New computer

[NocturnDragon]

I'm going to buy a new computer soon.

Case: some kind of Desktop or Middle Tower 300W
VB: Matrox Millenium G550 32MB DDR OEM
MB: Asus A7V333-E-Audio 145$
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2 GHz Northwood 512K 0.13
Mem: DIMM 512MB DDR PC266
HDD: Maxtor D740X, UDMA-133, 7200Rpm 80GB (two of them using raid 1)
CD and Burner: keeping the old one
Net: the same

Here there is my question:
What MB would you buy for this computer?
I need a raid system so my choices are:

ASUS P4B266-E/RAID 845D
ABIT BD7II-RAID

What are the pro cons of them both?
I would go for the ASUS.. but i wanted your advice before buy it..
Thanks in advance.

 

[pascal]

I cant find the specs of P4B266-E/RAID.

Usually Asus uses use Promise Raid controllers and Abit use HighPoint Raid controllers.

Some people say that Highpoint has better quality H/S and is faster.
Abit is good and probably cheaper.

edited: the BD7-II RAID supports P4 with 533Mhz FSB. The BD7 RAID only support the 400MHz FSB.

edited2: minor corrections

 

[Dave Baumann]

Yes - to add to what Pascal says, make sure you find a board that can cope with the new 533FSB as this will give you more options in the future.

 

[NocturnDragon]

I know that the BD7-II RAID supports P4 with 533Mhz FBS but i'm not interested in it as i never upgrade the computer once i buy it, i always change the whole thing once it start to be a lil slow for current tasks.
Another choice could be the new asus one supprting both RAID and 533Mhz FBS.

Saying i don't care about the faster FBS as the only processor i will use with that computer will be a Intel Pentium 4 2 GHz Northwood 512K 0.13 (and i'm not even going to overclock it) and the price difference here in Italy is very small.

What MB would you get?

 

[pascal]

I dont overclock too

If you are going with P4 2.0A (Northwood) and Raid your best option is Abit BD7-Raid, because it is cheaper, good and has a Highpoint raid controller.

The BD7-II Raid has a higher FSB (you will not use), lan and integrated sound (probably not a very good sound).

 

[Saem]

High point controllers suck! Abit has had a lot of problems with them, especially when they introduced them in the BX days. If you installed the drivers you'd get crashes all over the place for no apparent reason. This is one of the big reasons I'm shy of Abit. Bitten once, twice shy.

 

[pascal]

Hummm, interesting because I have read in some forums it is better than Promise.

What is a good raid controller?

 

[pascal]

I asked some people and they said that the earlier highpoint controllers were problematic (specially with VIA drivers) but the newer Highpoint 372 and 374 are very good, better than the Promise.

I havent tested any myself. It is better search the web.

See this review: http://www.hothardware.com/hh_files/Motherboards/bd7r_vrs_p4b266.shtml

 

[NocturnDragon]

Thank you very much guys i'll reading that review right now..

 

[Tahir2]

I asked some people and they said that the earlier highpoint controllers were problematic (specially with VIA drivers) but the newer Highpoint 372 and 374 are very good, better than the Promise.

I hear the same thing.

 

[NocturnDragon]

I need a fast reply... What do you guys think about the MSI 845e MAX2?

Is it better or worse then the Asus P4B533-E?
I never had any MSI board so i have no clue if it's reliable or not..

 

[pascal]

I never had a MSI product before then I cannot say anything about MSI quality. Some people like it and some dont.

Both mobos have a 533Mhz FSB support (see Dave comments above), MSI have more options.

Asus is top quality (I have a Asus 3D card ). In doubt buy Asus.

 

[NocturnDragon]

But does the MSI 845e MAX2 support 400MHz FSB?

 

[pascal]

Yes