Which Mobo

[Moctezuma05]

I have a new case that has 2 USB ports, headphone, and microphone jack in the fron of the case. I need a P4 mobo where i can hook these connections to the mobo and still have 2 usb in the back and a game port. Can anyone help me with a good mobo for a 1.3 Ghz P4. O yeah i also wanna be able to O/C it later. Thanks all!!:shoot3: :shoot2:

[zeradul]

The USB ports will connect to any current mobo, if they were designed correctly..(two connections, 5 pins each in a row).... and the microphone and headphone jacks will just stretch through a hole in your case and plug into the sound card on the back side.

[fragman]

You might find it hard to get a Socket 423 mobo since the manufacturers decreased production some time ago. Are you using RDRAM or SDRAM with your P4?

[Moctezuma05]

I dont have a mobo yet or a P4 i am looking for one, what trype of ram would be better, I know it differs by each board. Also, I have seen some boards that say that they can handle 3Ghz of ram but would you ever really need that much? I think that with maybe 1ghz of ram it would be fine. Does the P4 have a limit on ram or is it just the mobo?

[fragman]

Ah OK then.

Your motherboard should either use DDR SDRAM or RDRAM, DDR being the best for price vs performance. The amount of RAM that can be used depends on the motherboard, Intel chipset boards can only support 2Gb RAM, whereas VIA or SiS based motherboards are able to address 3Gb of RAM. In either case 1Gb of RAM is serious overkill for the average user, 512Mb should be plenty in reality.

As far as motherboards go, just choose one made by a reputable manufacturer like Asus/Abit/MSI/Gigbyte/Epox etc. Just don't get a genuine Intel board, not surprisingly they have no overclocking options at all.

[Moctezuma05]

Ok then thanks for clearing up some stuff for except one last question. I understand about how the USB hooks up to mobo but u said that the mic/and headphones just go to the sound card thru theback. Is that like through the back of the case. Would that take up the space for the monitor sound? I know these are new-b questions but just checkin

[Wiggo]

They don't have to take up an expansion slot at the back as just a hole in the case (with protection from sharp metal edges) would be enough but it all depends on how you impliment it. ;)
<center>:cheers:</center>

[fragman]

Woops, forgot to correct Zeradul on that. The latest crop of motherboards should have the two appropriate headers, for the USB and the audio on them (well the MSI ones I use do anyways).

[Wiggo]

Sadly still not enough support the audio connections yet. :smokin:

[fragman]

Well at least there is a standard now.