Quantcast
Subscribe to magazine

Athlon 64 and Pentium 4 Motherboards

Performance numbers were close, but the Athlon 64 boards come out ahead in price and features.

John L. Jacobi

Compare ProductsCheck boxes to
A8N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard (AMD Athlon 64FX/Athlon 64, Socket 939, nForce4 SLI, ATX, 4GB DDR, 2000MHz FSB) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

Last Rated:

1. Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard (AMD Athlon 64FX/Athlon 64, Socket 939, nForce4 SLI, ATX, 4GB DDR, 2000MHz FSB)

NVidia NForce4 SLI chip set, 2 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1, 3 PCI slots, 8 Serial ATA-300, 2 Parallel ATA-133 ports, 4 USB 2.0, 1 FireWire ports, 2 gigabit LAN ports, RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5, 10 support

Bottom Line: Power user's board packs almost every port you could want into a sensible layout; has exceptional documentation.

Full Review • Test Report • Check latest prices 		Check Latest Prices
A8VE Deluxe Motherboard (Athlon 64FX/Athlon 64, Socket 939, VIA K8T890, ATX, 4GB DDR, 2000MHz FSB) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

Last Rated:

2. Asus A8VE Deluxe Motherboard (Athlon 64FX/Athlon 64, Socket 939, VIA K8T890, ATX, 4GB DDR, 2000MHz FSB)

Via K8T890 chip set, 1 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1, 3 PCI slots, 2 Serial ATA-150, 2 Parallel ATA-133 ports, 4 USB 2.0, 1 FireWire ports, 1 gigabit LAN port; 802.11g, RAID 0, 1 support

Bottom Line: Included wireless networking helps make this board, which uses Via's K8T890 chip set, an outstanding value for midrange PCs.

Full Review • Test Report • Check latest prices 		Check Latest Prices
EP-9NPA+ Ultra PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

Last Rated:

3. Epox EP-9NPA+ Ultra

NVidia NForce4 Ultra chip set, 1 PCIe x16, 3 PCIe x1, 3 PCI slots, 4 Serial ATA-300, 2 Parallel ATA-133 ports, 4 USB 2.0 ports , 1 gigabit LAN port, RAID 0, 1, 0+1 support

Bottom Line: Epox's NForce4 Ultra board performs well and has the basic features you need for a mainstream to high-end system.

Full Review • Test Report • Check latest prices 		Check Latest Prices
K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI Motherboard (Athlon 64FX/64, Socket 939, nForce4 SLI, ATX, 4GB DDR, 1000MHz FSB) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

Last Rated:

4. MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI Motherboard (Athlon 64FX/64, Socket 939, nForce4 SLI, ATX, 4GB DDR, 1000MHz FSB)

NVidia NForce4 SLI chip set, 2 PCIe x16 SLI, 3 PCI slots, 6 Serial ATA-300, 2 Parallel ATA-133 ports, 4 USB 2.0, 1 FireWire ports, 2 gigabit LAN ports, RAID 0, 1, 0+1 support

Bottom Line: This was the fastest board we tested, as reflected in its great gaming scores, but it suffers a bit from a difficult component layout.

Full Review • Test Report • Check latest prices 		Check Latest Prices
GA-K8NXP-SLI Motherboard (Athlon 64/64 FX, Socket 939, nForce4 SLI, ATX, 4GB DDR, 2000MHz FSB) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

Last Rated:

5. Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI Motherboard (Athlon 64/64 FX, Socket 939, nForce4 SLI, ATX, 4GB DDR, 2000MHz FSB)

NVidia NForce4 SLI chip set, 2 PCIe x16 SLI, 2 PCIe x1, 2 PCI slots, 4 Serial ATA-300, 4 Serial ATA-150, 2 Parallel ATA-133 ports, 4 USB 2.0, 1 FireWire ports, 2 gigabit LAN ports; 802.11g, RAID 0, 1, 0+1 support

Bottom Line: Gigabyte's capable SLI board is another good choice for power users, but it trails the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe in performance.

Full Review • Test Report • Check latest prices 		Check Latest Prices
P5AD2-E Premium Motherboard (Pentium 4 w/ HT Technology, Socket 775, Intel 925X, ATX, 4GB DDR2, 1066MHz FSB) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

Last Rated:

6. Asus P5AD2-E Premium Motherboard (Pentium 4 w/ HT Technology, Socket 775, Intel 925X, ATX, 4GB DDR2, 1066MHz FSB)

Intel 925XE chip set, 1 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1, 3 PCI slots, 4 Serial ATA-300, 4 Serial ATA-150, 2 Parallel ATA-133, 1 Parallel ATA-100 ports, 4 USB 2.0, 1 FireWire 800 ports, 1 gigabit, 1 10/100 LAN ports; 802.11g, RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5, 10 support

Bottom Line: The P5AD2-E's overclocking controls aren't as precise as those on some other boards, but it's well-designed and has a fine manual.

Full Review • Test Report • Check latest prices 		Check Latest Prices
Fatal1ty AA8XE Motherboard (Pentium 4, LGA775, 925XE, ATX, 4GB DDR2, 1066MHz FSB) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

Last Rated:

7. ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE Motherboard (Pentium 4, LGA775, 925XE, ATX, 4GB DDR2, 1066MHz FSB)

Intel 925XE chip set, 1 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1, 2 PCI slots, 4 Serial ATA-150, 1 Parallel ATA-100 ports, 2 USB 2.0, 1 FireWire ports, 1 gigabit, 1 10/100 LAN ports, RAID 0, 1 support

Bottom Line: The stylish and loaded Fatal1ty AA8XE is packed with extra cooling components and includes tons of overclocking options.

Full Review • Test Report • Check latest prices 		Check Latest Prices
915P Motherboard (Pentium 4 w/ HT Technology, Socket 775, Intel 915P, ATX, 4GB DDR, 800MHz FSB) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

Last Rated:

8. Intel 915P Motherboard (Pentium 4 w/ HT Technology, Socket 775, Intel 915P, ATX, 4GB DDR, 800MHz FSB)

Intel 915P chip set, 1 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1, 4 PCI slots, 4 Serial ATA-150, 1 Parallel ATA-100 ports, 4 USB 2.0, 1 FireWire ports, 1 gigabit LAN port, RAID 0, 1, 0+1 support

Bottom Line: Midrange board doesn't have many overclocking options or special features, but it's a good mainstream value.

Full Review • Test Report • Check latest prices 		Check Latest Prices
GA-8AENXP-D Motherboard (Pentium 4 w/ HT Technology, Socket 775, Intel 925XE, ATX, 4GB DDR, 1066MHz FSB) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

Last Rated:

9. Gigabyte GA-8AENXP-D Motherboard (Pentium 4 w/ HT Technology, Socket 775, Intel 925XE, ATX, 4GB DDR, 1066MHz FSB)

Intel 925XE chip set, 1 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1, 2 PCI slots, 8 Serial ATA-150, 1 Parallel ATA-100 ports, 4 USB 2.0 ports, 2 gigabit LAN ports, RAID 0, 1, 0+1 support

Bottom Line: Colorful, high-performance board has good documentation and comes with every cable and break-out connector you'll need.

Full Review • Test Report • Check latest prices 		Check Latest Prices
DFI LANPARTY 925XT2 925X Chipset Motherboard For Intel LGA 775 CPU PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

Last Rated:

10. DFI DFI LANPARTY 925XT2 925X Chipset Motherboard For Intel LGA 775 CPU

Intel 925XE chip set, 1 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1, 3 PCI slots, 4 Serial ATA-150, 1 Parallel ATA-100 ports, 6 USB 2.0 ports, 2 gigabit LAN ports, RAID 0, 1, 0+1 support

Bottom Line: This colorful and full-featured board was designed for cases with side windows for showing off the components.

Full Review • Test Report • Check latest prices 		Check Latest Prices

All motherboards were tested under Windows XP Home on systems with 256MB of RAM, a VisionTek GeForce4 Ti 4600 graphics board, a Lite-On 40X/12X/48X CD-RW drive, and an IBM Deskstar 120GXP hard drive.

  • Recommend this story?
  • 0 Yes
    0 No

Today's Special Offers