Thought Needed

[G Smith]

[Wiggo]

Ok I'll take a stab at this.

Granite Bay only needs PC2100 in two channels to have sufficient bandwidth to operate a P4 without any bottleneck effect but like most other boards that only officially support PC2100, PC2700 should run just fine but whether ya'll get any benefit from doin' so is a question that I can't answer just yet.

The GF4 Ti4200 should fit the bill nicely in the best price/performance category as it's much faster than the R8500 or R9000 Pro but costs much less than the top end alternatives (overclocks very well also).

Until Serial ATA II comes along there is no point in Serial ATA due to the PCI bus bottleneck it must share and the price of drives to suit (ok if ya later require more hard drive capacity though).

Ya PCI firewire card should be fine and save $'s as well.

Well there are quite a few cases that come with mobo trays but finding one that will be up to your tastes and budget will require a little searching.

I hope this helps answer those questions somewhat. ;)
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[G Smith]

Thanks Wiggo,

Your post definately helped clear up a few things.

I take it then that DDR-333 ='s PC2700 and DDR-40 ='s PC3200 ?

The GF4 Ti4200 looks like a resonable board and should meet my needs at almost half the cost of the R9700.

I've read here that Corsair memory is very good, what do you guys think of Kingston? It runs about $30 less on a 256 meg DDR-PC2100 chip. I've run Kingston a lot and never had problems with it but I'm by no means an expert.


On to another question.....

I gather with the Granite Bay dual channel ability that the memory runs faster than a standard motherboard without it? And is it faster than an older board running DDR-400? or is it just better utilized ....

Sorry to ask so many questions but all these numbers get a little confusing if I don't set them streight in my head.

Any input is appreciated!!

[Wiggo]

Yes the memory equation is right. :thumb:

That was behind my purchase for the Leadtek GF4 Ti4200 as well but I did spend a bit extra for the 128MB My VIVO model as it will have to do me for a few years plus when I get the time I wish to dabble with some of the VIVO properties (oh it's runnin' as fast as a basic Ti4400 btw). :devil win

Corsair is very good but I have never used Kingston. Apacer and Crucial are also very good brands plus with the first Granite Bay boards only PC2100 is all that is needed but do get CAS 2 as the performance will be better then CAS 2.5 sticks. Yes the dual memory channels allow twice as much memory to be addressed at the same time and this is why higher speed memory isn't needed (it would be nicer for some of us if Intel would do the job right first though) but ya do need to pair sticks. :)

Hey if ya don't ask ya won't know will ya?
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