ASUS Socket 478 P4/Rambus Motherboard

We've seen a number of new motherboards in the past few weeks, all of which support run-of the-mill SDRAM. While we haven't seen any boards that support DDR SDRAM yet, Asus just told us about a new offering that supports RDRAM. Whether you love or hate Rambus, in the near future you should have three RAM options to choose from if you're building a P4 machine. And, as was the case when we switched from SIMMs to DIMMs, it' likely that someone will put out a "transition" motherboard that lets you use more than one type of memory. ASUSTeK's P4T-E motherboard for socket 478 P4 processors uses the Intel 850 chipset for support in excess of 2.4GHz, and gives you 400 MHz bus speeds with 3.2 GB/s peak bandwidth, along with support for up to 2GB of PC600/PC800 RAMBUS RDRAM via 4 RIMM slots. As is the case with most Asus mobos, the P4T-E includes overclocking options via DIP switches and ASUS JumperFree mode, so you can adjust settings manually or from the BIOS screen. You can adjust system bus settings in increments of 1MHz, and CPU voltage in 0.05V intervals over default. The P4T-E has five standard PCI slots and connections for up to 4 USB ports. A CNR interface supports software modem or audio technologies via a modem/audio riser card, and an AGP Pro slot supports AGP4X. The ASUS P4T-E is available in quantities now, but we haven't yet received pricing info.