Need your help ordeing Motherboard for work PCs

[Homerboy]

Ok... Im looking to save my company some $$ here.
Right now they have a standing quote for a PIV 1.8 Ghz machine w/out monitor for $690.
Obviously I can do better than that.

I am leaning towards a AMD solution in lieu of the Intel as it really wont make much of a dif perf. wise for these users, and I can save some extra $/machine.

I am having trouble finding a MB that I like and fits the bill though.

So...
Whos got suggestions for a CHEAP but GOOD (isnt that always the catch) Mother board that includes/supports:

AMD support Onboard LAN, sound, and Video

newegg.com HIGHLY preferred.

PLEASE HELP ME OUT!

Edit: I will "accept" a MB with no video as I can snag a cheap ATI business card for $25 or so.

 

[pspada]

FIC AU13. Cost effective, stable, and they run forever without problems.

 

[Homerboy]

Decent?

 

[mechBgon]

With 30 of them in our fleet here, and speaking as the guy in the hotseat if they didn't work well, I'm gonna nominate my trusty A7N266-VM/AA recipe with CPU of your choice. My counsel: don't cut corners on the power supply or RAM to save money either... your company is probably expecting at least 3-4 years of service life from them, right? We're shooting for 5 years.

As for "good," I know Asus is not everyone's cup of tea but these are not giving me any excuses to complain. Rock-solid stability, acceptable performance, and just about overclock-proof too. 3-year warranty, passive NB cooling, single nVidia driver pack to install/update. You can even add DVI-out for $20 using an Asus accessory card that plugs into the AGP slot... haven't tried one, but my understanding is that this gives you dual-head capability. I used an A7N266-VM/AA very heavily at work before moving up to an A7N8X Deluxe, and had one in my home rig before as well, so I've put my $$ where my :Q is.

 

[Vette73]

The best board for what you want, IMO, would be this.......

KM400 and all, for $56 shipped

I just got done building a couple systems and used this board. It has Video(VERY good 2d), good sound(C-Media), ethernet, AND Sata ports. It supports up to a AthlonXP 3000+, 2 gig of Ram. Very stable, fast, and has a AGP port so you can upgrade the video if you need to in the future.
I would choose this over a nForce board as the nForce is GREAT at onboard 3D video, but you are not looking for a 3D gaming system, and this board supports newwer SATA ports and up to 3000+ XP

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
With 30 of them in our fleet here, and speaking as the guy in the hotseat if they didn't work well, I'm gonna nominate my trusty A7N266-VM/AA recipe with CPU of your choice. My counsel: don't cut corners on the power supply or RAM to save money either... your company is probably expecting at least 3-4 years of service life from them, right? We're shooting for 5 years.

As for "good," I know Asus is not everyone's cup of tea but these are not giving me any excuses to complain. Rock-solid stability, acceptable performance, and just about overclock-proof too. 3-year warranty, passive NB cooling, single nVidia driver pack to install/update. You can even add DVI-out for $20 using an Asus accessory card that plugs into the AGP slot... haven't tried one, but my understanding is that this gives you dual-head capability. I used an A7N266-VM/AA very heavily at work before moving up to an A7N8X Deluxe, and had one in my home rig before as well, so I've put my $$ where my :Q is.

Actually I book marked this
ASUS before I read your post
SOLD!

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
The best board for what you want, IMO, would be this.......

KM400 and all, for $56 shipped

I just got done building a couple systems and used this board. It has Video(VERY good 2d), good sound(C-Media), ethernet, AND Sata ports. It supports up to a AthlonXP 3000+, 2 gig of Ram. Very stable, fast, and has a AGP port so you can upgrade the video if you need to in the future.
I would choose this over a nForce board as the nForce is GREAT at onboard 3D video, but you are not looking for a 3D gaming system, and this board supports newwer SATA ports and up to 3000+ XP

I agree on no 3d really needed... but I refuse to use VIA chipsets. Just too many headaches in the past with 4in1 drivers and such....

 

[Homerboy]

mechBgon

Any suggestions on mid-tower cases?
Thats my REAL killer question

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Homerboy
mechBgon

Any suggestions on mid-tower cases?
Thats my REAL killer question

Well, for my recipe we used the Antec Plus660AMG (or the old Plus660B before they dropped it). The TruePower PSU has

• a three-year warranty that'll actually get honored if there's a problem
• low noise
• pretty strong amperage with its independent regulation setup
• a three-year warranty that'll actually get honored if there's a problem
• two dual-ball-bearing fans for failure resistance
• a three-year warranty that'll actually get honored if there's a problem
• and a three-year warranty that'll actually get honored if there's a problem!
• Oh, and the case is fairly easy to work with, and has front USB 1.1 ports

Next one on my list would be the SX635II, which has Antec's SL350 power supply... not quite as fancy, but still dual ball-bearing fans and a three year warr-- yeah. Lower than that, you get into Antec's SL300S power supply in their 1600 and 2600 cases, and guess what? S stands for sleeve bearing in my mind... this is the budget SL300S, not the retail SL300 unit, and unless something's changed, it has only one fan and it's a sleeve-bearing one. Nooooooooo thank you.

 

[Zepper]

I also vote for MSI KM4M or KM2M. The Via drivers (now called Hyperion) have long since ceased being troublesome. These also have the P4 connector to power the CPU so a good 250W PSU would be more than adequate. I won't buy a mobo any more than doesn't have the P4 connector. The MSI also have an AGP slot in case the integrated video is too problematic re. Linux or other alternative OS.
. If you decide to go the non-integrated route, the MSI or Soltek KT600 based mobos are my choices. They too have the P4 connector and are neck and neck performance-wise with the nForce single channel DDR boards. See my reviews of some MSI mobos in the "User Reviews" section of http://www.techimo.com . Soltek also makes a very good KM400 based mobo.
. If Linux is in the picture for any of them, then SiS is totally out of the picture. I know of no video drivers for SiS integrated video and the board you mentioned has no AGP option. Via/S3 has Linux video drivers but those can be problematic. So in that case the nForce might be the best choice, but I'm not sure how well the nForce NB/SB are supported in Linux yet.
. I would still go with the MSI as a cheap ATI video card (Radeon 7000 or LE) would resolove the Linux video problem and net you the shared video RAM in the bargain.
.bh.

 

[mechBgon]

If you do want a cheap video card, the Transcend Radeon 7000 at Newegg is only $35 and works great for office purposes. DVI + VGA outputs, passive heatsink... just right

 

[Homerboy]

Thanks all for your great suggestions and feedback.

There will be no LINUX used here.... TRUST me. Besides me, hardly anyone here knows how to turn on the PCs (I showed them winzip after they had been using PkUnzip and they were amazed).

I think I have everything set, minus the case. I just cant seem to make a decision on that.
All in all I cut down the quoted $690 from our normal vendor to ~$450/machine. Theres a gold star next to my name now.

 

[meccaboy858]

Hmm what about this one? Biostar M7NCG 400 Onboard video, lan, sound, good user review and all for $65? Even is in microATX save ya a few bucks on cases maybe.