Suggested motherboards for a budget system

[BoleyWV]

I am preparing to build a budget system for a friend of mine, and would like opinions on motherboards. My requirements are fairly simple; mainly consisting of low cost, onboard audio, onboard lan, decent reliability and Socket A compatible, plus being usable with Althon XP/Athlon/Duron processors. The system will be primarily used for web surfing, MS office, and some moderate gaming.

So far I am considering the following boards (prices from newegg):

$31 - PC Chips KT266A, Model "M811LU"
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-185-010&catalog=22&depa=0
This is the cheapest board newegg has. My main concern is that it may be poor quality and that it may not run Athlon XP processors (this is not listed explicitly anywhere I can find). If this thing will run an Althlon XP processor and is not likely to die a quick death its the choice I would like to make.

$53 - BIOSTAR nForce2 400, Model "M7NCD"
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-216&catalog=22&depa=0
Cheapest nForce2 boards newegg has, with decent customer reviews.

$71 - ASUS A7N8X-X (nForce2 Ultra 400)
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-468&catalog=22&depa=0
A recent anandtech article suggested this for a budget system, but at more than twice the price of the cheapo PC Chips board it seems pretty high.

The system will be rounded out with his existing parts plus new Crucial PC2100 DDR RAM, a Sapphire ATI Radeon 9200 video card, and likely an Athlon XP 1800+ processor. Total price should be in the $225-$275 range depending on amount of RAM, which video card he chooses, and mobo price.

 

[kyparrish]

does your friend already have the 9200 video card? or was he going to buy it? if he doesn't have it, you could just get a mobo w/ integrated video...sorry it's a little vague w/ the video card

 

[DaveSimmons]

For moderate gaming a used geforce 3 or gf3 ti500 would be cheap (about $50 in FS/FT forum) and faster. Or the nforce2 onboard video like kyparrish says -- but for onboard you want 2 sticks of RAM to run dual-channel to get back the memory bandwidth stolen by the video (dual isn't needed otherwise).

I vote Asus for quality, but you might read some of the other hundred "budget" threads to see what other people say.

 

[Goi]

Abit NF7 or Soltek SL75-FRN2-L, they don't have the bells and whistles of other flagship NF2 based motherboards(RAID, SATA, Soundstorm, etc) but performance is up there and they do provide basic features(6-channel audio, LAN, etc). The KT266A is really really old - I wouldn't recommend it unless your budget really can't be stretch another couple tens of dollars.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Check out the FS/FT forums here @ AT and pick up an old KT333 or KT400 board. They should run around ~$30 - $40. I paid $45 for my 8K3A+ almost a year ago.

 

[BoleyWV]

Thanks for the suggestions.

He does not already have the video card, but I am somewhat leary of intigrated video. The gaming he does do is usually MS Flight Sim, so I would like to have at least a GeForce 3 or Radeo 9200 card inside to push pixels around. Although I suppose intigrated video would be a decent solution now and he can upgrade to a newer video card in a few months.

I would also prefer to stick with new components if possible, it just makes the ordering simpler for me.

The setup I am currently looking at is:
AMD Athlon XP 1800+ $49
RaidMax Black Mid-Tower Case with 350W PS $24 +$15shipping
Mushkin Basic 256MB DDR PC-2700 $38
HS & Fan $10-13
GIGABYTE ATI RADEON 9200, 128MB DDR $69

Total is about $193 without the motherboard

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: BoleyWV
Thanks for the suggestions.

He does not already have the video card, but I am somewhat leary of intigrated video. The gaming he does do is usually MS Flight Sim, so I would like to have at least a GeForce 3 or Radeo 9200 card inside to push pixels around. Although I suppose intigrated video would be a decent solution now and he can upgrade to a newer video card in a few months.

I would also prefer to stick with new components if possible, it just makes the ordering simpler for me.

The setup I am currently looking at is:
AMD Athlon XP 1800+ $49
RaidMax Black Mid-Tower Case with 350W PS $24 +$15shipping
Mushkin Basic 256MB DDR PC-2700 $38
HS & Fan $10-13
GIGABYTE ATI RADEON 9200, 128MB DDR $69

Total is about $193 without the motherboard

looks good besides that barf video card. try and pick up a refurbed 4200 for the price of that 9200.

and i suggest the shuttle an35n-ultra motherboard

 

[CraigRT]

I suggest a Soltek mainboard.
you can buy the SL-75FRN2 for like $79 Canadian... thats gotta be like $59 USD....
it's a fantastic deal!

 

[farscape]

I'd also suggest the Shuttle AN35N Ultra. Nice solid board. Good documentation. Might not be soundstorm, but good sound.
Tried the Biostar board and had nothing but troubles. Is a single channel Nforce board, lack of aux/CD headers, no standard game port -unless your using USB, manual is poor.

 

[Matthias99]

I recommend the Shuttle AN35N-Ultra as well. Solid, high-performance board at a good price. I wouldn't buy any PC Chips parts if I were you.

 

[GR8Madmax]

I wouldn't touch PC-Chips with a 10ft pole. My first board was one of those and was a waste of money. I just got a Shuttle AN35N also and am very happy with it.

 

[BoleyWV]

I am settling on either the Shuttle AN35N or a refurbed Asus A7N8X Deluxe, if we go the seperate video card route. The card will likely either be a Ti4200 or Radeon 9600, depending on if we can find either refurbed or cheap.

As for integrated video, does anyone know how the various chipsets stack up? Especially S3 ProSavage8 Graphics versus the integrated GeForce2 (found on an ASUS nForce 220-D, Model A7N266). I am considering going the integrated video route for now and letting him pick up a Radeon 9600 (for DirX9 compatability) once the prices drop a bit more.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

B