I am looking at upgrading my PC to a P4 2.53 and would like to get folks' opinions on the best MB and memory for this CPU (ie: DDR or Rambus).I have Asus MB's in the past and have had good luck with them... so right now I am leaning toward one of their models.:-hmmm :-hmmm :-hmmm Thanks!

If it comes down to money, I'd go for the P4B533E motherboard paired with some DDR Ram. It supports PC2100 (133Mhz) DDR and unoficially supports PC2700 (166Mhz) With some tweaking in the BIOS.The motherboard it's self features onboard LAN which elmininates the need for a PCI network card, freeing up a space, onboard Audio which is handy if you fly VATSIM etc, you can plug your headset into that and also features RAID. Handy for RAID obviously, and any extra IDE devices you may have. Having said that, there is another motherboard equally the same, yet cheaper. The Abit BD7-II, features everything mentioned, but it's around $50USD cheaper.I can't comment on RDRAM, but some of the current DDR machines are getting equally good results in benchmarks. I'd consider DDR, it's cheaper and easier to source.Good luck :)

I'm using the Asus P4B533-V with onboard LAN and I love it, I also have a P4 2.40GHz CPU (533MHz FSB) and 512MB Elixir PC2100 CL2.5 DDR-memory. So my recomendation would be the Asus P4B533-V mb... >:-)

John,Thanks for the recommendation. I still have to do some research, but the 533E is definitely on the list. I saw some of the Asus boards with DDR333 support, so I am exploring that as well (trying to get the best bang for the buck and want to make sure that my FS is as smooth as possible when flying your fantastic aircraft). :) I do like the idea of the onboard LAN... with all of the cards that I have, freeing up some room to get better air flow in the case is a plus. As I currently have a SB Live 5.1, the onboard audio is not that much of a selling point.

Thanks for your recommendation... just to be sure that I looked up the correct board... does the P4B533-V only have 3 PCI slots? The one that I saw only had three. This would probably take it out of my list of considerations, as that seems like too few expansion slots.

OOPS... never mind, I just realized that I was looking at specs for the "VM" model rather than the "V".

Also consider the new Gigabyte GA-8IHXP - received a good review at http://www.extremetech.com/category2/1,3971,518027,00.asp.Most of the tests I have seen for the P4 show that RDRAM performs much better tham DDRAM, but it is more expensive.Your choice of MB should also be based on your personal preferences - are you going to overclock? Do you need USB 2.0 and how many? Are you planning on "tweaking" settings for maximum performance?Dale

I just ordered a Gigabyte GA-8IEX Motherboard along with a P4 2.53Ghz (533 Bus)and 120GB IBM 7200rpm hard disk.I'll let you know when I recieve it and get her set up ;-)Bill :-wave(Currently Running)AMD XP 1800+Asus A7V333 Mobo with RAID512MB Crucial PC2100 DDR RAM30GB UDMA 100 7200rpm40GB " " " " PNY Gforce 3 Ti500SB Audigy

Thanks Bill, looking forward to the results. I am heavily leaning toward the Asus P4S8X board at the moment (it uses DDR333/PC2700 memory), but still have a bit more research to do.

I'd stay away from the SIS chipset boards. They're not too good.P4B533 allows you to run your RAM at 333Mhz with some BIOS tweaking.

Hi John,Thanks for the input... I had read a couple of reviews that gave the P48SX pretty good marks. They said the board layout wasn't the best, but it was stable.Decisions... decisions...

Another one to add to the mix is the Abit BD7-II RAID. Cheaper than the Asus offering and just as good.I currently have one. You can run the FSB @ 133Mhz and the RAM @ 166Mhz (DDR 333) by using the 4:3 mem setting.

Another option to consider, coming soon :-hahhttp://www.achieva.com.au/pd_p4pe.htmOfficial support for DDR333

The Giga-Byte GA-8EIX board I have purchased also supports DDR333Mhz ram, dunno if its does officially or unofficially though!I get my new CPU and 120GB hard disk today, cant wait :-)Bill

I can't wait for the first week of Oct so I can get my hands on this new Asus board and new P4 2.53 :-hah