Motherboard suggestion for a new system

[MJ99]

I will be building a new system for my brother-in-law and looking for motherboard suggestions. My last one was a Shuttle AK31's which I'm very but is considered an old board now. In addition to the normal (as far as normal goes) home uses it will be use to record from external devices to mp3 files and not much gaming. Below is what i am looking at so far.

Case: Enlight 7280 (340w ps)
M/B: Shuttle AK35GT2
CPU: betwen 1600+ and 2000+ AMD-XP
Memory: Kingston 512mb DDR PC2100
Hard Drive: Maxtor 60gb 7200
CD Drive: Lite-On 48x24x48 CD-RW
DVD Drive: Lite-On LTD-166S16X DVD ROM Drive - Retail 48X CD-ROM
Video Card: RADEON 8500LE 64MB DDR CRT/DVI/TV
Sound: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2
Oper. System: Win XP Pro + SP1

Above would be about $950 and want to keep it below $1,000.

Any suggestions welcome.
TIA

 

[Merlen]

I have one motherboard that I can recomend for your particular setup and that is the MSI Turbo 2; it uses the KT133A chipset. It is an older board, however it is very fast, reliable and compatible with most any hardware. (If anyone out there has had any trouble with this board I'd be interested in hearing about it.) One thing to consider with this board though is that it is older, like I said, and it uses SDRAM, which for your uses it should be plenty fast enough. I'd recomend 512mgs, but make sure it's a good brand of memory, Crucial would be good. Also, from the factory the bios will automaticly be out of date so you'd need to flash it with the latest bios version, MSI has a nice program that makes it very easy to flash the bios. To get it to reconize your CPU you'll almost for sure need to flash it with an updated version.
Anyways, I hope this helps, it shouldn't cost anymore than your shuttle board. If your interested in the board and you'd like to know more feel free to e-mail me and I'll help you out as much as I can.
Click this link for MSI's Turbo 2 page.

Good Luck!

 

[gonzo2k]

Go Merlen!

Your first post... and you are not wrong!
Welcome to Anandtech!

Here's where I got mine/shipped free!

BTW, mj99: Don't rule out "Hot Deals"(or dell.com) for Dell bargains, as well as most systems FS/FT by other AT members.
You can get a LOT more than your minimal specs for well under $950.00 if you take the time to look.
Go wit da flow!

 

[MJ99]

thanks but i probably should have added it will be at least a 266 board.

 

[gonzo2k]

Consider a 266A board and install latest VIA 4in1 drivers for the chipset.

Plenty of info for you here!

 

[Merlen]

Thanks Gonzo,
I agree, you, MJ99, should go with the 266A chipset instead of the 266, because it'll have all the major bugs worked out from the 266 model. Also, this is my opinion only, you should try out an MSI board with the 266A chipset. MSI boards are all around good and stable boards.
You said in your original post that your friend is going to record from external devices, I'd recomend firewire and/or USB2, because most any other methods will be way too slow. You should also make sure and get those things standard with the motherboard so you have fewer add-on cards to deal with later.
Finally, I have some online store recomendations:
http://www.newegg.com and http://www.compgeeks.com
Both have served me well with service and prices.

 

[MJ99]

Thanks Merlen,

Will look at some of the MSI boards. I have used newegg in the past and been very satisfied although there selection seems to be down.

 

[TD77077]

If you're not going to overclock, I suggest looking at the Biostar M7VIP (KT333). It's about $65 shipped from Newegg and I'm sending this message on a M7VIP/XP1800+ rig. It's been one of the most stable comps I've used. I have also had good luck with other Biostar Mbs for general use applications.

 

[ronopp]

my only suggestion would be to skip the sound and get an Nforce mobo!!then you'll be good to go for a long while!!

Ron

 

[ronopp]

make that a Nforce2...........lol

Ron

 

[First]

Epox 8RDA+.

 

[MJ99]

Originally posted by: ronopp
my only suggestion would be to skip the sound and get an Nforce mobo!!then you'll be good to go for a long while!!

Ron

The reason for the sound card is becuase of the conversion from outside sources to mp3 files. In the past I have heard/read the quality of the sound card makes a big difference when recording from cassettes etc... Should he really not need a $100 sound card please point me in the right direction.

Thanks to all for the past and any future comments/suggestions.

 

[Vette73]

I would get a nForce2 board and use the nForce sound

 

[Arhra]

If you feel like saving the $20 you should just go with a regular Audigy. I have personally heard of some stability problems with the A2.
EDIT: I haven't noticed any sound quality difference between the Audigy and the Audigy 2.

Also, I would think one of the nForce 2 Motherboards would be the way to go here.

 

[MJ99]

Ok looking at/considering a couple of the suggested Nforce2 m/b (Asus & Epox). The main question/reservation is when recording from an input device such as a cassette player will there be any noticable difference in the quality of the recording. I have heard and at times noticed there may be less interfearance when recording through a good sound card as apposed to on-board sound. If anyone has any information please let me know.