Date:
Friday , November 07, 2003
Author:
Morry Teitelman
Editor:
Kyle Bennett
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System Building Guide 0403

We help you build a solid gaming and overclocking rig that will leave the alien-headed voodoo boys circled by the buzzards.

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Motherboards:

One of the most critical aspects of any system, the motherboard is the heart and body of the system. A poor decision here can cost you in the long run with compatibility issues up front and upgradeability issues in the future. This is definitely one of the areas not to skimp on.

AMD

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Depending on whom you talk to and where you look, there are currently two favorites in the AMD camp for motherboards, both being based on the NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra400 chipset. These motherboards are the ABIT NF7-S v2.0 and the ASUS A7N8X. Both boards have their own unique strengths and weaknesses, but the ABIT edges out the ASUS board as far as pure overclocking potential.

The ABIT board boasts a series of voltage and performance related options in the BIOS, as well as its default support for the 200 MHz FSB at default chipset voltage and its ability to unlock the Tbred-b and Barton core AMD processors. Coupled with the right RAM, the NF7-S can take a 2500+ Barton core CPU to a 220+ MHz FSB without breaking a sweat. For the more adventurous souls, there are also numerous documented board mods available to increase the chipset and memory voltage to get even more performance out of the board.

Intel

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There’s really only one motherboard that stands above the rest in the Intel camp – the ABIT IC7-MAX3. This hardware masterpiece boasts incredible voltage and performance related options, as well as the OTES cooling system and a plethora of built-in components. No other board to my knowledge has the sheer amount of overclocking potential by default.

The one thing that may be a sticky point with this board is the price. Keep in mind though, that the price has come down considerably from its initial release and will continue to drop as well. In fact, the price difference between the IC7-MAX3 and its little brother, the IC7-G, is around $30. This is definitely a minimal amount to spend for the quality and potential that the IC7-MAX3 delivers.