I favour the Asrock P4i945GC as it has PCI-E and can run Prescott 3.2 GHz SL7QB and 3.4 GHz SL7Q8 in 64-bit mode 😀 There are a few on ebay, but sadly not in your price range.

I would not go with that Dell 8300 board. The mounting holes are not standard.

Horun wrote on 2019-12-28, 03:03:

Other than a bad OEM BIOS can anyone tell me why this would be a bad board for the price ?

The front USB/Sound requires a separate PCB and a proprietary cable that you would have to buy separately or build DIY.
The I/O shield isn't removable from the factory pan. You would have to cut it out or retro-fit the factory pan into a case.
(I think) If you have a mobo pan with ALL the holes you can match it up - but I'm not swearing to that.

You would be better off getting the whole system and using the Dell case.
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Thanks for the info ! I can get one with the tray and it might fit my Dell mid tower. Some of the motherboard images show multiple mount holes and some show just the 4 that are tray required. The front panel part would be an issue but found the pinout. MSI 865PE Neo2 or equal is what I really want so I will keep looking ........

I'd hold out for what you really want and just get that.
There's no shortage of i865 boards at fair prices and retrofitting things often ends up costing more than just getting what you wanted in the first place.
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I used a couple of the mATX version of this one and they worked out well for me.
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Anything using DDR is smack in the middle of the bad caps era.
Assume you will have to do a recap and if you don't that's all the better.
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Thanks for the reminder about Giga's 865's. I have a 81k1100 (875 chipset) and it runs well but needs a re-cap soon. Think I will order the GA-8IPE1000-G from pc*one for his includes back plate and good reviews. Probably needs re-capping too. The MSI's are a bit too spendy right now and assume all working 478 will be going up in price as they become more rare.

Researched socket 478 fair bit 2 years ago and any of the Asus p4p800 which use the 675 chipsets were considered top dog. You probably don't really need the deluxe versions.
P4C800 boards are basically the same just with the 875 chipset, despite the "better" chipset the difference between the 2 chipsets wasn't much in real world use, at least between eh Asus boards.

I've nothing against OEM boards but have to agree, due to the non standard setup I wouldn't bother unless pairing it with the case.

if you dont need overclocking, i love my intel d865gbf.
dead stable, win98 thru xp supported, sata with legacy for ide, up to 800fsb, etc.

While review sites (that only see brand new parts) loved the Asus P4P and P4C boards in repair channels they were notorious for blown chipset based USB ports.
Asus costed down too far on SMD parts that protect the ports from voltage spike damage when you plug/unplug USB devices.
During DDR & DDR2 Asus costed down a lot of things too far which is where the repair channel term ASDS (Asus Sudden Death Syndrome) came from.

they were notorious for blown chipset based USB ports.

The problem is common for many ICH5 based boards, not just ASUS.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2019-12-30, 18:05:

they were notorious for blown chipset based USB ports.

The problem is common for many ICH5 based boards, not just ASUS.

Agreed but Asus was the worst of them.
Intel ultimately revised the platform design guide changing those components from 'recommended' to mandatory because of the problem.
I don't know for a fact but I don't think Asus updated their designs after that revision came out whereas most others did.
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Personally I would stay away from Asus if you plan to use USB without an add-in card.
If you are going for a board with ICH5 and will be using OB USB look for the latest board revision you can find.
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Agreed but Asus was the worst of them.

Of course they are. They were and are the biggest motherboard manufacturer outside OEM.

PCBONEZ wrote on 2019-12-30, 18:14:

I don't know for a fact but I don't think Asus updated their designs after that revision came out whereas most others did. . Per […]
Show full quote

I don't know for a fact but I don't think Asus updated their designs after that revision came out whereas most others did.
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Personally I would stay away from Asus if you plan to use USB without an add-in card.
If you are going for a board with ICH5 and will be using OB USB look for the latest board revision you can find.

I can vouch for ASUS P4P800SE rev2.00. Doesn't have the USB issue.

Back in 2011 I noted you could get these adaptors. Perhaps you still can. Though I don't suppose you'd still find vulnerable ICH5 boards with working USB to protect.

Lovely board. Was a home theatre system before I got it. Eignt years of XP gaming since. Row of swollen caps in the power section that are just as they were in 2011. (Not recommended. Is 'science project'.)

Though I don't suppose you'd still find vulnerable ICH5 boards with working USB to protect.

Easy. Any boards which were used in cases without front USB panel.

Got the Giga 8iPE1000-G yesterday. Works well with the 2.8Gh -533Mh -1Mb SLK79 cpu had laying around. Only issue I found is no "Numlock" setting in it's Award BIOS, not really a problem but hate having Num lock turned on at every boot 🙁