Inexpensive but good motherboard for ~800mhz Duron?

[Valhalla1]

Needing to build a low low cost system for my dad, but not a junker. I don't want a high end motherboard, but I don't want a POS either. I don't need onboard raid or ethernet or anything fancy, just something cheap that won't crap out on me that I can slap a Duron in. any suggestions?

 

[scorch2000]

I would suggest the MSI K7T Pro 2-A. It is a highend board, but costs about $30-40 less than an Abit or Asus board.

My Splendid Rig:

MSI K7T Pro 2-A Motherboard
AMD Duron 800 @ 950Mhz w/ Chrome Orb Cooler
256 mb Micron / Hyundai PC-133 SDRAM
ATI Radeon 64MB DDR (7072 drivers)
SB Live Value
Quantum 10GB HD ATA/33
32x Panasonic CD-ROM
DLink PCI Ethernet Card
Acer 17' 77e Monitor
Altec Lansing 45.1 Speakers
WinME
1 Pet Hamster

 

[Valhalla1]

I don't know.. maybe I could go with that, but it sounds a little too much on the expensive side for what its going to be doing. this doesnt need to be overclocked or need any bells and whistles

 

[Mem]

Get the older cheaper brother ,the Original MSI K7T Pro board these can be found real cheap now,rock stable.

 

[ModMan]

The ECS K7VZA, $78 from Micropro, has gotten some very good reviews as a very stable MB. No multiplier/voltage tweaking, limited FSB selections, onboard sound.

I ordered the K7VZA/Duron 700/HSF combo for $137 ($152 shipped) with the intention of overclocking by cpu bridge manipulation.

Micropro also has a Duron 800 or Tbird 750/K7VZA/HSF combo for $165. You have to mention pricewatch in your order to get these prices.

Review

Another Review

And Another

 

[Cooltech2k]

Go with the MSI k7t pro... Its stable & relitively cheap... If you get anything cheaper than I would like to remind you that you get what you pay for. I have replaced 3 motherboards that were bought specifically to be cheap since they were highly unstable POS's (1 ecs, 1 jetway, 1 dfi) & replaced all with the k7t pro MB & all 3 clients are happy with the stability & performance.

 

[j24u]

I also ordered the ECS K7VZA Duron 700 combo from Micropro - comes with heat sink and cooler master fan - got it in 3 days - one of the reasons it is less expensive is that it is not overclockable. It has onboard sound - so no need to by a sound card - sound will be fine for your dad - another surprise - the one I received came with the 686B southbridge that supports ATA100 - the ATA100 ribbon also comes with this - the manual is user friendly - BIOS updates are available at ecsusa.com - get the AC97 audio updates here also - this is a 2nd AMD that I am building for my wife

if you want just the Motherboard without a CPU - it's $78 - go thru Pricewatch to get to Micropro

 

[SiliconVandal]

FIC AZ11...cheapest board for your money. Reliable and stable too.

 

[Bartman39]

I agree with ModMan, j24u the ECS K7VZA is darn good inexpensive Duron & Tbird board (I ordered the board & 1.2Ghz Tbird for $349 w/HS-fan & 1 year warranty) I will use a Duron 750 in the K7VZA and the 1.2 in either my A7V133 or KT7 raid. (Also have 1.0ghz @1.35ghz) Perfect for the price just not an Overclockers board...

Dat .02cent thing!

 

[ModMan]

The K7VZA is an overclockers' board if you're not afraid of cutting/connecting bridges on your cpu. Why pay extra for a multlplier/voltage selectin' motherboard when AMD gives access to these features on top of their CPUs!

 

[CraigRT]

Asus A7Pro. an under glorified A7V which is still a very good mobo.. a fair bit cheaper than A7V but still has Asus quality and reliability.

 

[NICKel]

There is an all in one from ASUS
here

as well as one from PC Chips too...
here

They are cheap...... I'll grant you that....

 

[BadBrad]

Get the Epox EP-8KTA+. Good stable board and inexpensive. A lot of great reviews on the Web. Right now Newegg.com has it for $85 shipped. That's hard to beat. Check out my rig to see what I'm doing with one of these babies.

 

[sadb0i]

soyo k7vta-b...very stable and has integrated sound! great deal..$$$ saver!