April 2004 High-end Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 3

Intel Motherboard: ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe

Current Cost: $164
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

The Intel i875P chipset is currently the cream of the crop for Pentium 4 motherboards and there's no doubt why we included it for the fourth guide in a row. This month we did upgrade slightly, and moved to the ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe. This is just a basic refinement, and includes all the basic i875P amenities such as Hyper-Threading, 800MHz FSB support, PAT (Performance Acceleration Technology), and dual-channel DDR400 memory, making it the perfect companion to the Pentium 4 3.4C GHz processor.

The Deluxe version of the P4C800-E includes more onboard features than you're ever likely to use. Amenities include GigaBit LAN, Multi-RAID for ATA133 & Serial ATA (max 2 ATA-133 and 2 SATA HD ports), 6-channel digital audio, Firewire, WiFi, and a super overclocking BIOS. The board is very similar to the i865PE-based P4P800 Deluxe, but includes the faster i875P chipset for just a few extra dollars. This month we upgraded to the P4C800-E Deluxe, which is almost identical to the P4C800 Deluxe but includes a different Ethernet controller and it has Intel ICH5R Raid. The board also has various tweaks and improvements from the P4C800 Deluxe making it worth the small price premium over the P4C800 Deluxe.

AMD Motherboard: ASUS K8V Deluxe

Current Cost: $119
Months on list: 5
Price Change: -$20

The ASUS K8V Deluxe is truly a fantastic Athlon 64 board, and we've been recommending it ever since we included an Athlon 64 in this guide. The K8V Deluxe is has one of the best price-to-performance ratios on the market, and is no slouch when it comes to performance or onboard features. The board includes many of the same extras that you would expect to find on an ASUS deluxe board including, GigaBit LAN, Multi-RAID for ATA133 & Serial ATA (max 2 ATA-133 and 2 SATA HD ports), 6-channel digital audio, Firewire, and USB 2.0 ports aplenty.

The K8V Deluxe uses the VIA K8T800 chipset, which is currently the fastest Socket 754 platform, and gives a nice performance boost with its fully 16-bit, 1.6 GHz Hyper8 HyperTransport link. The board supports dual SATA RAID, Firewire, 6-channel audio, USB 2.0, and a built-in 3COM Gigabit LAN. As usual, ASUS includes a number of BIOS tweaks and overclocking options to squeeze every last ounce of performance out of your system. The price is the real kicker, and all these goodies for under $120 is certainly nothing to sneeze at.