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Ideas for mATX motherboard for the slow lane

S

StarTech

Senior member
I am looking at building a mini system for my in-laws, that are moving to a smaller house and need to downsize.

What micro ATX boards should I consider that:

- Used for net browsing, email, and low speed games (cribbage and other card games)
- System would be replacing Aptiva 300MHz K6-2 with built in sound, video.
- External display will be a 15" Flat panel at 1024x768 or even one notch lower.
- Sound included
- Nice quality video, if possible in motherboard.
- Speed around 1GHz would be like light speed for them.
- Will use PCI or ISA modem. LAN not needed.
- USB nice to have, not a must.
- Win 98
- Cool running. No need for heavy cooler/fan. (Celeron option cooler than duron?)
- Low cost
- Reliable / stable - good brand a +

Added to narrow it further down:

- Box is going to be a small desktop. Probably PS in the 200W range

I am not set in new or used. Older, used, would be perfectly acceptable and cheaper.
 
Asus A7N266-VM (aka A7N266-VM/AA) and an AthlonXP 1700+. Bullseye! 😀 Onboard video, excellent onboard audio, onboard LAN, 3-year warranty.

Use an Antec TruePower330 power supply (or just grab an Antec Plus660AMG case that comes with the TruePower330 in it), Crucial PC2100, and there you go. If you get the Plus660AMG, it looks nice with black drives (plenty of them at Newegg.com).

We use the combo described above at my workplace, with excellent results. I have one at home which dual-boots Win98SE and Win2000. For Win98SE you do need to manually install the drivers after extracting the contents of the driver pack, a simple thing to do. If you end up getting one of these, I'll type up detailed instructions (basically, start WinZip, File > Open Archive... > Files of type: All files and aim it at the nForce 2.03 driver pack). For Win2000, just run the installer and you're done.
 
Thanks. That would be a nice box for me! That board appears to be a nice one, but they don't need that fast of a processor. I am thinking on lower / cooler / cheapper processors.

I just edited the specs... the case will be one of those small form factor. Probably 200W power or so.
 
An old i810 / i815 matx with used p3 or celeron. If buying new you might as well get the AMD since tualatin celerons cost as much for much less speed.

www.pcsurplusonline.com has some cheap off-lease systems, or something from FS/FT.

Or a walmart linux box if you already have w98.
 
You want an ECS K7SOM+ or K7VMM+ with pre-mounted Duron CPU. The only true all in ones. Thanks to the lowly CPU and integrated-everything, these do run on those weak power supplies. Also appearing in their OEM versions M810D-CL and M825CLU, respectively.
And if it's going to be plain old modem, do use the AMR or CNR modem cards that are offered along with them, sometimes even bundled. They work well.
 


>You want an ECS K7SOM+ or K7VMM+ with pre-mounted Duron CPU. The only true all in ones.


What do you mean with pre-mounted Duron CPU. Do you mean like soldered in?

Also, are the celerons easier to work with a small 200W PS?
 
Hey, go with the 815/810 solution but use a VIA C3!! vvvv.quiet/vvv.cool (can run fanless) vvv.low power usage (suitable for 200W PSU). Shove it in something like a ECS S-buddie case, (MicroATX, half height PCI) and youve got an attractive low power system! Beware tho, C3 1 Ghz wil run more like a Celery 600 i believe. AOpen do some nice boards for S370.
 
Originally posted by: StarTech
>You want an ECS K7SOM+ or K7VMM+ with pre-mounted Duron CPU. The only true all in ones.


What do you mean with pre-mounted Duron CPU. Do you mean like soldered in?

Also, are the celerons easier to work with a small 200W PS?
Click to expand...
Don't forget the M810LMR boards too (PcChips, Amptron). Integrated everything (not cpu though) and not pricey at all. A cheap duron or old Tbird with say 256 or 512 megs of SDR and you will have a decent little system.

I use one for my UT lan server and file server. Very dependable and stable.

I love these little boards.

 
Iron Woode, non-D M810 are still around, but given that 810D and 825 use more recent chipsets, I'd skip that. Unless you're going for real rock bottom price - then use M810CLR-M v9. This has the Duron CPU onboard and also 256 MBytes of RAM right there on the mainboard.
http://www.pcchips.com.tw/product/M810Lv90m.html

The miniITX boards are nice too, but more expensive and about half as fast. They're the choice of the day if you want to build something REALLY small and REALLY quiet.
 
I looked into the mini-ITX, and the problem is that the cost goes up pretty fast. For one, if you really want a small box, they get pricy. Secon, to get a good speed and video you have to go to the higher models, third, for small box, you have to get a slim CD drive, with very few choices and expensive.
 
Originally posted by: mechBgon
Asus A7N266-VM (aka A7N266-VM/AA) and an AthlonXP 1700+. Bullseye! 😀 Onboard video, excellent onboard audio, onboard LAN, 3-year warranty.

Use an Antec TruePower330 power supply (or just grab an Antec Plus660AMG case that comes with the TruePower330 in it), Crucial PC2100, and there you go. If you get the Plus660AMG, it looks nice with black drives (plenty of them at Newegg.com).

We use the combo described above at my workplace, with excellent results. I have one at home which dual-boots Win98SE and Win2000. For Win98SE you do need to manually install the drivers after extracting the contents of the driver pack, a simple thing to do. If you end up getting one of these, I'll type up detailed instructions (basically, start WinZip, File > Open Archive... > Files of type: All files and aim it at the nForce 2.03 driver pack). For Win2000, just run the installer and you're done.
Click to expand...

Just put together a system for a friend with this mobo (Asus A7N266-VM) and it works great...fabulous all in one board.

moogs
 
Be aware that the A7N266-VM's are microATX motherboards and don't fit into true SFF cases like the Shuttle-cube-sized ones. They'll fit in either a microATX or full-ATX case, though. If you'd like a suggestion, here's a nice Inwin V508 with a good-quality 250W power supply (quality is important, not just wattage).

The Inwin is well-made and can take full-sized ATX power supplies, unlike many microATX cases.
 
Originally posted by: StarTech
Moogs, will an 800-1Ghz Duron run in that board with a 200W power supply?
Click to expand...

With mainboard integrated graphics and everything else, and a slow revving HDD, yes.
 
I have an A7N266-VN/AA and 2400+ combo right now running on a 200W sfx power supply. The shuttle XPCs all use 200W power supplies.

The only thing I would suggest is that you get an external video card if you plan to get a flat panel. So far I've tried a few Matx boards and none have failed to offer blurry 2D. Might be that I've been spoiled by my Radeons in the past but I hate how my LCD looks when attached to the onboard video.
 
I wonder what would be a good 2D cheap card that gives sharp resolution. I suppose there might be some oldies that are good for that.
 
Originally posted by: StarTech
I wonder what would be a good 2D cheap card that gives sharp resolution. I suppose there might be some oldies that are good for that.
Click to expand...


Get something with on-board video.

Like a....

CHAINTECH 7NIF2 $89 at newegg.com
Shuttle MN31N $90 +$5 shipping at newegg.com
I like the shuttle better, but the chaintech will save you some cash.

Both of these are m-ATX, have onboard video, sound, ethernet. Add a cheap 1700+ (like in the low $40's now, and run very cool and quiet, get the reatil 1700+ for the AMD Heatsink) and a single slab of 256mg ram. This will be cheap, fast, and reliable.
 
Originally posted by: StarTech
I wonder what would be a good 2D cheap card that gives sharp resolution. I suppose there might be some oldies that are good for that.
Click to expand...
Beware, you don't want to fry a motherboard by putting an old 3.3V AGP card into a 1.5V slot. PCI would be a safe bet, though.
 
Originally posted by: StarTech
I wonder what would be a good 2D cheap card that gives sharp resolution. I suppose there might be some oldies that are good for that.
Click to expand...
Matrox G450 will suit you just fine. Excellent 2D and Analog and DVI output.
 
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