Motherboard Help/Suggestions for Duron 1800

[Gillbot]

I need something simple/cheap to upgrade my wife's email machine. I'm gonna give her my Duron 1800 in place of her old furnace they call the 1.4 Athlon. I'd like to keep my PC133 SDRAM but it doesn't look like that's gonna be an option. Onboard LAN/Video?sound would be nice but i'll take what I can get. I'm open to any suggestions!!!

 

[Zepper]

The MSI KM2M Combo L would do nicely (such as the one I'm currently selling on eBay Linkage - hint, hint). Can take either SDRAM or DDR 100/133. I ran a Duron 1600 on it for a while, so it should do fine with the 1800. Needs a PSU with a P4 12V (4-pin square) line or an adapter (which I can supply for a couple of bucks if needed). Has USB 2, 10/100 LAN on board audio/video and an AGP slot in case the integrated doesn't cut it for you.
.bh.
Technoia on eBay.

:moon:

 

[Gillbot]

TTT, thanks for the heads up. Still looking for any ideas!

 

[Vette73]

Any board that STILL has sdram will be based off a old chipset and/or design.

Best bet get a cheap after rebate slab of 512mb DDR ram and get a cheap but decent KT600 board, like the Chaintech one.

 

[Zepper]

Actually any chipset could used on a mobo that supports both types of RAM, they just don't do it for market and performance reasons.
.bh.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Any board that STILL has sdram will be based off a old chipset and/or design.

Best bet get a cheap after rebate slab of 512mb DDR ram and get a cheap but decent KT600 board, like the Chaintech one.

I'd like to keep my PC133 SDRAM but it doesn't look like that's gonna be an option.

I know this, I've accepted the fact that I'll probably have to switch to DDR. I'm just looking for a good low cost option since the CPU support for the XP line seems to be shady at best. Some support the XP line but not the Barton, and I thought the Applebred was a similar core. I just want to be sure I get a board that will run the Duron 1800 I currently have, but doesn't break the bank.

 

[Peter]

There are rock solid bargains to be had, using slightly outdated chipsets. E.g. PC-Chips M811, aka ECS K7VTA2pro, aka Shuttle AK32VN, is about the lowest cost mainboard these days. Yes it has the old VIA KT266A chipset and runs no more than 133 MHz FSB and DDR266 - but that's exactly what you need for that Duron. And it has the recent 8235 south bridge.

Above that there's ECS K7VTA3 v6 and v8 boards, identical to the above but using the KT333 north bridge instead - that'll let you use DDR333 RAM at its native speed.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Peter
There are rock solid bargains to be had, using slightly outdated chipsets. E.g. PC-Chips M811, aka ECS K7VTA2pro, aka Shuttle AK32VN, is about the lowest cost mainboard these days. Yes it has the old VIA KT266A chipset and runs no more than 133 MHz FSB and DDR266 - but that's exactly what you need for that Duron. And it has the recent 8235 south bridge.

Above that there's ECS K7VTA3 v6 and v8 boards, identical to the above but using the KT333 north bridge instead - that'll let you use DDR333 RAM at its native speed.

See, that's the problem. I have let my knowledge of technology lapse and I have NO IDEA what chipsets support which model of the XP, etc. I upgraded my system to a 2500+ Barton (SN45G) and I'd like to move my wife's system up to the 1800 Duron for cooler temps and a little more CPU speed. I'd hate to spend loads of $ to do it, when all she does is email and internet. An all in one mobo with onboard everything would be fine, as long as the cost is good.

I was looking at a few items at newegg.

On the high end, I might try THIS SK41G

But was also thinking about something from the low end From HERE

I just don't know what supports what, and the manufacturers websites don't make it clear either.

 

[Zepper]

Well, as I said before, my KM2M Combo L has run both the Duron 1200 and Duron 1600 perfectly - the 1800 would be no different and here's a Linkage for proof .
.bh.

 

[Gillbot]

Well, as I said before, my KM2M Combo L has run both the Duron 1200 and Duron 1600 perfectly - the 1800 would be no different and here's a Linkage for proof .
.bh.

I would be interested but not for $45 + S/H

 

[Zepper]

Well you can get a refurb from newegg for $46. but it may not come with all original accessories. Toss a coin... Oops, OOS.

. I'll toss in a P4 12V adaptor (hard to find and normally $2. or more) if you need it. It is still under warranty (parts & labor thru March 2005 plus parts only for another year after that). I think it's worth what I'm asking.
According to the MSI warranty policy page, they use the mfr. date as the beginning of the warranty period so no proof of purchase is needed. But I will supply you a copy of my invoice if the need arises to enforce it.
.bh.

:moon:

 

[Gillbot]

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=11000709&AFFIL=FRG&NR=1

While I don't doubt your's is a good board and a good deal, I just don't have the cash right now. I'm just researching to see what is out there and what the prices look like.

 

[Zepper]

Once again, the monarch refurb comes without accessories and the ATX I/O shield (back plate) is non-standard on the KM2M.
The store that sells I/O shields on eBay asks $8. just for that.
.bh.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Once again, the monarch refurb comes without accessories and the ATX I/O shield (back plate) is non-standard on the KM2M.
The store that sells I/O shields on eBay asks $8. just for that.
.bh.

and as I said before, this is for a budget system and I'm more concerned with price over details. Most of my machines here don't have I/O plates on them now. I'm too lazy to put them in.

It's just also for comfort If there is a problem, I can dispute with my cc company. P2P I'm just out $.

 

[rdegler]

I would recommend the ASROCK K7VM2. If you can find the orginal version they handle both DDR and SDRAM. The price is great and they include a modem.

Link http://www.asrock.com/product/product_k7vm2.htm

I have built about 10 systems with this board and it is rock solid and easy to setup. I currently have a dual boot (win 2000 / red hat 9.1) machine for experimentation using this MB.

I bought new and refurbished boards from NewEgg. Price range was 23 to 45.

 

[Peter]

The K7VM2 has shown rather abysmal RAM throughput, which is not good for a shared-memory-VGA board in particular. Maybe later BIOSes have improved on this, but you have been warned.

The one usual suspect for SDRAM recyclers is the ECS K7S5Apro. While stocks last - and apparently there are few left.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Peter
The K7VM2 has shown rather abysmal RAM throughput, which is not good for a shared-memory-VGA board in particular. Maybe later BIOSes have improved on this, but you have been warned.

The one usual suspect for SDRAM recyclers is the ECS K7S5Apro. While stocks last - and apparently there are few left.

But for email and web surfing it would be fine.

 

[Peter]

Well, yes. Anything that has enough RAM and a halfway recent browser does THAT.

I still have a handful of people doing web and email on machines with Cyrix, AMD and Intel processors in the 200 MHz range, some of them even with first-generation shared-memory-VGA boards.

No matter how slow a machine you build from today's, 2002's or even 2000's parts, it'll do.

I see she has an Athlon 1400 box now. Replacing that with a Duron 1800 and going the length of building a new system is rather pointless - the difference in speed will be both negligible and completely irrelevant for the task. There even are some tasks the Athlon 1400 gets done faster than the Duron 1800 - because of the larger caches in the former.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Peter
Well, yes. Anything that has enough RAM and a halfway recent browser does THAT.

I still have a handful of people doing web and email on machines with Cyrix, AMD and Intel processors in the 200 MHz range, some of them even with first-generation shared-memory-VGA boards.

No matter how slow a machine you build from today's, 2002's or even 2000's parts, it'll do.

I see she has an Athlon 1400 box now. Replacing that with a Duron 1800 and going the length of building a new system is rather pointless - the difference in speed will be both negligible and completely irrelevant for the task. There even are some tasks the Athlon 1400 gets done faster than the Duron 1800 - because of the larger caches in the former.

If you read my comments above, I'm doing it more for the reduction in temps over the performance gain. I'd love to remove that furnace they call the 1.4 Athlon from my computer room. I'm sure my ears will appreciate it greatly.