Cheap mobo questions.

[ddeder]

I was thinking of buying the Biostar M7VKS motherboard. This board has onboard sound and video. The video uses 8 MB of system memory. Am I likely to run into problems running business applications on this machine? What about most games? Do a lot of games require a higher amount of video RAM? Can the onboard video most likely be disabled in the bios so that a separate video card may be used? Are there good PCI video cards? If I were to go to a local computer shop and purchase a low end system ($500-$600), would it be reasonable to expect this type of motherboard?

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Office apps and Internet will run fine, although you should definetly check what chip is being used

-Ice

 

[rimshaker]

Just don't play any games... other than the ones that came with windows..

 

[zzzz]

I got a ECS K7SEM. It is ok for office use..And I don't play games in office..

 

[ddeder]

The video is onboard Trident 3D video utilizing up to 8MB of system memory. Looking at a 1 GHz Duron CPU.

 

[MrDudeMan]

its fine for most stuff...and yeah a duron 1giger should be fine

 

[DaveSimmons]

<< Do a lot of games require a higher amount of video RAM? Can the onboard video most likely be disabled in the bios so that a separate video card may be used? Are there good PCI video cards? >>

PCI video cards are not good enough for many recent games, so you do want a motherboard with an AGP slot. The onboard video is good enough for business apps, but will not let you play any games that require 3D.

You should be able to get a motherboard with AGP and a geforce 2mx card for $50 - 75 more.

If you aren't going to build it yourself and already have a monitor, you might also check Dell's prices on low-end P4 systems. They at least have AGP slots even if the bundled graphics card is crummy. Stay away from Celeron systems (from all vendors) as almost all being sold now use motherboards without an AGP slot.

 

[lsman]

what is the price for board shipped?

I can built computers for around $300 without monitor!

The Biostar M7VKS do not have AGP port means you can only use PCI video card. While i am not sure if you can disable it on BIOS, i believe most new games will need a better video card and most of them are in AGP only.
I ordered from wiredzone.com for a PCchips m810LMR (onboard video shared memory up to 64MB, 4 channels sound AC97 2.2, AMR modem included, 10/100 LAN, an AGP port for video cards up to GeForce 2 GTS DDR 32MB tested) for 68 max. shipped (60 + shipping max 6) Install win98se is very easy. After format drive and install Windows. Put in the mobo CD and the autoinstall program got all drivers do it steps by steps. (only need to click yes, ok and change windows CD if you have not stored them on HD)

a AMD Duron 1G is only under $50. Buy it with a AMEX BLUE and watch the price go down in 2 months to get $10 or more (or better, go will a higher CPU, more drop in price )

cheap case for around $30, some cheap CPU HSF ($5) can be found from nexfan.com (but they are not quiet)
the rest, look for deals from hot deal forums. (get most for low price or free after rebates like mouse, keyboard etc)