VIA P4PB

• Reviewed by: jbltk

  Strengths: Easy to install (no crappy jumper configurations), easy BIOS with great advanced features, fast and flawless.

  Weaknesses: Ummm... it wasn't free?

  Overall: I absolutely love this board. I started out with a ECS P4VXASD2+ (the WORST motherboard of all time), and this thing is light years ahead of anything most companies have to offer. I have had NO problems with it and will probably end up keeping it for a quite a while (until I need a new board that can handle a 3.06 Ghz P4 with an 800 Mhz FSB). Don't hesitate to use this board for one second.About the RAM issue, I don't know what's going on, but I'm using 2 512MB sticks of Crucial PC 2700 DDR and I haven't had a problem.Like someone else said, it's best to stay with the same brand and not mix and match. There are too many variables that can cause problems.

• Reviewed by: Angel_One

  Strengths: Outstanding quality and value. Easy to set up. Includes almost everything for power users

  Weaknesses: Have not found any in my 10 months of ownership

  Overall: I am a student short on funds who wanted to build a new system for my gaming and programming certification needs. Prior to this my only experience with computer hardware was installing a new hard drive. With that little bit of knowledge and an A+ study book, I built my curent setup with no problems whatsoever and was up and running with heavy duty games within 48 hours. The board was a great value at $125 last fall and is an even better value now at $60. You can get a 2.5 GHz Pentium 4 CPU for $175, a stick of Kingston DDR333 512 MB for $60 these days. Throw in a $50 40GB hard drive and a $50 mid range video card and yuo can build an outstanding gaming system for less than $400. The only thing I had to add in terms of functionality was a modem which I bought for $10 on sale in an office supply store, which most people wouldn't ever need because they probably have broadband which uses the onboard LAN jack. I suspect the problems with memory have to do with people mixing different brands that have different attributes. It is best to stick to one brand, one product line within the same machine. If you mix them, make sure the latency rate is the same for each stick - latency is the response time, a different attribute than the frequency or the bus width. VIA also has Linux support. The company makes outstanding products for a very reasonable price. I can't say enough good things about the purchase.

• Reviewed by: jonnyaz

  Strengths: Its a great board if you have RAM that works and if your lucky enough to upgrade to more RAM and have it work as well. Other then the RAM issues, its a great board.

  Weaknesses: RAM... PC3200 is too unstable if it works at all. Have had compatability issuses even with the PC2700. If it works great but beware when you try to upgrade.

  Overall: I do like the board but installing RAM should not be this difficult. I have wasted lots of time ordering and returning RAM because of incompatability issues with existing RAM. I have 2 computers with the same VIA P4PB 400 motherboard. One PC3200 worked on one board by itself but when a 2nd PC3200 was installed it would not work, while the PC3200 did not work at all on my other computer, in any slot. I contacted VIA and got a quick response, their suggestion.. Stick to PC2700, its more "stable". That's ok with me, but I still have problems with more then one PC2700 working together.

• Reviewed by: vparis85

  Strengths: Very versital board, very good over clocker Im running p4 2.4B@2.7ghz w/stock cooler and runs at great temps about 27-30c idle 40-46c w/load thank god for this board (P4 2.4b@2.7ghz, 512ddr, GF4-8x)

  Weaknesses: had to reinstall a few time to get every thing perfect and audio lacks quality

  Overall: Note: If you you get a stack overflow or over load edit your config and enter STACKS=2500 or other figures like 4-4000 this will fix it

• Reviewed by: andykam

  Strengths: Backward compatable, support from manufacturer including driver support and updates, easy to install.

  Weaknesses: The latest drivers for Win98 didn't work well with my Mad dog 4x AGP-PCI driver, I had to revert to the original driver which is good enough. No problem with XP.

  Overall: VIA has great product that has everything for do-it yourself un-experienced user will need, with capability to use with 3rd party products like CNR Audio. I would consider buying VIA product as number-1 choice.