I need a recommendation for a good socket 370 mobo,please.

[Tripleshot]

I have a very nice customer who purchased a computer from a tv shopping network program and he got screwed. The mobo he has is garbage with everything integrated and only 1 shared isa/pci slot. It is constantly locking up.
I want to swap it out with a dependable/reliable mobo that I will populate with the required seperate cards for modem,video,and if necesaary audio.
Some of you have the 815 chipset.I am interested if the costs are in line. I know of some good boards from Tyan and epox in the bx or via catagory. I am interested in what some of my peers recommend.

Fire away.

 

[Vegito]

I would say CUSL2 but a lot of people are having problems. MSI i815E Pro is as good. I have CUSL2 but I hear less MSI problems.

 

[Valvoline6]

I really don't see many problems with the CUSL2 other than it likes good quality RAM. Of the few problems I do see it looks like "they" should have gone with something less feature laden. IE mostly they create their own problems. I think the CUSL2 is excellent, stable, and trouble free. That having been said it may not be the board for the application Tripleshot has in mind.

I'm not sure of the prices on the other 815 boards but the CUSL2 would be at the high end at around $150. Check the MSl and see if it is less expensive. The bx boards might be a great alternative, and the price is right. It sounds like your friend just wants a good stable PC that works, so a quality bx might really fit the bill.

 

[Tripleshot]

The Asus board is to pricy and has had numerous problems with some systems. The ram I will use will not be high quality. I will look at MSI. I just put together an MSI thunderbird board. It was tricky getting it up and running,but that Tbird is doing fine now.I'm more interested in this user having stability. This is not a power user,its a retired navel officer and now a good friend. I have been using alot of AMD lately and have avoided Intel because of price/performance issues. I would go with a BX chipset or Via and stay old technology as well as long as it is stable.I know some who here have the 815. I have yet to buy it because for a new system,I think a Duron or Tbird in a $175 mobo will do just nice. But alas ,I am using his current cpu and ram,so that leaves me with limits.

Thanks,anyone else?

 

[Jhhnn]

Hmmm...What processor does he have, is it slot-1 or socket-370? Do you need a micro, mini, or standard atx formfactor board? Is it pc100 or 66Mhz sdram? (pc133?nah!)

With a little more info, we can probably give better answers...

EDIT- of course it's a s-370!(but which one?) It was late, what can I say? Mea Culpa.

 

[Shuxclams]

Soyo SY-7VCA, its my favorite CII/P-!!! MoBo when I build intel soloution boxes. Super stable, nary a single problem at all with any hardware to date. Its really underrated IMHO.



SHUX

 

[Peter]

Tripleshot,

the mobo you have there most likely is a PC-Chips M741LMR. Usually these work well when installed properly - try a BIOS update and a round of driver updates (chipset, graphics, LAN: SiS 620, 900; sound: C-Media 8738; modem: PC-Chips) before you go all the way of replacing it altogether.

You might still get the same kind of hangs if the case PSU isn't up to the task, an issue often found in those supercheap boxes.

Regards, Peter

 

[Tripleshot]

Peter

I am in business building computers.(All-Ways Computing) I know a pc chips board from the mobo he has and it is not a pc chips or an amptron board. It only has 1 isa slot and 1 pci slot and they are shared. It is a custom made board specificly for this company. I do not want integrated beyond sound. I want a modem in a pci slot and a video card in an agp or pci. I must use his existing cpu and ram. He has already spent more than $1800 for this POS and I intend to relieve him of his misery. PC Chips is not relief,nor will it ever be. It is the lowest of the low end in the market place and has the highest failure rate of any motherboard.IMHO.

 

[Tripleshot]

Jhhnn


My bad. I forgot the specifics. It is a flipchip PIII 800 and uses pc 100 ram.The case is standard height atx with 230 watt PS.

Thanks for reminding me.

 

[Tripleshot]

Shuxclams

I will look this company up at Comdex next month. I have gravitated to Epox and Tyan in the past,but I want toexpand my choices. If they rate high enough and provide good support and bios updates,I may stock them. My suppiers handle them as well as abit,asus,tyan,epox,msi,shuttle, and many more.

The model you quoted me looks good but shows a 533 limitatation. perhaps that can be adjusted in bios.

 

[Jhhnn]

Being just a hobbyist, I'm not sure that I have much to offer except to say that I am very pleased with my MSI ms-6309. For some strange reason, MSI promotes it as a celeron board, it runs P3e's just fine, too. It is extremely stable, even when overclocked, and has all the features your friend will probably ever want. It has its own quirks stemming from the AMIBIOS and the Via chipset. Enabling SPD for the memory seems to really boost performance. It has been around since last March, and has had several bios revisions, so the kinks should be worked out by now. Msi has apparently issued a revision 2 of this board, at least the info on the bios update page leads me to think so. A few links:

MS6309
hardwareone
firingsquad

Anandtech kinda panned this board in a recent roundup, really liked the Soyo already mentioned, and were nuts for the AsusP3V4X, which seems to give a lot of people trouble, at least from what I see in the forums.

Both the MSI and the SOYO are reasonably priced, ~$90 on pricewatch, so your cost should be less.

 

[Tripleshot]

Jhhnn

That's how I got started in the business,as a hobbiest.Everybody brought thier computers to me,and offered to pay for my services,so I opened an E store and operate from my home office/shop. I plan brick and morter store next year.

The 6309 is on my list. Like I said earlier,I will get a good look at Soyo at Comdex and evaluate them after.. I want to promote a performance/powerhouse pc for the customer on a budget,and that means a system that is stable. Nothing will lose a customer faster than a broken system. If you sell it as a good working system,it must be stable. PC Chips are not. Amptron systems are not. I do not want a marginal system.
I hope Soyo will fill that niche.

My power users get only Asus and Abit. There are no others in my book. I am comfortable with both manufacturers. I have 3 of my office computers on Abit boards,including my server. No problem what so ever. My AMD choice is open to Abit and Asus A7V.

 

[Moving Target]

Just a suggestion, but I like my Trinity 400, not great for O/C, but how much faster than a P!!! 800 do you need. Altough you could us a Sloket and try 133 if you must. Just my 2cents.

 

[Shuxclams]

<< I have gravitated to Epox and Tyan in the past >>

That was true for me as well, I built many MVP3G-M based machines that still run perfectly today, that is what I base my reccomendations on is stability and price with good support. I too started out by building rigs and still do, I have another T-Bird this week, been doing alot of them in past few months.


SHUX

 

[jojiboy]

I've used the Asus CUV4X (Via chipset) previously and it was very stable. No one would mistake it for a hotrod but if you're looking for stable this is one you would appreciate. It's the little brother to the ever-popular Asus P3V4X. I have a friend who uses the Tyan Trinity 400 and seems to be happy with it, but again, not a hotrod but stable.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[novice]

Another voice chiming in on behalf of the MSI-6309. While it may be true that a BX chipset will outperform the VIA chipset, my 6309 has been very stable, even overclocked. I wasn't able to reach 800 with my 600E flip chip, but was rock solid at 774 (6 x 129). It installed nicely and I am still using the original version 1.0 BIOS. Have never attempted a BIOS upgrade and am gradually learning not try to fix things that aren't broken .
Multiwave had these boards for $87 last time I checked (that is where I ordered mine back in March). I have been so impressed with the MSI board, that I am trying to decide between another 6309 with a Celeron 566 or PIII 700, or an MSI 6330 with a 700 Duron, trying to choosed between familiarity versus a potentially better performer. Tough call!
Chuck