconn will have at least one PCI slot blocked by a double width cooler.

Will you be using a FLOPPY drive in the machine? On the Asrock the floppy connector is the VERY bottom of the board, one fitted in a case (ie far left of picture)

The Foxconn has it at the total other end.. see the black connector.. that will be the TOP of the board.

The FoxConn has LOADS of USB headers... loads. The three lime green plugs will EACH offer 2 USB headers, so that's 6 internl for you to use for your front or additional read panel headers.
The Asrock has 2 of the double, but I think one is inbetween PCI slots... can't be sure from the picture though.

Lots to think about

Dude, thanks for that. Much apreciated. I'm ok with deciding between these two I reckon, i just find it crazy that such full featured boards stick floppy and ide ports on them, but no firewire or RAID.

i am sure you can get a g41 or g 43 gigabyte mobo for a similar price

With Firewire and RAID? Links please. Cheers.

[Pob255]

That Foxconn doesn't have firewire

IEEE1394: N/A

Nore does that ASrock board.

[my-planet]

That Foxconn doesn't have firewireNore does that ASrock board.

Yes, ok I knew that, just threw in that new requirement - my bad. I already have a seperate Firewire card, but RAID is a very nice to have.