Need suggestions for a mATX mobo for amd athlon, w/sound+vid+lan

ttown

Platinum Member
Oct 27, 2003
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My current mobo has died.
So now I'm back in the market for a mATX mobo -- and would appreciate suggestions for a replacement to my now-dead Biostar M7VIG-Pro.

I'm looking to keep all my other components (mainly Athlon 1800+; 256mb ddr 2100 ram) -- keeping my upgrade-options as open as possible at the same time.

I value on-board audio highest. Overclock-ability/gaming lowest (non-gaming machine).
Must have front USB 2 headers; built-in video, lan, 6-chan (min) sound, usb 2.

Feature-wise, what I had looked very good -- but I think I had a lemon. The sound didn't work out-of-the-box + now the bios shows some garbage as my primary hdd (yes, i've tried replacing the hdd... and now there's different garbage showing in the bios). Total uptime was about 2 months over a 1.5yr period -- unfortunately, I didn't discover the sound problems till after the warranty period.

All suggestions would be appreciated-
ttown
 

Vette73

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
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Take a look at this...

BIOSTAR M7VIZ $51 shipped


I have used this board twice and it has been great both times. It is cheap, can use the CPU and ram you have, has SATA onboard, 6ch C-Media sound, Uni-Chrome video, USB 2.0, etc...
 

ttown

Platinum Member
Oct 27, 2003
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I've been staring at that for the last half-hour..... and i can't see anything wrong with it.

There seems to be a discrepancy with neweggs photo versus the specs (and reviews)
One person says it only has 2 usb ports (rather than the pictured 4) -- but doesn't say what IS there.
A game port is spec'd at biostar and mwave, but there isn't one in the newegg picture (nor in the product manual).... game/midi port would be a plus (as i have a midi keyboard, but don't "really" see using it on this pc... but who knows...)
There also doesn't seem to be a garantee that it will have SATA -- as the biostar specs say it is only on pcb 5.1 version (not 5.0, nor 7.0 versions). However, several newegg reviewers mention getting it.

This mobo looks like it meets all my requirements at a pretty low price.

marlin1975 -- can you tell me what ports there are? (like if it really does have 4usb; or if it has a game-port...) Thanks for your input!
 

Vette73

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
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The 2 I got had 4 usb ports on the rear, SATA, but no game port.

It has been several months since I got the 2 I bought. But WORSE case it will only have 2 usb on the rear and no sata. best case it has 4 on the rear and 2 Sata ports.
So either way it should do 100%, and maybe more, what you need/want.
 

ttown

Platinum Member
Oct 27, 2003
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I went for it!

But I ordered from mwave for $53 w/shipping. Figured I'd gamble $2 on the one at mwave stating SATA in the specs, and the fact the 2nd to last reviewer at newegg said he only got 2 USB ports on the back (and mentioned nothing about getting SATA). (plus, googles cached description from mwave was without sata -- so they recently added it to their description... i hope on purpose)

This board looks to replace everything I lost with the m7vig-pro, PLUS gives me some upgrade room on the CPU, Video, RAM, and (hopefully) hard-drive.

Crossing my fingers for SATA..... I wish mfg's would change the model# when they change features -- this will be the second mobo I've bought where I'm "hoping" I get what I think I'm buying.

Thanks!
ttown

I'll post what I get in a few days for anyone who's interested.
 

ttown

Platinum Member
Oct 27, 2003
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Originally posted by: tcsenter
Oops, I see you already committed, but I was going to suggest you consider these:

Asus A7N8X-VM/400

Biostar M7NCG 400

Chaintech 7NIF2

MSI K7N2GM-L

MSI KM4AM-L

Gigabyte GA-7VM400AM
I considered a few of those while doing research. Most of them lost-out to the biostar m7viz only because I've heard that c-media is preferred over realtek when it comes to audio.
The chaintech looks very good, specs and feature wise. It's ~$80 shipped from newegg -- affordable, but $30 more than the biostar. It seems to have some tv-out abilities from what I skimmed in the product description -- which might be very usefull for HTPC people on a budget -- or maybe an all-in-one kids room computer. If I didn't already buy the biostar, I'd look into the chaintech a bit further.

Thanks for your suggestions
ttown
 

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
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I considered a few of those while doing research. Most of them lost-out to the biostar m7viz only because I've heard that c-media is preferred over realtek when it comes to audio.
This reputation arose from the CMI8738 audio controller, which was at one time a superior audio solution to many chipset integrated audio solutions paired with Realtek AC97 codecs, except that CMI8738's internal codec is fixed at 16-bits while Realtek offered AC97 codecs with 18-bit ADC and 20-bit DAC resolution.

Unlike CMI8738, the CMI 97xx line (e.g. 9739A) is a conventional AC97 codec just like the rather good Realtek ALC650 and ALC655.
 

Vette73

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
21,503
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Originally posted by: tcsenter
I considered a few of those while doing research. Most of them lost-out to the biostar m7viz only because I've heard that c-media is preferred over realtek when it comes to audio.
This reputation arose from the CMI8738 audio controller, which was at one time a superior audio solution to many chipset integrated audio solutions paired with Realtek AC97 codecs, except that CMI8738's internal codec is fixed at 16-bits while Realtek offered AC97 codecs with 18-bit ADC and 20-bit DAC resolution.

Unlike CMI8738, the CMI 97xx line (e.g. 9739A) is a conventional AC97 codec just like the rather good Realtek ALC650 and ALC655.


Yea C-Media just came out with the replacement for the 8738 that support DD and more. I live C-Media above RealTek. Just sounds better. But I have a GREAT Via Envy sound card.
 

ttown

Platinum Member
Oct 27, 2003
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Woo Hoo! Got the mobo from CA to WA in less than 48 hours from the time I placed the order -- with "standard" shipping.

For anyone interested.... the Biostar M7VIZ I got from mwave was a "ver 5.1" board -- meaning: SATA! -- and 4 usb ports in back. No game/midi-port -- but really wasn't expecting it to have one. The board is slightly cheaper at newegg -- but indications are that it's the slightly newer (NON-sata) board.

Thanks for your input, marlin1975 and tcsenter....

edit: oooohhhh.... while setting this up, I came across a mysterious "Audio DJ" port on the motherboard.
Apparently, it's something new (new to me, anyway) thing that supports playing audio cds while the system is off. No clue how to use it, though, as the manual is weak.

edit#2: I found pin-outs in the middle of the mobo labeled "xxGAME" (xx=cant remember) -- but nothing mentioned about it in the manual. Maybe it does have a game port....
 

hasu

Senior member
Apr 5, 2001
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Originally posted by: ttown
edit#2: I found pin-outs in the middle of the mobo labeled "xxGAME" (xx=cant remember) -- but nothing mentioned about it in the manual. Maybe it does have a game port....


Did you confirm that if it's got a game port?
 

ttown

Platinum Member
Oct 27, 2003
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Originally posted by: hasu
Originally posted by: ttown
edit#2: I found pin-outs in the middle of the mobo labeled "xxGAME" (xx=cant remember) -- but nothing mentioned about it in the manual. Maybe it does have a game port....

Did you confirm that if it's got a game port?
The port is definately there..... and it's in the specs of the mobo.... but it is NOT in the user manual.
I don't have a game-port bracket, so I can't test it. I also have no idea if the pin-outs are standard for a game-port header, so I'd be a little nervous about just plugging it in without the pin-out diagram from Biostar.
It might be one of those "optional" things, like SATA -- which depends on the version# of board you get.
I'll drop their technicians an email and ask.... they were pretty quick to answer my last question (and even added it to their FAQs) -- so overall I'm pretty pleased with the motherboard (ver 5.1), price and support.
If you're an out-of-work technical writer, I know where you can send your resume, though.... their "user manual" consists of a few pin-out diagrams and a couple sentences on how to attach a jumper.

edit: the game port is not standard according to tech-support at biostar. pins 15 and 16 are reversed from the intel "standard"
 

Praxis

Senior member
Jan 26, 2001
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Ttown, I'm curious why you bought another Biostar after your M7VIG-Pro went belly up on you. That said, I'm typing this on that very board, and I haven't had any problems with any of the half dozen Biostar systems I've built (I mean, that weren't software related). I wish I could say the same with my experiences with the generally much better regarded Asus & Epox boards that I've dealt with.