REC: Good mATX Socket A mobo w/ LAN, Video, & Audio

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J

JPS

Golden Member
Apr 23, 2001
1,745
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First: I have searched for this and have not come up with much!

I have been tasked with overhauling my parent's PC (currently a P166 w/ Win98) which really should only require the following:

New MOBO: mATX w/ integrated LAN, Video, and Audio
New CPU: AthlonXP or Sempron
New RAM: 512MB PC2700
New OS: WinXP Pro
New PSU: Fortron 300W (may not be needed)

My parents only uses this PC for web-surfing/email and some basic office type work. What I am looking for are recommendations on a good Socket-A mobo that has everything integrated. Please keep in mind that no games are played on this system so an NF2-IGP solution is likely overkill unless it is way cheap. Reason I am going to a somewhat high-end budegt box (AthonXP or Sempron) is that I want WinXP Pro to run smoothly for them and for me when I do remote admin on it.

Current mobos I am considering are the ASRock K7S41GX, the BIOSTAR M7VIZ, and the SOYO SY-K7VME, but I wlecome any and all other suggestions. Also open to buying a used mobo if anyone has one lying around!

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!
 
O

Odeen

Diamond Member
Aug 4, 2000
4,892
0
76
Asus A7N266-VM

Shuttle MN31N

The Asus can be had cheaply, but only supports PC2100 RAM and 133mhz FSB Athlon XP CPU's. (Basically, up to a 2400+, and the 2600+ T-bred). It's also an nForce1 chipset board, with single-channel DDR. It also has the "Standard" ATX backplate layout, so a "bare" mobo you buy from Newegg will actually fit into any computer case!

The Shuttle is an nForce2 board, and supports dual-channel DDR, but is more expensive (About $70). I think it's worth it, nothing against Via boards (I use a lot of them in my budget builds) but onboard video is quite gimpy..
 
N

Nessism

Golden Member
Dec 2, 1999
1,619
1
81
Sorry if this sounds like I'm bragging but I just bought this from the For Sale forum:

"MSI ms-6390 link onboard audio, video, lan. it ran an xp2400+ with no problems at all. $22 shipped"

I'm pretty jazzed about finding this. Price is right for mom's new box.

You might want to dig around in the FS forum as well.

Good luck.

Ed
 
R

RobsTV

Platinum Member
Feb 11, 2000
2,520
0
0
Originally posted by: Odeen
Asus A7N266-VM

Shuttle MN31N

The Asus can be had cheaply, but only supports PC2100 RAM and 133mhz FSB Athlon XP CPU's. (Basically, up to a 2400+, and the 2600+ T-bred). It's also an nForce1 chipset board, with single-channel DDR. It also has the "Standard" ATX backplate layout, so a "bare" mobo you buy from Newegg will actually fit into any computer case!

The Shuttle is an nForce2 board, and supports dual-channel DDR, but is more expensive (About $70). I think it's worth it, nothing against Via boards (I use a lot of them in my budget builds) but onboard video is quite gimpy..
Click to expand...

Would have been excellent advice, but both no longer available :(
I have several HTPC systems with the A7N266-VM, and one with the MN31/N.
The biggest thing about these (IMHO) is MCP-D or MCP-T, which is also no longer available in any mATX board with onboard video.

The AMD Mobile XP's run 133/266 MHz fsb, so with the socket jumper trick, one of these may work with the A7N266-VM. The Asus also overclocks nicely (as long as you don't use ATi video add on cards). It may be possible to get 3100+ speeds out of the old board.
 
P

Peter

Elite Member
Oct 15, 1999
9,640
1
0
I've been using an ECS KM400-M2 recently for a similar purpose. This supports the 166 MHz CPU bus as required by Semprons, and still goes down to 100 if you intend to use a leftover Duron or something like that. Combine with a low-revving CPU (e.g. Sempron 2200+), and you'll be able to keep the old power supply.
 
Zap

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
Biostar board using KM400 chipset is a good choice, as is the Asus board using the KM400A chipset.
 
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