MaBoard Recommendation Needed

[BoardToBeWild]

Hello,

Sorry for yet another, "What is the best motherboard post". I have been search the web around for one that meets my criteria.
I have been researching for a few days on a new mother board for my aging PC. This is what I am looking for:

1. Athlon XP (2000-2100) based
2. 4-8 USB 2.0/IEEE-1394
3. One or two Firewire (a huge plus, don't expect to see one)
4. no mouse port
5. no keyboard port
5. no parallel ports
6. no serial ports
7. no integrated sound
8. no integrated graphics
9. ATX size
10. AGP slot
11. Integrated Ethernet (optional)
12. Integrated Controller (optional)

Are there any boards that do this well. I don't understand why the board manufacturers keep bundling more and more integration on the boards with components that quickly go obsolete. The sound and graphics integrated components on all the boards I have seen are inferior to the separate bought cards.

So I am looking for a bare bones board loaded with USB ports.

Thanks alot for all your help

cheers

art

 

[CraigRT]

Just a question.. why would you NOT want stuff like PS2 mouse ports? they are standard on EVERYTHING.. you will absolutely not be able to find a board without them.. I hope it doesn't matter if a board has them or not, cause you won't find one that doesn't..
the only one i can think of that kind of meets what you want is the MSI K7T266 Pro2-RU
it has onboard IDE RAID (extra IDE controller), lots of USB's, and USB 2.0.

Like every other regular mobo, it's ATX spec and it's PC99 (i believe it's called) compliant which means it has all the standard serials and PS2 ports and such.

If you want to wait a year, I have read they are talking about abandoning support for the serial ports, and maybe even the PS2 ports... that's the only option i can think of if you dont want that stuff with your mobo.

I think though the best available mainstream board you can find meeting your spec to the best possible, is the MSI.

Good luck though, all the power to ya if you can find out without all the stuff built in..

 

[Jayczar]

Well I cannot think of an ATX board on the planet that has no KB,mouse, serial or parallel ports
except for AT boards which makes them optional. But I will suggest the ASUS A7V333-RAID which
I believe has 4-6 USB and firewire and will run that XP CPU nicely. It pretty much has everything
else you require except LAN. I am sure you will get different suggestions but I think this one fits
the bill.

 

[Athlon4all]

Sounds like an Abit AT7 recommendation

 

[BoardToBeWild]

Thanks for all your replies! They were helpful. I went with the Abit board since it was the most bare bones and fastest performer in some reviews.

I went to the Abit site and they will be coming out with a board with no legacy ports. Its called the Max series, which will sport no serial, no parrallel, no ps2 ports. They are now showing it off so I wouldnt expect it out soon. I think there are several reasons to not have these ports. One, I don't use them. All my peripherals are USB now. Since its a common port interface, you can more fully utilize the ports available. The Abit site also states that there will be a performance boost in moving away from the legacy ports.

 

[bowie71]

Abit MAxx it's around $250 or $200 without the RAID

 

[gaidin123]

Abit's Max AT7 board is around $172-200 with RAID and everything. Check pricewatch.

Gaidin