P4B mobo & rimm v dimm

[nph]

Hello, I'm new the Forum & have a question I thought somebody might know about.

I'm prepared to assemble a new rig & was waiting for the ASUS P4B (socket 478) mobo. But I noticed it employs 3 DIMM/PC133 slots whereas the Intel 850 (s478) employs 4 RIMM PC600/800slots. Both these boards support 400MHz FSB, but the ASUS supports CPU up to 2.4GHz whereas the Intel only to 2.0. I want to o/c & upgrade in the future so the ASUS P4B is more attractive, but I'm concerned that the DIMM will not maximize the 400MHz FSB speed. Maybe this doesn't matter?

TIA
nph

[Monaco]

Welcome to the forums!

First of all- ignore what the board says is the highest speed CPU it can take. That has more to do with PR and what is currently on the market than the board's real top speed. My BE6-II says in the manual it supports only up to 700mhz P3 CPUs, although it is happily cranking away at 1100mhz right now. Not coincidentally, a 700mhz P3 was the fastest P3 availible when this board was made.

As for the DIMM vs. RIMM thing, you have the right idea- it doesn't really matter. RIMMs are proven to be a bit faster than their DIMM counterparts, but at 5 times the cost. The extra 5% or whatever speed bonus isn't really worth it. If I were you, I would grab a P4 board that accepts DDR DIMMS, those are as cheap as regular DIMMS and faster then both RIMMs and DIMMs.

The way the P4 is designed, NO kind of RAM yet made actually maximizes the 400mhz Bus.

Oh, and if you are planning to OC- Intel brand motherboards are designed to prevent any overclocking. For that reason alone I'd go for the ASUS.

[nph]

Monster, thanks for the feedback & (Intel) pearl. I'm going to examine the boards one more time before deciding.