845 Motherboard Question

[AMD_Forever]

I need to upgrade my computers, but I haven't kept up with the times in terms of good motherboards.

My best system is a 750 Duron on a KT133 with a TNT2 M-64.

I'm hoping on getting a 1.7 Ghz Celeron and overclocking to 2.26 Ghz.

I want a cheap, stable, i845 based motherboard with minimal features save the ability to do 133mhz FSB and voltage adjustments.

Please, make some suggestions. Price is an extreme concern, but I will NOT buy an SIS or VIA board.

[o1die]

Newegg.com has an abit BD7 (refurbished with 30 day warranty) for $57, and I beleive the shipping is free. I use newegg as their rma policy is excellent; I've returned my board twice under warranty with no questions asked and received a new board within 8 days. If 30 days isn't enough, check out their new boards. Also, some refurbs don't come with the cables or software; it's the luck of the draw. The board I have is the epox 4sda+, but you asked for something other than sis or via that's reasonably priced. I always recommend newegg.

[gurutoo]

Why would you recommend a board you've had to return twice?

[BRB]

Look for something with the i845E chipset. It's the new one that supports 133MHz FSB quad pumped. I have an Abit BD7II-RAID and I love it but Abit isn't exactly a bargain MB.

[CrawlingEye]

Just dish out the extra cash and get the 1.6a, the 1.7 celery's a williamette core, not northwood. You won't see northwood celery's until around the time of prescott.

I suggest the Asus P4B266-c if you're going to go i845, since it has the jumper/jumperless 3:4 memory divider trick.

I'd go with the P4S533 over that any day though, but that's your decision.

[KJY9]

Why not the EP-4G4a+? It's an Intel 846G Chipset and is supposed OC like a banshee!

[Mandorallen of Molynnr]

Originally posted by KJY9
Why not the EP-4G4a+? It's an Intel 846G Chipset and is supposed OC like a banshee!

I tested one of those the other day, got a 1.6A GHz up to 2.736 GHz, even with a crappy 250 watt PSU and stock cooling. Samsung PC2700 ran 2-2-2-1 all the way..

[KJY9]

Originally posted by Mandorallen of Molynnr


I tested one of those the other day, got a 1.6A GHz up to 2.736 GHz, even with a crappy 250 watt PSU and stock cooling. Samsung PC2700 ran 2-2-2-1 all the way..

I hear ya MoM. I'm ordering one next week to go with a 2.0a

[d_k]

I tested one of those the other day, got a 1.6A GHz up to 2.736 GHz, even with a crappy 250 watt PSU and stock cooling. Samsung PC2700 ran 2-2-2-1 all the way..

I hear ya MoM. I'm ordering one next week to go with a 2.0a

Thats weird I've heard nothing but trouble about that board.Anyway I wish you good luck and hope you dont have the problems others were having.

[KJY9]

Originally posted by cocacola155




Thats weird I've heard nothing but trouble about that board.Anyway I wish you good luck and hope you dont have the problems others were having.

Hey Coca...you have any links? The VRZone review on the mobo was rave!.

"EPoX 4G4A+ has a very powerful BIOS with many tweakable settings such as VCore up to 1.85V, Vagp up to 1.9V, VDimm up to 3.2V, FSB up to 200Mhz in 1Mhz interval and AGP/PCI ratio adjustable. The clock speed and the FSB of the Pentium 4 processor can be fully maxed out with this board. The ability to support DDR333 is certainly the most welcomed feature here and stability can even be achieved at 200Mhz FSB (DDR400) with good combinations of BIOS settings. EPoX 4G4A+ is simply an Overclockers' delight and much high FSB overclocking can be done with this board definitely."
found here:

http://www.vr-zone.com/reviews/EPoX/4G4A+/page9.htm

[Mandorallen of Molynnr]

Originally posted by cocacola155

Thats weird I've heard nothing but trouble about that board.Anyway I wish you good luck and hope you dont have the problems others were having.

Well I was expecting a crappy OC out of it due to all the rumours flying around, but was pleasantly suprised. Very nice board, plus the onboard VGA isn't too bad too. First hand experiance over rumours every time I guess.

[KJY9]

Originally posted by Mandorallen of Molynnr


...First hand experiance over rumours every time I guess.

Big Amen to that

[AMD_Man]

Originally posted by Mandorallen of Molynnr

First hand experiance over rumours every time I guess.

I wholeheartedly hope that applies for the T-Bred too!


I'd like a good surprise right about now.