Whats a good micro ATX P4 board?

[Sniper82]

Ok I think shes going with the 2.4Ghz. Whats a good microATX board that will support it for around $70 or so? I don't know nothing about them as far as chipset wise. Whats a good thing to look for in a P4 mobo?

 

[Macro2]

depends what she does and what comes with the 2.4 Ghz P4. Is it like an e-machines?
Look at some AthlonXP models and don't get a Celeron.

 

[DukeChestnut]

a jump from a p3 600 to a p4 2.4 is a noticable difference and the price of 2.4s are almost bargain basement for what you get. $170 ain't bad

 

[ScrapSilicon]

$160 @ newegg...what is she doing that is taxed the P3 into being on its way out of her life..?if you have either a KT333 or better/nForce1 or 2 mobo/XP+ rig let her take it for a few days and if she's satisfied...you upgrade..

 

[Sniper82]

I will be putting it in her IBM case with new PSU,DDR memory and micro ATX mobo. I think the price is to high on it but thats just me. Was wondering if she would be better off with maybe a 1.8-2.0Ghz, she doesnt do nothing at all hardcore on the PC. Just surfing,email,music,chat and my little nephew plays a few kiddie games which isnt hard on hardware at all. I've never owned a P4 so I don't know how good they do.

Well shes had it for about 3 years or so and she just feels its time to upgrade.

 

[Sid59]

what does she do with her computer? Word Processing, Surf the internet? Encode DIVX or mp3s?

 

[ScrapSilicon]

uhoh..

I will be putting it in her IBM case with new PSU,DDR memory and micro ATX mobo.

oopz...I'd let her try my rig..if she likes..I'd upgrade myself..

 

[Sniper82]

I bought a 300watt sparkle to replace it which is P4 complient. We are decideing on mobo and CPU now. BTW she isnt that dumb . She wouldnt let me do that she would catch on .

 

[Macro2]

Assuming the mobo holes will line up I'd upgrage her to a Athlon 1700+ about $60 and Asus nforce1 mAtx board-$72. One stick of 256 mb DDR would be a minimum. What OS, you got the disk?

 

[Wolfsraider]

well,for the approx. 27.00 usd difference from a 1.8 to a 2.4,the 2.4 is a better deal and is slightly more future proof.if there was 50.00 or more difference then i would say get what she wants.

1800 / 133.00=13.53
2400 / 160.00=15.00

still though its your call

mike

 

[Ionizer86]

AMD's are cheaper. Maybe XP 2100 to 2200+ is worth a look (under $100 XP chips).

 

[Thor86]

Look here. LMK if you are interested.

 

[Sniper82]

^^^

 

[bluemax]

Bump because I'm interested too. I've decided to stay Intel because I'm going microATX which means smaller power supplies and smaller cases (less heat dissipation.)

I found a good deal on a Celly 2.0 which is also right up my alley. See how far I can overclock it!
And it'll still be cooler than an Athlon XP!

 

[onelin]

MSI makes a nice solid micro-ATX P4 board, I'll get the name for you. They run around $70-80, with built in video, lan, and sound. (but still an AGP slot) I've seen a few of these boards in action firsthand and I have one in my room right now. (the later mentioned BF1942 server)

The MS-6714 (845GE chipset)

Our LAN ran a 2.53GHz P4 in one serving a 64-player Battlefield1942 game flawlessly. 'Nother friend has an equivalent P4 in one with a Radeon9700Pro for gaming. You should be able to do just about whatever you want with one.

*edit since I found it on MSI's site, and newegg has the lan version for $73 *

 

[Sniper82]

I decided to go with the ASUS P4S533-MX since it is a reliable brand name and has both DDR and SDR slots. Even though I may never use the SDR slots but its nice to know they are there incase my DDR goes out. I can find a stick of SDR alot easier than DDR from friends and family. Was $77.99 shipped from Newegg.

 

[bluemax]

Funny you should mention that one Sniper! I just found it here in Canada for a good price... I have SDRAM so it's one less thing to buy! Even includes hyperthreading, USB2.0, video.... I think everything I need short of firewire.
For the price, I'd rather have this than the nForce1 board for the same price!

 

[Sniper82]

Well I was chooseing between this one or a Abit. I've never really got into Abit but have had one before. I have owned 3-4 Asus boards and have never had one die on me(important factor for me). The cheaper priced MSI's at Newegg had no AGP slots so that wasnt even a option.

Maybe this will be a good board. I'll let everyone know how it goes(for anyone who is looking for a microboard).

 

[bluemax]

Well, I'm sold. Hope I never have to deal with ASUS's stinky RMA policy, but the board is exactly what I need.
The SDR is a real plus... I can use +256MB of my existing RAM while I save up for some DDR.
USB 2.0... it's got everything short of firewire, which I can add with a SB Audigy / ATI AIW down the road.

 

[Sniper82]

Just how bad is Asus return policy?

 

[bluemax]

Anand said it best... it was fairly bad, but you should be unlikely to need it.