Is there a "Consumer Reports" for mobos?

[danparkcityut]

Man, if there is, I'm sure not finding it...

Let's say you want an ATX Slot A for an Athlon 1600 with:

On board sound

4 or 5 PCI slots (depending on what's embedded)

KT266A or SIS 735 chipset

ATA 100 support

Takes Unbuffered, non ECC PC2100

Provision for at least 4 USB ports (front, back, whatever)

And maybe you want embedded video and/or lan...

And, probably, you want a board made by someone who has a decent reputation, reasonable customer support, and doesn't want to make enough $ to retire on the 3 or 4 boards they might sell you this month.


So you spend about a month checking out all the boards, talking to everyone you think might have an idea, etc... and still haven't come up with your solution. Then you might think, "Geesh, wish there was a Consumer Reports for this problem".

Is this a business opportunity, or am I missing something here?

😕

 

[jfunk]

There are tons of boards that meet the specs you list.

As for "consumer reports" for mobos, there are plenty of places to get reviews, such as the site you are on right now....

Theres also Toms, AMDMB, hardocp, etc. etc...


As for suggestions, if you want onboard video, I'd say you shouldn't consider anything but an Nforce.

For 266A, I'd say Soyo or Epox.

For SIS735, the ECS K7S5A.


Out of curiousity, what made you fail to come up with a solution during your time searching? Just about every recent AMD mobo meets the specs you listed....

j

 

[dunkster]

First, invest the time to read the board reviews and narrow your focus to just a few boards, based on needs and features and prices.

Next, I'd suggest that a good way to further resolve your choice is to visit the board-specific (Abit, Epox, Shuttle, etc.) forums at amdmb.com to read user-posts about problems or successes with those candidate boards.

That's what I did for my last board upgrade.

Hope this helps!

 

[danparkcityut]

Hi gents,

Actually, I did come up with a selection... the K7S5A. ECS isn't exactly highly thought of by everyone, even here at AT. On the other hand, there doesn't seem to be any supplier who is pleasing everyone and most reviews I've read on the K7S5A are pretty flattering. Meanwhile, it took a fair amount of time!

That wasn't really my point, though. It'd be cool if there were a source that would simplify the search, i.e. a matrix that would boil the plethora of varieties down to the ones a person is really trying to find. Though I posted specs for what I was looking for, it was only meant to be an example. How about the rest of the masses looking for other specs?

Just thought it would be a service worth paying a reasonable price for, sure would save a lot of time.

BTW, appreciate your input!