Building a system, need help with the motherboard

[JoeThePro]

I'm looking to build the following system, but I'm kind of confused as to what mother board I require. Any sugestions on the best/cheapest motherboard that would work for me would be greatly appreciated.

Processor: 866 MHz Pentium III
Memory: 512 MB PC-133 SDRAM
Case: Mid Tower
Hard Drive: 20 GB
Video: Not sure yet, will need an AGP slot
Network Card: 3Com Etherlink 10/100MB (or similar)
CD Drive: Panasonic CW7586 8x4x32 CD-RW (or similar)

 

[DaveSimmons]

For performance and simplicity I'd say an intel 815/815e (video) or 815p/815ep (no video) board. The Asus CUSL-C I have is a great board but hard to find now that its replacement TUSL-C is out. Price is $110-140 for either board. No fiddling with VIA drivers and no SB Live compatibilty issues.

815ep boards are getting scarce now that P4 CPU prices are below that of P3 chips ($185 for a retail 1.7 GHz 423pin from newegg.com) but tcwo.com has a Biostar 815ep for $88.

I'm putting together a system for my parents and was thinking a P3-933 / CUSL-C like I have, but they both like 3d shooter games so I'm building a P4 1.7 system instead since it's only about $100 more and will be able to handle game requirements for at least a year longer than the P3 system.

 

[JoeThePro]

Thanks for the advice, both your parents like 3d shooters? hehe thats cool

 

[DAPUNISHER]

my advice is sell the CPU you have, buy a K7S5A(it uses your pc133 and supports DDR2100) for 65$, a T-bird 1.2(266 fsb) retail w/HS/F for 99$ and have a price/performance system champ when compared to the option you were exploring. Ofcourse, do as you wish I'm an AMD loyalist anyways😉

 

[DaveSimmons]

<< my advice is sell the CPU you have, buy a K7S5A(it uses your pc133 and supports DDR2100) for 65$, a T-bird 1.2(266 fsb) retail w/HS/F for 99$ and have a price/performance system champ when compared to the option you were exploring. Ofcourse, do as you wish I'm an AMD loyalist anyways😉 >>



This is good advice too -- a 1.2 GHz T-Bird is about as fast as the 1.7 P4 I'll be getting my parents, but is about $200 less when you figure in RDRAM prices. I'd get them a T-bird myself except they're not do-it-yourselfers so can't deal with things like updating the VIA drivers as needed.