Price Guides June 2005: Motherboards
by Kristopher Kubicki & Larry Barber on June 19, 2005 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
It has been a few years in the making, but it looks like Intel's products have given enthusiasts a bit more to look forward to recently with the Pentium D 820, 830 and 840. Unfortunately, unlike the AMD route, cheap dual core processors are offset by extremely expensive 945P and 955X motherboards. As expected, the differences between 955X and 945P are very minute, so don't expect Intel's Memory Pipeline Technology featured on 955X to really justify the $80 premium for boards. On the other hand, there are some very good 955X boards; including ASUS's P5WD2 Premium WiFi-TV [RTPE: ASUS 955X P5WD2]. Although pricey, the P5WD2 Premium WiFi-TV bundles a WiFi-TV PCI card that runs on 802.11a. The additional Analog, DVB-T and FM radio inputs also make this one of the most feature packed boards we have seen yet. Wesley has a full review of this board in roundups to come, but we thought we would give it a mention before then.
Spending nearly $300 on a motherboard doesn't make a lot of sense to most people. If you are looking for a board for your Pentium D 820 and don't want to break the bank, Gigabyte has a few choices including their GA-81945P-G motherboard. This board doesn't support dual PCIe x16 slots, but it does provide the same features you would find in 925X while providing dual core support. Pentium Ds are great buys, but don't lose focus on the price advantage they have over AMD's X2 processors. The Gigabyte GA-8I1945P-G [RTPE: GA-8I945P-G] offers Gigabit Ethernet, SATA II and RealTek audio; definitely a great buy for being one of the cheapest 945P boards on the market. Don't forget to check out the nForce4 Intel motherboards on the next page as well.
We should throw a bit of warning out there for anyone who anticipates to buy one of these 945P or 955X motherboards; Digital Rights Management (DRM). DRM is one of those scary words that tends to kick up a lot of emotions, but whether or not it's warranted is a different story entirely. The new Intel motherboards we just mentioned utilize a technology called DTCP-IP or Digital Transmission Copy Protection over IP. The specification, which ahs been around for almost 2 years now, identifies your computer by a fingerprint combination including your processor ID code and motherboard ID and allows sanctioned content to traverse your computers network. The content can then be deleted but not retransmitted off the machine. DTCP-IP can be disabled in the BIOS.
Whether or not this technology even works is something that has yet to be demonstrated, since no content providers have any services that use DTCP-IP yet. Some argue that even though the technology is optional, it will probably become mandatory down the line - and since when did it become the job of the computer hardware to decide whether I am allowed to copy or share something? Palladium/TCPA conspiracy theories aside, DTCP-IP does hint of something more ominous to come. However, don't expect IP-TV feeds from AOL/TW or HBO anytime soon without some DRM infrastructure in place. Our advice? Turn off DTCP-IP in the BIOS... If the big media providers start offering content like IP-TV, then turn it back on. If you don't want DTCP-IP or don't want to support it, buy an AMD motherboard before they inevitably adopt the DRM as well. Personally, I would love to have four simultaneous 1080p streams on my desktop, but we all know that won't happen without some level of DRM extending beyond the OS.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
12 Comments
View All Comments
dornick - Sunday, June 19, 2005 - link
Or the DFI Ultra at 85 :Dryanv12 - Sunday, June 19, 2005 - link
I got a nice disappointment when I saw the Asus A8N-SLI on the price guide for $109, only to find out that it's really $142 :(