I'm sure this is going to invite alot of spam, flames and opinion wars. But please remember, everyone has their own opinions and experiences. I am simply asking for those.
What would you name the best Socket A motherboard, based on stability, reliability, design and features? Not particularly on an overclocking side of things, though it is always a plus factor.
For example: (this is the board I am using right now)
Jetway V.542B ALi Aladdin M1541 Chipset - ALi5
Stability: Poor - Due to the design of the Aladdin 5 chipset, the stability of this board is poor to moderate. Especialy when using AGP video cards.
Reliability: Medium - Even though the stability of this board is low, its reliability is quite surpring. I have used this board for many applications, both server and workstation.
Design: The layout of the board, in my opinion, was not thought out very well at all. CPU placement: Towards the top and front of the motherboard, whicher in my opinion is a bad placement because many cables have to be routed around the cpu fan and heatsink so it does not affect cooling. SDRAM slot placement: At the very top of the board, centered. This placement in a smaller ATX tower often proved to be troublesome in the shop I worked at a while back. Because the bottomof the power supply was too close, or sometimes touching, the SDRAM slots. Drive controller placement: Very, very bad. Primary and secondary, as well as floppy controller are set at the very back of the board in a tight space once you connect USB adapter and serial ports. Hence my earlier comment on poor CPU placement, these cables must pass over the CPU fan in any standard AT/ATX case. PCI/ISA/AGP room is very constricted due to large capacitors. Sitting directly behind the AGP slot is a large capacity which must be pushed CAREFULY to the side to install an AGP card. VBecause of some of these capacitors, it makes putting long PCI cards in, hard.
Features: Very few, in fact. 1 - 2x AGP slot, 3 PCI, 2 ISA, 2 USB. Support for K6-2 550MHz Super7 chips, maximum of (I think) 512meg PC133 SDRAM.
Overall personal rating: 4 out of 10.
THats an example of what I think about MY motherboard. Hopefuly, the responses I get here will help me in determining what brand and model to get when I am able to upgrade.
-GW
What would you name the best Socket A motherboard, based on stability, reliability, design and features? Not particularly on an overclocking side of things, though it is always a plus factor.
For example: (this is the board I am using right now)
Jetway V.542B ALi Aladdin M1541 Chipset - ALi5
Stability: Poor - Due to the design of the Aladdin 5 chipset, the stability of this board is poor to moderate. Especialy when using AGP video cards.
Reliability: Medium - Even though the stability of this board is low, its reliability is quite surpring. I have used this board for many applications, both server and workstation.
Design: The layout of the board, in my opinion, was not thought out very well at all. CPU placement: Towards the top and front of the motherboard, whicher in my opinion is a bad placement because many cables have to be routed around the cpu fan and heatsink so it does not affect cooling. SDRAM slot placement: At the very top of the board, centered. This placement in a smaller ATX tower often proved to be troublesome in the shop I worked at a while back. Because the bottomof the power supply was too close, or sometimes touching, the SDRAM slots. Drive controller placement: Very, very bad. Primary and secondary, as well as floppy controller are set at the very back of the board in a tight space once you connect USB adapter and serial ports. Hence my earlier comment on poor CPU placement, these cables must pass over the CPU fan in any standard AT/ATX case. PCI/ISA/AGP room is very constricted due to large capacitors. Sitting directly behind the AGP slot is a large capacity which must be pushed CAREFULY to the side to install an AGP card. VBecause of some of these capacitors, it makes putting long PCI cards in, hard.
Features: Very few, in fact. 1 - 2x AGP slot, 3 PCI, 2 ISA, 2 USB. Support for K6-2 550MHz Super7 chips, maximum of (I think) 512meg PC133 SDRAM.
Overall personal rating: 4 out of 10.
THats an example of what I think about MY motherboard. Hopefuly, the responses I get here will help me in determining what brand and model to get when I am able to upgrade.
-GW
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