Is this an ok board?

[jurzdevil]

It is the amptron XP4-930LSD with the sis 645 chipset. im looking to upgrade a computer thats a few years old and has definatly passsed its prime. im not looking for the best board in the world, i would just like to know if this board is going to die on me when i turn it on or if its gonna work fine. im getting what i think is a good deal with it, pentium 4 2.0, 256 of ddr, the board and a cooling fan and heatsink for 570.

Again, im not looking for top performance as the jump from 450 to 2000 will be enough. Im just looking to see if the company has a good reputation.


http://www.amptron.com/html/p4-930LSD.html

thanks
Sean

 

[AndyHui]

Amptron is part of the ECS and PC-Chips group of motherboard manufacturers.

Very few boards on the market today are total crap, so it should be OK as long as you don't expect too much from it.

Given that you are getting a Pentium 4 2.0GHz (Northwood or Willamette), I think it is a bit of a shame to pair it with a low end board though. I would urge you to reconsider.

If you really wanted to save money, you could drop to a Northwood 1.8A GHz and afford a top board, with probably some money left to spare.

Approx prices:
Northwood 1.8A GHz: $210
ASUS P4B266-C: $120
Crucial DDR 256MB: $80

Total: $410

As an extra note, you should be aware that Pentium 4 systems have specific power supply requirements....old systems are not likely to meet these power requirements, ie an ATX 2.03 compliant power supply, with at least 250W output.

 

[jurzdevil]

I was looking to get a northwood and i thought they only made them as low as 2 ghz but now that you have shown me something better for less i think ill go with what you say.

thanks

sean

p.s. i have a 300 watt supply ready to go in with it

 

[Peter]

Note that for a P4, you'll probably need a new power supply unit too. They eat lots of juice, and so do Athlons,
so either aim a notch or two lower and make that old box into a Duron system, or be ready to swap out more stuff than
you'd initially thought necessary.

regards, Peter

 

[Theslowone]

Being 2.03 compliant and having a 300watt power supply isn't the same thing, the power supply needs to have the p4 connector with an aux connector on it. Look at this pic you see the regular atx power connector and the plug right beside it, well there is one more little square one left of the expansion slots, not saying you don't have a power supply with these on it but if it is an older ps then you probably would not.

 

[RPB]

there is also an adapter that plugs onto the standard four pin molex connector.

 

[ext2op]

Well ok, not that Iam a non-intel fan but the price difference compared to performance is just not worth it...Here's a system I think would be much more cost effective and you will probably be able to use the 300 watt pwr supply you have now. As long as it is a good one...

ECS K75SA-62.00 (Onboard LAN/sound)
Athlon xp 1800- 159.00
Copper Heatsink 7000rpm fan- 31.00
Crucial 256mb pc2100-72.00

350.73 total.
This will keep up with any p4 2000 and plus its a lot cheaper. Iam very impressed with the ECS board excepts anything I throw at it. Have started using them in all my system builds. Have not had any cmos loss with any of them like some people have....

 

[AA0]

Buy a brand name board, ECS are not quality boards, their RMAs are high, and the number of boards that die prematurely from them is also high. A quality motherboard is worth what you pay for it.

 

[Peter]

BS. ECS hasn't become the #1 mainboard maker (in what was a skyrocketing increase in sales) by making crap.
Think about it. Their boards are cheap because they don't put any fancy nonsense onto them.

btw, many of the ECS boards do _not_ need that extra 12V connection from the power supply. Nonetheless, you
need one that is really powerful and has good regulation quality.

regards, Peter

 

[ext2op]

Dont knock something you havint tried dude. Because for you to say that you havint seen a K7S5a in action...I dont have any experience with the p4 boards so cant say anything about them....

 

[Theslowone]

ECS imho are decent boards, they are probably the best selling boards in a long time. But I wouldn't go with onboard sound.
And with any mobo there is a chance that it is bad, thats with any board though.