There’s not much doubt in our minds right now that the best chipset for a Pentium 4-based desktop system right now is 845PE. It’s only very marginally slower than 850E, to the point that most users won’t even notice, and paired with less expensive DDR SDRAM, it’s significantly cheaper. At this point, the performance of Granite Bay, while superior to 845PE, does not warrant the extra cost either.

A quick glance around the internet shows the P4HT selling around the $115-135 mark; slightly more expensive than offerings from Abit and MSI, and on par with Asus’ 845PE boards. The less expensive boards can be had for more than $20 less, but bear in mind that at some point you begin to compromise quality, and that compromising quality with respect to motherboards can be especially dangerous.

We can’t tell you whether or not this is the best motherboard for you. That’s something you need to research and decide on your own. What we can do is show you the P4HT in as much detail as possible, and highlight its strengths and weaknesses, so that your decision becomes as easy as possible. In keeping with that, the P4HT is a solid board, and we can’t see any general reason not to consider it. Whether or not it’s your perfect match is something for you to decide on your own.

It’s certainly the best looking motherboard we’ve ever seen. Oh, and it works okay too.

Dan Mepham