New 'Lan Box' - which mobo/chipset/processor?

[Magicthyse]

Hi

I've had such fun playing against people in the office that I've decided to have another PC at home specifically for network games. Also, my current Duron desktop with the built-in VIA sound is truly crap - and I'd like to get a machine on which the Sound Blaster Live! works properly and make that my MP3 PC. The games in question are Half-Life and Urban Ops - so a multi-gigahertz monster is not required.

I'm already starting to build my new main PC - which is costing far more than I thought - so I'm not looking to spend a fortune on the 'LAN box'.

I've already got two gameable PC's - a Toshiba Satellite laptop (With GForce2Go) and a 950Mhz Duron with a Gforce2MX - so something similar will do.

I've found the following bits - so they'll go into the new box:
Voodoo 2 2000 16MB
Sound Blaster Live! Player 1024

Will a Celery 950 do the job, bearing in mind the Duron 950 desktop / PIII 800 laptop seems OK? If so, what mobo should I choose?

I have access to good prices of mobos from the following manufacturers:
Abit, Asus, Aopen, Gigabyte, Intel, Jetway, Microstar, Soul Tech, SuperMicro and TMC.

Thanx

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Since you get preferred pricing on those mobo's I suggest the Abit KT7A and a 1ghz(266) AXIA T-BIRD, it overclocks to 1.4+ on that board and will give ya game for little $$$.

 

[Magicthyse]

Um... Thanks for recommends, but I did mention the Sound Blaster Live! To date, I've never got any VIA chipset working trouble-free with a Live!

 

[o1die]

If you don't need overclocking, try the ECS K7S5A for only $65-70. Works with either sdram or ddram, and no major soundcard conflicts that I know of. No via drivers either.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

<< Um... Thanks for recommends, but I did mention the Sound Blaster Live! To date, I've never got any VIA chipset working trouble-free with a Live! >>

The SBlive and my Abit KT7 always played nice together same with the MSI KT7 pro2a I built.....go figure? Anyways, the suggestion of the K7S5A is superior to my suggestion so I second it.

 

[DaveSimmons]

<< Hi
Will a Celery 950 do the job, bearing in mind the Duron 950 desktop / PIII 800 laptop seems OK? If so, what mobo should I choose?
>>



Actually, Half-Life is quite playable on a Celery 333 @ 66MHz so even an 800 @ 100MHz should be smooth as glass.

You could go with a cheap used BX board, but then you need a slot-1 CPU or $10 slocket -- or even a fancy $25 slocket with voltage settings like the P2B I have gathering dust needs for coppermine celerys.

You could also look for a cheap 815ep board, but they start at around $80, for example a Biostar from tcwo is $88.

You could also go Duron and put in a cheap used Aureal card.

 

[Odoacer]

That Duron should be great, and the ECS board is an excellent deal as well. But you might not want to hold onto the voodoo2 for too long, you're going to be getting slideshow framerates if you try to play any of the newer games (my RIVA TNT 16mb on Tribes 2 comes to mind).