August 2002 High-end Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 3

Pentium 4 Motherboard: ABIT SR7-8X

Current Cost: $108
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

In the last edition of our High End PC Buyer's Guide, we had a tough time finding the right mix of features, memory support and overclocking options for our Pentium 4 motherboard. This problem has not been totally alleviated, but at least one company has come to the rescue. The SiS 648 chipset has all the features, performance and overclocking a high-end user could want, but due to the upcoming 648DX, many manufacturers are taking a wait-and-see attitude. This doesn't help much if you need a new system now, but thankfully ABIT has jumped in with their impressive SR7-8X motherboard.

We don't have the time or space for a full review of the board's features, but let's start off with DDR333 (and DDR400 ratios), USB 2.0, AGP 8X (for easy video card upgrading), ATA133, and possibly the killer feature of them all: Fixed AGP/PCI Frequencies. The powerful overclocking features of the SR7-8X cannot be understated, as not only can you lock the AGP/PCI speeds while jacking the FSB and core voltage with abandon, but increase the AGP speed independently as well. In fact, other than having an optional RAID configuration, the SR7-8X comes extremely close to a perfect mix of price and performance.

Athlon XP Motherboard: EPoX 8K3A+ RAID

Current Cost: $120
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

The fastest Athlon XP chipset is currently the KT333, so that makes our choice a bit easier. Then again, there are quite a few very impressive KT333 motherboards to choose from, which once again ramps up the level of difficulty. We tend to rate our motherboard selections based on the individual criteria of each guide, and in this case we're looking at high-end performance, stability and overclocking. In all of these areas, the EPoX 8K3A+ RAID gets top marks and is easily the fastest of the KT333 crop. There are more fully-featured KT333 boards, (even EPoX is readying a more integrated KT333 design), but at the present time the EPoX 8K3A+ RAID has to get the nod.