Intel announces DDR333 Chipsets: 3-way 845PE shootout

After taking an in depth look at three 845PE motherboards, it becomes abundantly clear that they have a lot to offer, but perhaps too little too late; dual channel DDR motherboards from Intel, VIA, and SiS will be arriving before the end of the year, supposedly offering significantly better performance than current single channel DDR solutions.

Anyway, each 845PE motherboard has its own share of advantages. Some perform very well with multiple DDR333 modules, some perform well at DDR400 and higher speeds, and some offer more bang for the buck than others.

If you're on a budget but want a high-performing 845PE motherboard, look no further than the Albatron PX845PEV Pro. You can already purchase this motherboard for under $90 online before applicable tax and shipping fees. This is an absolutely stellar deal for a motherboard that can reliably operate at 667MHz FSB while running memory well over 400MHz.

At the other end of the spectrum are the highly integrated 845PE motherboards from Gigabyte and ASUS. Both of these motherboards will be debuting for between $150-165 online before applicable tax and shipping fees very soon (in fact, Gigabyte's 845PE board is already available online for $150-155). Both boards offer impressive features (RAID, LAN, sound, FireWire, USB 2.0), however we would have to side with ASUS over Gigabyte due to the simple fact that ASUS's 845PE board offers a nice additional feature (Serial ATA) and has significantly better memory flexibility than Gigabyte's board. Besides those two exceptions, ASUS's and Gigabyte's 845PE motherboards have nearly identical features, performance, and overclocking potential.

We hope you enjoyed our coverage of Intel's latest chipset, the 845PE. We will be covering Intel's very own 845PE board fairly soon, in addition to the latest Pentium 4 chipsets from SiS and VIA. Stay tuned.