Price Guides, September 2005: Motherboards
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Howard Johnston on September 16, 2005 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
More PCIe Intel
NVIDIA's nForce4 Intel boards are your only option if you're looking to do SLI on an Intel setup - at least until 975X ships. Enthusiasts trying to decide between AMD and Intel will have tough choice given that these boards also support the Pentium D dual core CPUs.
Since our last guide we've see some decent price drops on Intel nForce4 boards. MSI's P4N SLI-FI [RTPE: MS-7160-020] is the price leader this week at $111.99 after a $25 MIR. Even without the rebate this board has a very low price point compared to other tier 1 boards. The Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI Pro [RTPE: GA-8N-SLI] is also a great value at $135.99 without a rebate.
We're still waiting on motherboards based off ATI's Crossfire chipset to start shipping. The Intel motherboard segment is in dire need of more chipset competition to help bring the prices down.
Wrapping things up, we have the 915P and 915G based motherboards. There are numerous boards in this category still, though they represent the low end of Intel's chipset lineup. As these boards are nearing end-of-life, we'd recommend spending the same cash on a 945P or AMD setup instead. For a cheap Celeron D setup, though, 915G and 915P may be worth a look.
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Cygni - Saturday, September 17, 2005 - link
The ULi/ASRock offering certainly looks mighty juicy in that round up... only one or two NF4 boards in its range, and they lack the features or performance of the ULi. Good stufF!XRaider - Sunday, September 18, 2005 - link
Kris and Manveer,I really like how you guys laid out the article. Keeping it all in separate sections - making it very easy to read and to find items! The old way for pricing guides were pretty much lumped into one section ...i.e. AMD boards would have all flavors tossed into one section making it difficult to search/pick out items.
GREAT JOB GUYS!! Keep it up!!
Anandtech Rocks baby!!
Crassus - Sunday, September 18, 2005 - link
Absolutely. Please keep doing it this way in future price guides.flatblastard - Friday, September 16, 2005 - link
"Springing for an nForce4 Ultra motherboard buys you a few more fancy features like the Creative Labs Sound Blaster 7.1 audio codec."I was under the impression that that codec was only available on the SLI version of the K8N Neo4 from MSI. Now I've been wrong before, and in this case I hope that I am (though not likely ;) ).
TheInvincibleMustard - Saturday, September 17, 2005 - link
I was wondering that same thing, myself ... most nForce4 mobo's I know of use Realtek's AC codec/chips in their boards ...stelleg151 - Friday, September 16, 2005 - link
What about the Jetway?flatblastard - Saturday, September 17, 2005 - link
What about it? Why is it not included in the price guide? Or do you mean that it comes with the SB Live audio codec? If it's the latter, then I think you should check out the manufacturer's website.....Here let me save you the trouble of googling it:http://www.jetway.com.tw/evisn/product/amd-k8/939g...">Jetway 939GT4-Ultra Specifications
mhoytech - Friday, September 16, 2005 - link
Slight slip of hand to jump ahead several months