AV40 MoBo w/100Mhz FSB vs P4 400Mhz CPU

[Greekguys]

Did I make a mistake here? Should I have a MoBo that can handle the Intel P4 400Mhz FSB? The Shuttle Computer AV40 supports all that I need except it does not go up to 400Mhz FSB. Should I send it back and get another MoBo that does? http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/tongue.gif

------------------
Captain, steady as she goes...

[BigBlue66]

Um, yep. Find yourself a nice 400Mhz FSB motherboard with the i850 chipset. That'll handle that P4 very nicely.

------------------
Life = Karma, or is it, Karma = Life?

[Greekguys]

The reason I wanted the AV40 or something like it was to utilize the PC2100 DDR RAM technology. Going to an i850 chip will require RAMBUS and the reading I've been doing shows that the DDR is the future both in speed and cost.

Do I look for a Pentium with a 266Mhz.

P.S. - I bought a Kingston PC2100 P4X266 512MB RAM already. Damn!!!

------------------
Captain, steady as she goes...

[BigBlue66]

Hey Greek,

Yeah, you're right, I had forgotten that 400Mhz motherboards that support the P4 can only use RAMBUS memory for now. DDR is still in development.

Guess you have two options: 1)Go for the 400Mhz motherboard, return the DDR memory that you have and swap it for RDRAM 800Mhz, or 2)Go for a 266Mhz motherboard, keep the DDR memory you have, and suffer the performance decrease because the 266 mobo won't make full use of the P4 400Mhz processor.

Hmmm, what a quandry. Looks like you're between a rock and a hard place.

If it's any consolation, I just received my new computer here at work. Yep, you guessed it, it's a P4 1.7GHz 400Mhz FSB, i850 chipset, 256mb of RDRAM 800Mhz, UDMA 100 support, etc, etc. (I should have remembered the RAMBUS issues) I can't say that I am unhappy with it. Of course, I went to this system from a PII 333Mhz system, so it's looking real good. hehe

So, you either buy a motherboard that will support the P4 fully and make do with RAMBUS technology for now, or you buy a motherboard that won't fully support the P4 capability, but enjoy the benefits of DDR RAM.

Let us know what you decide. I will be curious to hear your rationale for whatever decision you make.

Cheers,

Big Blue 66


------------------
Life = Karma, or is it, Karma = Life?

[Greekguys]

I'm still investigating my options BigBlue. I've got some more details to share on the AV40 MoBo http://www.shuttleonline.com/spec.php3?model=av40

I'm gonna post questions to the Support staff at Shuttle Computer and VIA hoping to get a response.

I will continue to keep you informed.



------------------
Captain, steady as she goes...

[BigBlue66]

Hmmm, Ok, I checked out that link. Although it says specifically that it will support the P4 system bus, it won't support it fully, as in, 266Mhz maximum with a 400Mhz processor. Seems to me the only problem would be a performance decrease because of the limited FSB at 266Mhz.

You might want to try www.accessmicro.com (http://www.accessmicro.com) to see what they have for P4 boards. You could also try www.computersurplusoutlet.com, (http://www.computersurplusoutlet.com,) but they are sometimes limited in what they have to offer. (Both of these places know me really well. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif )

Happy shopping.

BB 66


------------------
Life = Karma, or is it, Karma = Life?