What do you recommend for a cheap reliable Athlon mobo?

[GoingUp]

Will be usin my old 1.4 Athlon to build a system... Was leanin towards the K7S5A board, but I kind of have been scared off. What do you recommend? I dont want to spend more than $50 total for the project....

 

[Vette73]

A good cheap board is the ECS L7S7A2 , goes for $52 at newegg.com. Uses the SiS746 chip, that supports the 333Mhz FSB chips. Spend a little more and get a Board with the SiS 748 chipset. It can run the 400Mhz FSB athlons and goes for $60 at newegg.com

 

[Apotherix]

MSI K7N2-Delta best, about 80 bucks. Never had any problems.

 

[GoingUp]

bump

 

[GoingUp]

Needs to support SDR Ram

 

[Brian48]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've got two K75SA's and one K75SA Pro. Neither of them have given me any problems. Very fast and very reliable in my experience.

Anyway, another really cheap board that I've have good experience with is the Shuttle AK32 (see Box#8 of my specs). It's built on the old reliable VIA KT266a and will except either SDRAM or DDR. These can be had for about $50-60 new or you can find them for about $30 refurb'd. Mine is a refurb from newegg and it's one of the best boards I've bought this year.

 

[robcy]

You will get no complaints from my K7S5a v1.0. It loves to be experimented on, and modded. Never had as much as a hiccup from mine.

 

[pspada]

I've put a number of the K7S5A Pro boards into budget systems, and even have one here in the womb. Solid and stable performers, but lacking in many of the frills and enhancements on boards that cost twice the price.

 

[deerslayer]

I never had any problems with any of my K7S5A's either. They lack in the bell and whistle department, but they will get the job done.

 

[yodayoda]

as long as you are not a moron, the K7S5A is what you need. put together a half dozen of these guys. why don't you just pick up a 1800+ and ECS board combo at fry's for $59 and sell that aging athlon thunderbird for $20 in the FS/T forum?

 

[GoingUp]

OK, Ks75a it is! Thanks for the tips guys!