Recommendations for cheap, reliable moboard?

[mangled]

Looking for a new one but don't care about oc'ing or anything too fancy. Just want something that'll handle at least an Athlon 2400+ and is reliable. Primarily used for gaming. You can see all my current specs below so onboard sound is not an issue.

Any recommendations?

 

[joe4324]

1 simple word, ECS L7S7A2. Nearly as fast as the Nforce 2, and its CHEAP!

do som research on the web, its a brand new product if you are not comfortable with such a new motherboard you could always get a K7S5A Pro, cheap and VERY reliable. Its not performance gear, but it runs great.

 

[eklass]

my Asus A7N266-VM is quite dandy at work!

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: mangled
Looking for a new one but don't care about oc'ing or anything too fancy. Just want something that'll handle at least an Athlon 2400+ and is reliable. Primarily used for gaming. You can see all my current specs below so onboard sound is not an issue.

Any recommendations?

Sell the Creative SB Live 5.1 Audigy and get a Abit NF7-S board and use the Soundstorm sound and get a fast board also 🙂

 

[Bonesdad]

Agree with above...sell the SB Live 5.1 Get a good NForce2 board. Fast reliable and upgradeable. The onboard sound blows the SB Live away. I recommend the EPoX 8RDA+ if you want inexpensive. Newegg has them for $102 shipped. There is also an 8RDA without some of the features of the +, but I'm not sure what that means for the onboard sound...I know it has it, but not sure if it's Soundstorm certified.

 

[mangled]

Originally posted by: joe4324
1 simple word, ECS L7S7A2. Nearly as fast as the Nforce 2, and its CHEAP!

do som research on the web, its a brand new product if you are not comfortable with such a new motherboard you could always get a K7S5A Pro, cheap and VERY reliable. Its not performance gear, but it runs great.

Hey thanks! That L7S7A2 looks like a good board.

Stupid question. It says it takes the following memory:

-3 DDR DIMMs
-Supports DDR400 / DDR333 / DDR266
-Max. 3GB (2GB only for DDR400, conditional)

So I suppose I can't use my existing DDR PC2100 modules from Crucial? I'd rather not have to buy new RAM as well as a new board and processor.

 

[nick1985]

get a friggin nforce2....

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: mangled

Originally posted by: joe4324
1 simple word, ECS L7S7A2. Nearly as fast as the Nforce 2, and its CHEAP!

do som research on the web, its a brand new product if you are not comfortable with such a new motherboard you could always get a K7S5A Pro, cheap and VERY reliable. Its not performance gear, but it runs great.

Hey thanks! That L7S7A2 looks like a good board.

Stupid question. It says it takes the following memory:

-3 DDR DIMMs
-Supports DDR400 / DDR333 / DDR266
-Max. 3GB (2GB only for DDR400, conditional)

So I suppose I can't use my existing DDR PC2100 modules from Crucial? I'd rather not have to buy new RAM as well as a new board and processor.

No stupid questions, only stupid answers. 😉

Your "stupid answer" is that DDR266 means the same as PC2100. You can use that old RAM with no problems. Enjoy. 🙂

- M4H

 

[mangled]

thanks for the "answer" 😉

i looked at the new epox, but it's $40 more than the ECS...will have to search around to see some benchmarks to see if it's really worth the extra $40.

 

[cmv]

Great thread. I've been thinking of upgrading from my 440bx but I need a real cheap deal to do so 😉.

 

[Bonesdad]

BUT, if you sell your soundcard, you make up that difference, PLUS get a faster board with great onboard sound. IMHO.

 

[DieHardware]

You have a nice system...faster CPU and HDD would be an easy low cost upgrade.

 

[bambam]

Buy the Epox over ECS .

 

[mangled]

Originally posted by: DieHardware
You have a nice system...faster CPU and HDD would be an easy low cost upgrade.

Due to some problems I'm having with my current board, it's gotta go.

And how much can I really expect to get for the audigy? PLus, if I go with the ECS, I can put that $40 savings towards a faster cpu then I was planning to get...

 

[Remedy]

Biostar KT400