Need idea for good, cheap P4 motherboard for this stuff under $80/$100....

[Flakk]

I have a lot of parts that I have been saving for almost 2 months now for the Granite Bay chipset on a Asus P4G8X Deluxe or Gigabyte 8INXP board, but neither of these have appeared on stores either online or off.... So as a backup, I think I am going to buy a very cheap motherboard to tide me over. Then I can use my parts and wait for an even better Dual DDR chipset like spingdale or canterwood later this year. As long as I'm up and running I'll be happy at this point. The hardware I have current is as follows:

- Pentium IV 2.4-ghz (533bus) cpu
- 2 sticks of 256mb Samsung PC3200 DDR memory
- 40gb maxtor 7200rpm
- SB Audigy 2
- Aopen Geforce 4 TI4200 128mb, 4x AGP
- Creative 16x DVD drive
- Some arctic silver (hehe)

Ideally i'd get one that can support this ddr400 memory, as long as the cost for that support isnt too great (otherwise ddr333 support is fine). I'm looking at somtehing I can buy for less than $80 or $100 max., including shipping. I figure this is the best way for me to have a fast computer and not be so mad at the fact that Granite Bay isn't appearing.

Are any low priced Gigabyte motherboards good? Well, i'm up to suggestions, lemme hear em

 

[Viper96720]

A sis645dx motherboard

 

[Flakk]

thanx, any ones in particular u know of that are good?

 

[o1die]

Newegg has the abit sa7 (645dx chipset) for only $66 shipped, or my favorite, the albatron px845 pev pro for $85 shipped, with the Intel 845pe chipset, an agp/pci lock feature for overclocking, and better sound.

 

[Elvis2]

Are any low priced Gigabyte motherboards good? Well, i'm up to suggestions, lemme hear em

You might want to look at this.
Gigabyte 8SG667
I'm back to using it since I had to sell my 8INXP and it's a decent performer. DDR 400, 8x, ATA133, agp/pci lock. O/c's well to 150fsb (limiting factor's the SIS648 chipset. The major complaint I have is there is absolutely no Vcore, Vmem adjustments nor any type of voltage/temp monitoring. It's been rock solid tho with my 2.53@ 2.85 and Corsair CMX pc3200 (2 x 256) @ 400mhz. 2,3,3,3,6T. If you want cheap...

 

[First]

Albatron PX845PEV Pro. Great overclocker, stable and fast at stock speeds and even comes with onboard LAN and sound. It'll do just fine for your needs.

 

[PhoenixOfWater]

Originally posted by: Evan Lieb
Albatron PX845PEV Pro. Great overclocker, stable and fast at stock speeds and even comes with onboard LAN and sound. It'll do just fine for your needs.

Yup.. i have that mobo and i love it

 

[Vette73]

I got your board. Its the ECS 8X L4S8A2 It gos for $82 Shipped at newegg.com It uses the SiS648 Chipset.
It has ethernet, firewire, USB2.0, and a on-board sound card.

 

[Flakk]

Great! Thanks everyone.. all these suggestions really helped. So far I have these boards as my choices now:

- ECS 8X L4S8A2
- Albatron PX845PEV Pro
- Gigabyte 8SG667
- Abit sa7

Does anyone know of any problems with any of these? Also remember, I have a SB Audigy2, so I dont have to worry about onboard sound. The things that ARE important to me are USB2.0 and onboard LAN. I dont really need Firewire either. Now I'm going to investigate each board. Thanks for all your suggestions.

You might want to look at this.
Gigabyte 8SG667
I'm back to using it since I had to sell my 8INXP

I cry with you... I know it must have been so hard to give that up. At least it found a good home. Let's just stick to our older boards until springdale/canterwood We can get matured Dual DDR technology then

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Lets throw the Epox 4G4A in the mix just to make him think. muuahahaha

 

[Flakk]

thanks

- well I can elimate the Abit SA7 because it only has usb1.1
- I'm going to be picky and eliminate the Gigabyte 8SG667 because it doesnt have onboard lan, and buying a seperate card would add $10-15 to the total and then put it over $100

Altho the Abit SA7 only had usb1.1, the Abit SR7-8X and Abit SG-71 looked good.. one's a micro board but thats fine for my needs. So that gives me 2 more options.

The ECS 8X L4S8A2 looks nice.. so purple and ... nice. Also good features. That's a definite candidate unless anyone knows of any problems.

The Albatron PX845PEV Pro looked ok.... but has no ATA133 and is tad little higher in cost.

The Epox 4G4A you so kindly added to my jumble of options looked okay. It was the highest in price ($93 on pricewatch) of all of them, so I'll probably stay away from it unless it really is awesome or something.


So that leaves me with these new choices:

- Abit SR7-8X ($85)
- Abit SG-71 ($78) - micro board
- ECS 8X L4S8A2 ($83)
- Albatron PX845PEV Pro ($86)

I think I'm leaning toward the ECS...... But Abit is a good brand I know too. Help please

 

[Yourself]

Originally posted by: Flakk
thanks


The Albatron PX845PEV Pro looked ok.... but has no ATA133 and is tad little higher in cost.

ATA 133 makes zero difference, hell ATA drives can't even supply ATA 100 Also, the board is $84 shipped at Mwave



Self

 

[Flakk]

Ah, thanks. I wont put so much important on ATA133/100 then. Either will do fine.

What board would you guys get of those I listed if you were in my situation?

The most important things to me, in this order are:
1.) stability
2.) features (USB2.0, DDR400, onboard LAN)
3.) performance (last because I know 2.4ghz will be fast enough anyway)

 

[THUGSROOK]

youre gonna drive yourself crazy....
never buy a board because of its "accessories" ~ ever!

cough up the bucks and get a good solid performer:
P4B533
Abit IT7 max2
EpoX make few goodies too
etc

if you plan on overclocking most of those "accessories" will stop working anyways
need a board for cheap?
buy used from the AT FS/FT forum.

HTH

 

[Flakk]

Some of these cheap ones are stable too tho arent they? At least they say so in the reviews...

I am only buying this board to hold me over for 6 months :| I figure if I spend $80 now, i can spend $170 later on a good dual ddr board when they are made in large quantities. (Cause I spent $250 on a 8INXP that isnt around yet)..

 

[THUGSROOK]

thats gonna depend on what they mean by "stable".

Prime95?
memtest86?
DivX encoding?
all 3 at the same time?

most of those morons think 3dmark2k1 and sandra means its stable

post this same question in the OC forum and you will get completely different responses then youll get in this room.

 

[Flakk]

i'm not even going to overclock.. just stable to run games and windows

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

Go for that L4S8A2, it's a real steal if you're not overclocking, and the features are great. Lots of good reviews on the net, and I've had a wonderful personal experience. It's definately not a hardcore overclockers board (I miss PCI/AGP lock!), but for a user running things at stock speed (like you and I, we basically have the same setup) it rocks and runs anything you can throw at it, and it's stable as well. Also, when not overclocked, it's within like 3-5% of the speed the more expensive mobos are at. I also haven't heard of any K7S5A-ish horror stories as well, which is always a plus. And it looks nice with a window mod Passing Prime95 for the last 9 hours, still running stong. I'll do memtest86 tonight.

Edit: OH! I just read the end of your first post. This board does support DDR400 memory, as stated in the manual and on ECS's website. However, from what I've read, it can only handle one stick of DDR400 at a time. I've got two sticks of DDR333 in right now and it works just fine.

 

[Flakk]

Thanks MistaTasty! I have a clear side window on my computer as well so it will look all purty Looks like a good choice to me.

 

[mechBgon]

Next time, don't buy the CPU until the motherboard you want is actually available, so your money goes further Have fun with your interim rig!

(edit: same goes for the video card )

 

[Flakk]

actually i have been using my video card for almost 6 months now. And the CPU's value has dropped only $10 since I bought it. So I didnt really lose anything by buying early. I lucked out in that respect I did learn to wait until the board is actually purchasable. I never expected an almost 2 month wait on a board. Just my luck I guess

 

[touchmyichi]

The new Soyo SY-P4I 845PE Lite looks good, its on newegg and everything and is priced around 100. It supposedly oc's very well and have been selling well at frys. BTW get a review on these Soyo PE boards Evan!

 

[tcsenter]

Also remember, I have a SB Audigy2, so I dont have to worry about onboard sound. The things that ARE important to me are USB2.0 and onboard LAN.

Hmm, so far we need cheap, USB2.0, LAN, cheap, 533MHz FSB, 478PGA...did I mention cheap? Here you go:

Biostar U8788 Pentium4 m478 533FSB ATX Motherboard

- VIA P4X266E + VT8235
- 533FSB
- ATA133
- 3DDR
- Audio
- Lan
- USB2.0

$52.00 + shipping

 

[Flakk]

haha tcsenter.. that's a damn good deal. At that price I have to admit I'm a wee scared about its quality (also I dont know that brand), but it could be a fine board for all I know. Well I guess it doesnt matter because I didnt see your post until after I ordered my ECS L4S8A2 from mwave.com (2 day shipping for $13.. not bad) total came to $89.

So much for my near 2 month wait for Granite Bay. I could have had this board the whole time and been using my P4 Oh the lessons one learns.

Im happy now tho, assuming all goes smoothly. I can now wait half a year or longer in comfort, and buy a nice 800mhz bus dual-ddr motherboard when they are out in large quantities I'll post how I liked the ECS L4S8A2 in this thread in a week or so and let you all know how it turned out.

Thanks for all your help. I probably wouldnt have made this choice without it.

 

[Zap]

I didn't see this thread until now, so a bit too late, but.... I would have seconded PhoenixOfWater and Evan Lieb on the Albatron PX845PEV Pro motherboard. Even disregarding it's overclocking prowess, it's a good board for a great price. BananaPC.com has it right now for $75. I actually got mine from Newegg.com for more, but with free shipping. As Yourself said, ATA133 doesn't really matter. Only Maxtor hard drives have it, and I think independent benchmarks would show no real-world difference in performance. The PX845PEV Pro has integrated LAN using a 3Com chipset. The ports are a fairly standard layout that most ATX cases can handle natively. The board is actually quite small and narrow. It only goes out to the first set of mounting holes, meaning it's easier to get into a cramped case and 5¼" drives would be less likely to bump parts of the board. It also doesn't fully go to the bottom of the case, ending right at the bottom mounting holes (about ¼" less PCB). It also has 6 channel sound using the ALC650. I've only used it with headphones and stereo speakers so I don't know how well it does 6 channels, but to my ears it sounds like any other sound card I've owned (starting with the Logitech SoundMan 16 which was a rebadged PAS16 Basic, to more recently a SoundBlaster Live). 16bit 44.1KHz sounds just like 16bit 44.1KHz to me.