Which Intel board is best?

[bigcrit]

Which intel board would be best to buy? Especially for high end gaming and online gaming?

I was thinking of getting the 845wn....anyone have any thoughts on any of these boards or possibly a different brand?

Thanks

[DANIMAL]

Pretty wide range question but I'll say stick with ASUS. and what you can afford.

[clauded]

i been working with msi lately both with intel and amd and i am very pleased with them ,easy to setup and stable which to me is what you look for in a mb,more then speed or anything else
clauded

[Ahcoraj]

If you're a tweaker (as most gamers seem to be, myself included) Epox offers a lot of options in the bios to squeeze out extra performance. Their prices are reasonable and certainly less than intel. I have a few customers who specify intel only, and have found that their rma rate is no better than Epox or ASUS.

[Hippie_Tech]

I don't care which manufacturer you use (Abit, Asus, MSI, Epox...), just please don't make the mistake of getting a board like the 845wn (SDRAM).
The performance hit you will take from using SDRAM instead of DDR or Rambus is quite significant. I can understand if you are looking at just upgrading the processor and motherboard but wanted to keep your existing RAM. However, the extra money you would spend for DDR memory in the upgrade will make a HUGE difference in how the machine performs. SDRAM setups just can't supply enough data to the P4 fast enough. The difference is very noticable. Stay away from SDRAM P4 motherboards. It's like building a kickass machine (which is what we all want) and then sticking in a 2MB PCI video card. SDRAM is bad news for the P4.

[bigcrit]

Thanks everyone....I think I'm gonna go with an Intel board with DDR or rdram

[computron99]

[quote]Originally posted by bigcrit:
<strong>Thanks everyone....I think I'm gonna go with an Intel board with DDR or rdram</strong><hr></blockquote>

Intel makes the D845BGL motherboard, it's a S478 P4 with DDR slots on it. It's a pretty stable boards (MSI's are also pretty stable too). It has an integrated 10/100 Intel Nic and integrated sound (easily disabled in the BIOS). My favorite things on it are the 4 usb ports in the back and the 6 PCI slots. Check out Intel web site. Good Luck.

[bigcrit]

Anyone else have any thoughts? I'm going to a computer show this weekend and will probably buy the Intel 845BG. I want to add my own Nic and Sound card to it. I also like the fact it has DDR instead of pc 133 or RDRam....

[+Daemon+]

Id go abit

[Hippie_Tech]

I agree. The Abit BD7 with or without RAID is a good solid choice. I have real world experience with this board with multiple installations and it is a rock solid performer. Of course all of the boards with the Intel 845D chipset are fairly equal in performance, but not all of them are stable. For stability use Abit, Asus, and Intel boards. For performance AND stability, use the Abit. Just my 2 cents.