A question of motherboards

[Juergen]

Hello all, I am about to buy a new computer, and I've been looking at an Asus P2-99 motherboard. Is this going to work for a Maxtor 27GB drive? What about the P3-W-E.

As far as I could tell, the P2 doesn't support ATA/66 drives, but the Maxtor is one, right? And as far as I know, I shouldn't get a motherboard with on board audio and video, because that's not gonna work for LE, or am I totally confused?

I am not sure if I understand whether there is a difference between IDE and ATA/66 either.

Could someone help me? Thanks!

Juergen

[mark king]

First get a motherboard with the 440bx chipset. It may not be the newest but it is proven. Do not get a m/b with onbuilt graphics and sound as it will cause all sorts of headaches. Asus Abit are good makes and both make top m/b based on the 440bx c/s and with udma66 controller on board. I have a soyo m/b which is very similar. Sorry I cant remember the name. Do not get a m/b with the VIA c/s.

You can tell wich m/b these are as they are more expensive than the others but you get what you pay for.

[LOKE]

Hi,
I have tested the PT beta using my Microstar BX Master and got good results. Yes, itsupports ATA/66 and has 6 PCI slots too.

Regards,
Kelvin

[musicfest]

hey all,

a few little questions about motherboards.
if anyone can help-
the system we're looking at buying is:

PIII 600EB socket 370 CPU (intel)
Gigabyte 6VX7-4X MB
2x20G IBM (good choice)

with the motherboard, is that compatible.. does it just have to support ATX ?? what about chipsets and all that stuff I don't quite understand (and im studying information systems at uni- sheez)..

thanks.
Bill Roebuck

--pc users get their own area..-cool

[ek]

hi musicfest,
The 6VX7-4X specs appear to be good except for one thing in regards to audio. It uses the VIA chipset which Digidesign don't recommend.
I'm in the process of getting a new P3 600 as well and i've settled on an abit BE6 V2 motherboard which uses the older intel BX chipset. I would suggest you stick to any motherboard that uses this chipset(DON'T get a motherboard using the newer intel 820 chipset. MASSIVE problems with this!)
Also make sure your motherboard supports ATA66 and you get an ATA66 7200rpm hard drive(if you go with ide).
Hope this helps,
ek

[mark king]

I agree with the above stick with the 440bx chipset.

[musicfest]

ek- thanks heaps for your piece of advise there..

a quick question. do both drives (programs/audio) - need to be 7200rpm (i mean I know the audio drive does..

so the safest path is to go 440BX ?

Thanks

[mark king]

no and yes.
I tested with two udma33 drives but I intend to get a udma66 @7200rpm and use one of the others for programs. There is probably a lot of confusion about the VIA chipset but if you want to keep your sanity get one of the suggested m/b's which have the intel 440bx chipset and a udma66 controller. If the computer is dedicated for music it is best playing safe and making more music than being totaly up to date with a boatload of problems.

[kaptkarl]

The Abit BE6-II will work very well. Slot 1 PII/PIII. 4!!! channels of UDMA66. 440BX chipset. $115 or so. Check out www.compuplus.com I've ordered from them a few times. Good prices on MB and drives.

[pmklein]

Yeah, yeah Nolan, we get your drift. PC's suck, yada,yada... Thanks for the warning.
Now, does anybody know why the HP Pavillions don't work with PT LE? I'm totally bummed. I've been waiting for a year for this to come out and I have a HP Pavillion PIII 600 mhz!