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Need suggestions: integrated motherboards for office workstations

T

techwanabe

Diamond Member
I'm planning on building a series of new computers to replace old slow tired computers in my office. In the past, all our machines were Intel clones and based on Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium III and Celeron processors. Overall they've been solid and reliable except for a recent batch of 30 "small profile" computers (Pentium III 800 mhz) which have been failing at an alarming rate. They have 80 or 100 watt power supply's, are very cramped and get very hot - which is probably causing components to fail on the motherboard, especially the onboard video circuitry. Previous computers were supplied by a vendor but we are going to build from now on.

Anyway, I'm evaluating candidates for a new batch and am considering PentiumIII/Tualatin systems, Pentium 4, and AMD Athlong systems using motherboards with integrated video, sound and network adapter onboard for simplicity for a modest cost. CPU doesn't need to be a rocket. Stability and reliability are important to keep maintenance minimal. I'd especially be interested in hearing from those of you who work frequently with a lot of computers. Thanks!

For starters, the ASUS TUSI-M with SiS630ET chipset looks like a nice candidate at $65 for PIII/Tualatin CPU's and we can use existing SDRAM on hand. A 1.2 Ghz Celeron (256k cache) = PIII 100 mhz FSB for $120 ... this is a nice modestly priced solution. Other suggestions?
 
i built some system using PCchips M810LMR (sis730 chipset) from wiredzone.com ($60 bulk pack, shipping to NJ is under $6 for 1, i guess if you order in large quality, you may get a better price) with some AMD Duron (900 - 1G) and so called generic 250W PS
I don't think Celeron is no match for Duron in terms of CPU power. Price-wise, 1G duron sell for less than $50.
i have not use it with a Duron 1.2G (which use technology from Athlon XP), not sure if it support or not.
But see here
Duron can be a very good price choice.
 
techwanabe, can't argue with your choice. But if you haven't made up your mind on CPUs(AMD or Intel or I guess VIA), I can vouch for the stability of the SIS730-had an ECS K7SEM(similar to the M810), great board.
 
If you're buying larger volume, then stuff from the PC-Chips OEM product line may be your friend ... most of their boards have onboard LAN too which comes very handy in offices.

Currently M810LR v7 for Athlons (SiS 730S chipset) is my favorite, coming soon M841LR with faster graphics and DDR RAM support (can use SDRAM too) using SiS 740.

There are several SiS, VIA and Intel chipset socket-370 mATX boards with integrated graphics as well, and there are VIA and SiS Pentium-4 all-in-ones too.

http://www.pcchips.com.tw/product.html

regards, Peter

(edit: forgot the "socket-370" bit)
 
PC-Chips are already making their "M841" w/ SiS 740 it seems.
At least a guy who works at PC-Chips UK confirmed they have it already.
They are making another board model that'll go through their ECS brand
by the name of L7SOM. Slightly different - DDR-only, CNR slot instead of AMR,
and a separate PCI Realtek LAN chip (because the chipset's own LAN channel
goes to the CNR slot for HomePNA or an additional 10/100TX line).

As I said, just round the corner ... but since ECS/PC-Chips have their main
focus on large volume OEM business, their stuff takes a bit longer from
presentation to single unit retail shelves.

regards, Peter
 
In some ways, I'd really like to try building AMD systems. My opinion on them has become more and more favorable over the last year and they are good for the cost, especially for gamers who want high performance 3D gaming.

I am a bit nervous about the lack of thermal protection on AMD Athlons and the ease at which those CPUs will fry if the HSF popped loose. I imagine if the fan quit spinning, the CPU could potentially fry also, it would just take longer. We have over 120 computers running all the time and many of those have sick sounding fans in them, some of which quit running with out anyone knowing. One even smoked recently. While I would think about getting an AMD Athlon system for myself, I don't think I'd leave it running at home while I'm at work for the reason listed above. (fan die's unexpectedly and I'm out a $120 CPU - not the end of the world but avoidable)

But here is the situation. This is a banking institution which runs banking software, spreadsheets, word processing and alot of older 16bit or DOS apps, plus email. Top end performance isn't necessary but reliability and stability is. We run NT40 for the OS but will probably being migrating to Win2000 over the coming year.

So, while I appreciate suggestions for integrated AMD based motherboards, I'd like to mainly get some good Pentium III/Tualatin or Pentium 4 motherboard candidates for the Thermal protection advantages. We need systems which we can put in place and have them go like the Eveready Bunny. We have enough trouble with those hot "small profile" PIII systems going bad all the time (but the problem seems to be components failing on the mobo, the CPUs are haven't fried ever). Thanks.
 
oh well then ... on to something completely different. Try some neat barebone with an all-in-one mainboard and a VIA C3 processor. These don't even need CPU fans.

Shuttle has a neat tiny little aluminum barebone, the SV24 ... that one had quite a bit of online coverage recently.

ECS have quite a few neat and slim models in their BookPC line, all of them using all-in-one boards with graphics, sound, and LAN port. Like the BKV8601 with the same VIA chipset Shuttle uses.

standalone mainboards ... if you dare, there's one that even has the VIA C3 CPU built in from the factory, the PC-Chips M787CLR aka ECS P6VEM2.

http://www.pcchips.com.tw/M787CLR.html

regards, Peter
 
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