I need advice on a motherboard with onboard sound and lan for AMD chips.

[FluxCap]

I was wanting to buy a solid, feature-rich board with onboard sound and onboard lan for AMD processors. I am upgrading from an ASUS K7M and Athlon 700 so I am a little out of touch with current boards. I will spend up to about $130.

Thanks

 

[DainB]

If you can wait another month you could get an nForce2 board. Onboard sound that is the equivalent of a SB Live, dual onboard lan, and USB 2.0 support. I'd guess it will come out at around $125.

 

[FluxCap]

Hmm, great idea. I might just have to do that.

 

[yodayoda]

or just get an nForce out right now. 6 channel dobly-certified sound, LAN, even graphics if you want it. Newegg has an Asus 220D microATX for $80 shipped.

 

[Vette73]

A good board that is $129 at newegg.com shipped is the Epox EP-8K5A3+. It will overclock very well, has Raid, Lan, USB 2.0, and on-board sound.

 

[FluxCap]

Thanks, I will be considering all of these options

 

[Insane3D]

Another option would be the Epox 8K5A2+ for $99 @ Mwave. Same board as the 8K5A3+ with the normal two RAID channels as opposed to the four on the 8K5A3+.

Look here for more info on the Epox boards.

 

[FluxCap]

Yeah, those boards look very nice. I started to read that thread yesterday but never finished it. Isn't Epox the first with putting out the second generation of N boards?

 

[dz3]

The ECS K75SA is a pretty good board and it's cheap too... around $55.00

It has onboard sound, Lan, and slots for DDR and SD.

 

[FluxCap]

Well, that is a good price. I don't know much about ECS.

I read on another site that if one was to get an nForce board to only get one that has the sound processor made by Nvidia....if you are looking for quality sound. How true is this?

 

[Insane3D]

Yeah, those boards look very nice. I started to read that thread yesterday but never finished it.

No need to read the whole thread...just check out the review links in the first post.

Isn't Epox the first with putting out the second generation of N boards?

AFAIK, yes they are.

 

[dz3]

Originally posted by: FluxCap
Well, that is a good price. I don't know much about ECS.

The ECS board is solid and cheap. It's not an OC board by any means but it gets the job done. I've built at least 10 or more rigs with it (mostly XP1700s) and never had a problem with it.