integrated video/audio for Celeron o/c.

[gychang]

I know Aopen MX3W was recommended for a cost effective solution, I am confused about other models in Aopen, is there a later version?, I left email for Aopen but no response yet.

Would appreciate any help, or other systems with similar capability. The machine will be used for nongaming purposes.

 

[TazAk47]

if you want to go cheap there is a houston board out there with a 20meg tnt2 onboard video, modem lan and sound card, and before anyone posts telling me what crap houston boards are, yes i agree, but this board isnt bad for business apps and internet browsing, even anandtech reviewed it and said it wasnt too bad, your choice , ive built a few using this board and they are great beginner systems. good luck

 

[Dave]

i could not find a "houston" motherboard, but a search of Pricewatch yielded:

PC Chips
754LMR,Socket 370,Micro ATX,ALI chipset, 32MB onboard Video - NO CPU
133MHz,Video w/TNT2 32MB,Audio,Modem,LAN,3PCI,2DIMM,1 year warranty
$ 80
Axion Technologies, LLC
888-AXION-55
281-575-0007 -- P.O.'s accepted
Online Ordering

I've used PC Chips stuff, with some success. They are really cheap MBs, fairly low quality, relatively high rate of DOA's, occasion chronic BSD problems etc. However, for the customer that insists on only the cheapest, they can be made to work.

You basically get what you pay for.

Good luck.

 

[TazAk47]

yep Dave they can be cute sometimes, im up here in Canada and Houston is the brand name pc chips uses up here, ive used three of these boards and havent had a problem yet, hahaha yet, you do get what you pay for though, i think the board im talking about is called the 741

 

[Peter]

The 741 series are much older boards using the SiS 620/5595 (NB/SB) chipset. The 754 uses ALi Aladdin TNT2, also a current product is the 758 using SiS 630.

All of them are uATX form factor. They are shared-memory-VGA boards, so don't expect any performance miracles. And since they're made to be cost effective, don't expect any neatness-enhancing features either - don't even bother looking for manual voltage adjust, "inbetween" CPU bus speeds or similar stuff.

While they're definitely not for DIY beginners or impatient builders, they work just fine for people who know what they're doing during assembly and OS installation.

Regards, Peter