Whats my best bet for a budget board?

[NoReserve]

Can anyone give me some suggestions for the best budget motherboard that would suit my needs? I intend to get a socket 754 A64 3000+ and I want to be able to do some mild overclocking. I dont play a ton of games but I would describe the computer I am trying to build as a budget gaming system. I checked out the ABIT KV8 Pro (as suggested on here and in some reviews) but I have been reading that it reports temps that are way off on just about all the boards, this concerns me.

 

[cruthick7]

I really like Epox motherboards. For a few dollars more you could grab this one. Free Shipping

http://www.chiefvalue.com/app/productdetails.asp?submit=property&item=13-123-220

 

[ts3433]

Originally posted by: cruthick7
I really like Epox motherboards. For a few dollars more you could grab this one. Free Shipping

http://www.chiefvalue.com/app/productdetails.asp?submit=property&item=13-123-220

That's an outrageous price for that mobo unless I'm missing something and it's in Canadian dollars (hard to believe with a 512MB stick of RAM being advertised for $50)... even at Newegg the DFI board is 2/3 the price. If you go to Newegg/MWave/ZZF/Monarch, you should be able to get a board like that (they're quite good, by the way) for around $60-80.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Whoa!

 

[thunderroller]

has any one tested gigabyte

 

[ts3433]

Gigabyte IIRC makes good boards, but Asus, MSI, DFI, et al. are usually recommended over them.

 

[o1die]

Don't be too concerned about temp issues. Both abit and asus tend to take care of these minor issues with bios updates, where lesser brands wouldn't even bother. That price listed must be a typo error. The epox board is around $70; the asus and abit are $85-90.

 

[NoReserve]

Originally posted by: o1die
Don't be too concerned about temp issues. Both abit and asus tend to take care of these minor issues with bios updates, where lesser brands wouldn't even bother. That price listed must be a typo error. The epox board is around $70; the asus and abit are $85-90.

Well, I was reading in the ABIT forums that ABIT themselves has come out and said that they are unable to solve the issue with BIOS updates and that it is actually something that is a problem with all Newcastle core chips. Has anyone else heard this? It seems awful strange to me. Also, any specific suggestions on other boards in this price range would be much appreciated.

 

[osage]

This is a very affordable board, with limited OC options. A very stable platform, it lacks some of the bells and whistles of some of the NF3 and VIA boards, but it has all that one needs for a budget machine.