Which motherboard is better?

[PuddingShorts]

I'm trying to decide between two motherboards but I'm not sure which of these would be a better deal. Of these two motherboards, which would be the smarter purchase?

VIA P4PA
SOYO P4S Dragon Ultra

Both are for Pentiums up to 2.0GHz and above and support DDR PC2100 RAM, which is what I'm interested in.

If anyone has some info about which board is the better buy, I'd like to hear it. Any other mobo recommendations would be cool, but only for equal or superior motherboards, as far as features are concerned.

Also, neither of these boards support "buffered ECC memory". The problem is all the memory I find online is registered ECC. Can I use registered ECC memory anyway and not encounter problems? I'm also wondering where I can find some CAS 2 modules. Do CAS 2 modules even exist for sizes of 512KB or 1GB? All of them seem to be CAS 2.5. I'm getting headaches trying to understand RAM types and could use some advice on that too.

[Mortis]

Another Mobo in the Mix- Gigabyte Titan!
http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboa...845ddr-16.html

All these boards are top class... I dont think you could go wrong with any of them. It basically comes down to your preferences for ChipSets. Each has advantages and features over the next. You probably wanted a more definitive answer, but this is the Best I could do. Chipsets involved are Intel 845, ViaAppolo and SiS 645- This really is where the differences are in the Boards. If you have a preference based on experience, I say go with that one. Otherwise, go with the one that is the least expensive. Again, I really dont think you can go wrong with any of these. I am sure others will be a long to add their valuable opinions and reasons.

GoodLuck!

EDIT Corrrected : As for your Ram questions, these boards will run both 2/2.5 and NonECC/ECC. However, 2.5 NonECC will be faster ram and you shouldnt have any probs finding it. Hope this helps.

[PuddingShorts]

The SOYO P4S Dragon Ultra costs around $150. It's the most expensive of the ones I was looking at, but it has some things that may make the $50 increase over the VIA P4PA worth it, like:

Onboard RAID features that can support up to 8 IDE devices.

A small expansion audio chip installed in an unused PCI slot that has a digital optical in and out, which the PCI soundcard I was looking at does not have (Soundblaster Audigy Gamer). The chip doesn't use the PCI slot, it just mounts onto the case's spare PCI mount screwhole. So with this board it is simple to output your audio to a standalone receiver (for easy DTS output when watching DVD movies.)

It also has a USB hub that mounts in either a spare 5.25" or 3.5" bay. The case I was looking at (Antec SX-840) would have a vacancy in either of those, although I'd probably use the extra 3.5" external bay since I don't plan on using a ZIP drive. And leaving the 5.25" bay open would be smart in case I ever get a DVD-RW after they dump the +RW format and drop a bit in price.

Support for PC2700 RAM, although it only recognizes PC2700 in 2 DIMM slots, the third slot would be useless (limiting the normally 3GB RAM cap to 2GB.)

The BIOS on the Dragon is quite a bit more complex than the more simple VIA P4PA's BIOS, which could be intimidating to me once I go to set it up. The VIA's BIOS was generally easy to understand everything while the SOYO's BIOS has so many more little things to tweak. But I guess this is good because SOYO boards used to have a reputation for not allowing much end user tweaking. Now there's every little option available to fool around with.

-Thanks for the help. That was just what I was hoping to hear, that they are both generally equal. The chipsets, like you said are the only difference, and it all is pointless when looking at benchmarks because Quake III FPS counts are literally only a few frames apart between different mobos. And you're still nearly double the standard goal of 60FPS or more with any newer motherboard (140-180 FPS is really impressive in a benchmark test but above 60 FPS is perfectly fine). I'm probably going to go with the Dragon because of the fact that it really has all those extra things included, like RAID specifically. I can get the VIA for $50 cheaper but I'd end up spending more than $50 just to get all the extras the SOYO throws in standard. Plus I don't think the VIA gives you Norton Ghost and Antivirus 2002, while the Dragon does.

[PuddingShorts]

Wow! I just found a new one: the VIA P4PB. It's one step up from the P4PA and has almost the same exact specs as the SOYO P4S Dragon Ultra. Same max RAM support, the RAID controller, and even support for AGP 8X. Supposedly it's going to cost less too. www.vr-zone.com has a review for it. The VIA site (www.viavpsd.com) doesn't have the page up yet, but they have specs for the next model up, the P4PB Pro, which is more or less the same mobo.

[cadetstimp]

Given the chioce ...Dragon

Check out Soltek .... simple, fast and overclockable like no other

http://www.soltek.com.tw/

[PuddingShorts]

I'm not really going to overclock though. I don't think I understand everything enough to even attempt overclocking (and destroying a new P4 2.4GHz is that last thing I want to risk happening). I may eventually try my hand at overclocking (years and years from now when a 2.4GHz CPU is leaning towards ancient. But until then I'm just looking for a Ferrari of motherboards as far as features are concerned.

My requirements for a motherboard is: lots of features, nearly limitless upgradeability, and support for 2.4GHz Northwoods or higher along with the RAM cap of 3GB. I picked these boards because they have ungodly RAM limitations, RAID controllers to allow for more than the standard 4 IDE devices, USB 2.0 support, etc. I'm actually leaning towards the VIA P4PB now though because of AGP 8X support. I was going to get a GeForce 4 Ti4600 but I'm curious about seeing some test results when the first wave of 8X cards come out. I could essentially get the GF4 and know for a fact that when 8X cards are out and dropping in price I can know I don't have to get a new motherboard just to use them. The P4PB actually looks to be a clearcut winner if I can find anyplace that sells it. If it costs around $150 it will be a sure purchase based on what it offers. I really was looking at the Dragon or maybe a ASUS board, but the VIA board offers everything the other do and then some.