I am about to upgrade from an ABIT ST6-RAID / P3-850 system and would like some input from the gurus in this group as to what might be the most effective choice of a new MOBO before I plunk down a bunch of $$$.
Proposed configuration:
CPU: 3.0 GHz Hyperthreading (will purchase)
OpSys: Win2K Pro, SP3 (don't trust XP yet)
Video: AIW Radeon 9700 or 9800 (will purchase)
Memory: 1 GB (2x512MB) Crucial DDR (will purchase)
Audio: On board sound, initially
HDDs: 1-80GB (boot), 1-120GB, 1-160GB, all WD ATA-100's (have)
Optical Storage: 1-Pioneer DVD-116, 1-Pioneer DVR-A06U (have)
Floppy: 1 generic 1.44MB (have)
Power Supply: 400+ watts PC Pwr & Cooling or Antec True Power
Which of the following MOBOs (IT7-MAX2-V2, IC7G-MAX II, IC7-MAX3) would be your choice for a system that would represent the best combination of reliability, current "state of the art" and maximum delay of obsolescence? I know that the new PCI Express spec will be implemented sometime next year, but I really don't want to wait until the MOBOs that have it become stable products (i.e. I've got the $$$ now, but may not then ;o).
I realize that the IT7 (an upgraded BE7-RAID?) is getting old now, but mightn't it be more reliable than the IC series and, it has 4 PATA channels (2 normal, 2 RAID) + 2 SATA channels? I also am not very familiar with SATA but assume that I could hang the 3 HDDs on SATA connectors 1, 3 & 4 (on the IC7, non-RAID config) booting from SATA 1. Also, are the Serillel2 adapters easily available from ABIT or aftermarket? I searched a bit but couldn't find any vendors listing them separate from the MOBO.
Has ABIT cleaned up their act so far as not using the problem filter caps on their recent MOBOs? I had a BX-133 and SA6R go belly up recently because of the cap debacle, the ST6-RAID has not shown the problem at all.
Any responses will be greatly appreciated - Kurt
Proposed configuration:
CPU: 3.0 GHz Hyperthreading (will purchase)
OpSys: Win2K Pro, SP3 (don't trust XP yet)
Video: AIW Radeon 9700 or 9800 (will purchase)
Memory: 1 GB (2x512MB) Crucial DDR (will purchase)
Audio: On board sound, initially
HDDs: 1-80GB (boot), 1-120GB, 1-160GB, all WD ATA-100's (have)
Optical Storage: 1-Pioneer DVD-116, 1-Pioneer DVR-A06U (have)
Floppy: 1 generic 1.44MB (have)
Power Supply: 400+ watts PC Pwr & Cooling or Antec True Power
Which of the following MOBOs (IT7-MAX2-V2, IC7G-MAX II, IC7-MAX3) would be your choice for a system that would represent the best combination of reliability, current "state of the art" and maximum delay of obsolescence? I know that the new PCI Express spec will be implemented sometime next year, but I really don't want to wait until the MOBOs that have it become stable products (i.e. I've got the $$$ now, but may not then ;o).
I realize that the IT7 (an upgraded BE7-RAID?) is getting old now, but mightn't it be more reliable than the IC series and, it has 4 PATA channels (2 normal, 2 RAID) + 2 SATA channels? I also am not very familiar with SATA but assume that I could hang the 3 HDDs on SATA connectors 1, 3 & 4 (on the IC7, non-RAID config) booting from SATA 1. Also, are the Serillel2 adapters easily available from ABIT or aftermarket? I searched a bit but couldn't find any vendors listing them separate from the MOBO.
Has ABIT cleaned up their act so far as not using the problem filter caps on their recent MOBOs? I had a BX-133 and SA6R go belly up recently because of the cap debacle, the ST6-RAID has not shown the problem at all.
Any responses will be greatly appreciated - Kurt