motherboard suggestions

**dlh75** · February 14th, 2003, 12:09 AM

I want to upgrade my pc chips m810 v5.0. I want to stay under $100. I have a AMD 1900+ athlon xp cpu. I heard these boards are not very good. What are your thoughts on these. I am on a budget and would like to keep my 512 mb SDRAM without having to go to DDR even though it is faster memory. Would it be worth switching? I have seen mobo's that support both. Any suggestions? There is a store that sells many different mobos that is near me but not sure what to get. www.outpost.com is the website. The store is Fry's Electronics.

**EvilRick** · February 14th, 2003, 12:17 AM

I got a GibaByte GA-7ZXE

Has onboard audio, supports SD-RAM and is rock solid.

I picked mine up at a store for $75 US. You could probably find it online for less.

EDIT- I'm using an XP1800+ on it as well.

**dlh75** · February 14th, 2003, 12:29 AM

thanks evilrick i will have to look and see if i can find one of those Any body else have any suggestions?

**AuraEdge** · February 14th, 2003, 12:33 AM

Why is it you want to upgrade the board? what are you looking for? more performance? more features? more expandability?

**dlh75** · February 14th, 2003, 12:39 AM

when i bought this pc it had a duron cpu i later bought a athlon xp but i found out after i bought that this board only supports up to 1.2 ghz mine is a 1.6ghz

**AuraEdge** · February 14th, 2003, 03:31 PM

K7S5A Pro.

It's probably the ultimate value board if you don't need onboard video.

Onboard Sound, Onboard LAN, Two slots for either type of RAM (SDR or DDR), USB 2.0 on board, and it supports all AMD Socket A Processors, for $60.

**jdurbin** · February 14th, 2003, 04:03 PM

Stay AWAY from Fry's or Outpost.com. Check your reseller at resellerratings.com before spending your money. Most people here like newegg, tcwo, googlegear.

**jdurbin** · February 14th, 2003, 04:14 PM

Although I am a big fan of the nVidia2 boards (especially the Epox EP-8RDA/RGA ones), here is a board with integrated video and audio, six channel sound, USB 2.0, support for both DDR and SDRAM memory and it is $59 including free Fedex shipping. I had great results with tcwo.com.

http://www.tcwo.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi...?p_prodid=2237

**EvilRick** · February 14th, 2003, 04:15 PM

I know some would disagree, but I'd rank that ECS right around w/ PCChips and Biostar.

**jrock** · February 14th, 2003, 04:29 PM

I dunno - I have had really good luck with ECS boards (but not PCChips). Yes I know they're made at the same company or whatever. BUT - I would always trust a Gigabyte over any of those. They are rock solid boards. More BIOS options, and generally better performance and stability

**AuraEdge** · February 14th, 2003, 04:37 PM

I've used a M7VIG, and it was an excellent build, but it doesnt have the expandability of the ECS with 5 PCI slots. However, it's features are better, with onboard video, and can shave a good deal of money off a new build if you dont need to buy a video card.

That was the Non-pro though, and the Pro probably builds upon that. It's got 6 channel sound and onboard video on top of what ECS has to offer, but loses 2 PCI slots. I also think that the ECS's SiS chipset is somewhat of a better performer than the KM266 on the M7VIG Pro (I don't recall for sure). Just pick what suits you better.