Best Value P4 Motherboard

[DrVos]

I'll be building a P4 system for a friend and am looking for a very stable economy motherboard. The processer (a P4 1.6a) will not be overclocked and stability is paramount. He will mainly use it for autocad and maybe a little gaming. He's on a budget so a motherboard with as many integrated peripherals would be great... I've be suggested the Epox EP-4sda+ but I dont knowtoo much about it. Thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[Booster]

ECS P4S5A all the way. SiS 645 chipset, and it even has SDRAM slots along with DDR so your friend will be able to use his old SDRAM if he still has it and upgrade to DDR later. I just can't think of a better 'value' board.

 

[DrVos]

Booster: Please don't take this the wrong way, but I'm kinda wary with ECS boards, i know that a lot of people like them, but I had a nightmare with 2 bad k7s5a's in a row last year and I'd prefer not use them right now. I am interested in the SiS 645 Chipset, esp since boards built around it seem to be very affordable.

As for my friend, all of the equipment will be new (hes upgrading from a 266mhz Dell) so I dont have to worry about legacy support. Any other thoughts?

 

[newbiepcuser]

what is his budget?

 

[DrVos]

His budget is under 600 before shipping and taxes.... though he can be flexible The components that I Have chosen for him already are:

Intel P4 1.6a Processor $136.00
512 MB DDR 2100 RAM $80.00
Geforce2 GTS-V Video $50.00
Lite-On 32x10x40 $67
Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB Hard drive $68.00
ATX mid-tower w/ 300w PS $65
Sony Floppy $9.00
subtotal: $475

This gives me about $100 to work with for a mobo. I'd like to get him a mobo with onboard sound because, he'll be using the computer mainly for work.

 

[newbiepcuser]

Well CPU price drops are occuring as we speak, and if you don't mind refurbs, keep your eye on newegg.com refurbish section. Also, you might want to check out Intel's 845g chipset with all intergrated stuff you want. The right mobo might be there, and it has 30 day warranty.

From reading on the newsboard, the SiS chipsets are hit or miss. Some people love them and some people hate them. Here are some other suggestions.

ripped from newegg
ABIT BD7II 845E Based Pentium 4-478 ATX Mainboard 400/533MHz
Specifications:
Chipset:Intel 845E (ICH4) chipset
MEM: 3x 184 pin DDR DIMM up to 2GB PC1600-2100
IDE: 2 Channel Bus Master Ultra DMA 100/66/33
IO:1 FD 1 Parallel, 2 Serial 2 USB 2.0, audio ports
Slots: 1xAGP4X , 5 PCI Rev 2.2
Onboard LAN, RTL8100B 10/100
Onboard Audio: AC'97 2 Channel Model#: BD7II Special FedEx Saver Shipping $8.00
- Product Link - Chipset Info -See It! (image count 4 ) -Price Alert (N82E16813127124)
(avg rating out of 1 voters)
$117.00

under a bone

MSI 845GL Pentium 4 Socket 478 Motherboard Specifications MFG-PART#: MS-6526GL CPU: SOCKET 478 FOR INTEL P4, FSB 400MHZ CHIPSET: INTEL 845GL CHIPSET MEMORY: 3DIMMS FOR DDR UP TO 2GB IDE: ATA100 VIDEO AND AUDIO: CHIPSET INTEGRATED LAN: INTEL 82562ET LAN ON BOARD SLOT: 3PCI, 1CNR MICRO ATX, RETAIL Package: RETAIL Model#: MS-6526GL Special FedEx Saver Shipping $8.00
- Product Link - Chipset Info -See It! (image count 4 ) -Price Alert (N82E16813130345)
Save $10 when you buy this item with KINGSTON KVR266X64C25/256 256MB 32x64 PC2100 DDR RAM - RETAIL
$86.00

 

[DClark]

I really like my MSI 645 Ultra. I bought it because I had to upgrade, yet only needed it until the dual channel DDR boards are released near the end of the year. I spend $119cdn on it, so that's about $75usd (though looking at pricewatch.com, they have it for as low as $65 plus shipping). It also allows me to use PC2700 memory, so maybe you could use the money saved on the motherboard for PC2700 memory.

Here's a good review from OCWorkbench.

 

[zxcvb]

I got ECS P4ITA2 with intel chipset, It works good for the money,

 

[adlep]

After doing a lot of searching, Gigabyte GA-8SRX is probably the best option. It has much more tweaking options that the MSI board, and it is quite inexpensive, only $75.00 bucks shipped off the pricewatch.
For a serious "overclocking" review go here
Here is a quick look from Tom's article
Also my second best choice would be the MSI board as suggested by DClark........