what's the best board for AMD xp?

[yeknomboy]

ok I have a couple of questions.... maybe you guys can help me out

1. is there a "best" board in terms of onboard stuff and performance?
2. for the ga-7vrxp board, I couldn't find any specs of the onboard sound card on the creative website.... how is it in comparison to like the audigy?
3. what board would be the best if I want onboard ethernet, and a good onboard sound card. How do the onboard ones sound compared to the individual cards themselves? I know I can always disable the onboard....but saves me the trouble if it's comparble
these are all the the amd xps btw...

sorry for all the newbie questions

 

[Vette73]

Epox seems to be real high in the rankings right now.

I like the Shuttle AK35GT2R. But Epox and shuttle both have some good KT333 boards.

 

[Necrolezbeast]

For the onboard stuff a Nforce would have the best features, but I've never been able to compare accurately to a kt333 in ways of speed. My friend has one but he has a slower processor than me and he uses onboard video, obviously there is way to compare the two. I like the MSI KT3 ARU, I've built 5 systems on this board and have had no problems, the onboard audio seems to be usable and I haven't noticed any preformance issues while using it.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Well, I'm on a Epox high lately so I'll recommend the 8K5A2+, Crucial 2700DDR, and a 1600+XP The 8K5A2+ has 6 channel sound that unless you're an audiophile and have very good speakers is plenty. Other features include RAID, USB 2.0, 10/100 LAN, support for the XP's on die thermal sensor, and a 1/5 divider. The 1600+ AGOIA everyone has been getting from Newegg lately (myself included) can be dropped in that board, the FSB set to 166mhz and have a 2100+@1.75ghz with the CPU and RAM running sychronously while keeping the AGP/PCI in spec. Get your Crucial through here and get 15% off, a 10-20$ coupon if it's your 1st order from them, and free 2nd day shipping, the 1600+ 55$ shipped from Newegg.com :Q and the 8K5A2+ is 101$@Mwave.com. IHTH and let us know what you buy!

 

[yeknomboy]

ahhhhhh decisions decisons!!!!

well here's what I have so far lined up.... pretty much have to pick from two on everything :|

mobo: gigabyte's ga7vrxp vs. epox 8k5a2+
sound card: audigy gamer or audigy mp3+ vs. hercules xp (how is the onboard sound on epox 8k5a2+ compare?)
speakers: cretive inspire 5.1 5300 vs. altec lansing
video: gainward gf4 ti4200 golden sample
cpu: xp 1600 since everyone else and their dog has one

have you had any good/bad experience with any of these or know which is better?
thanks a bunch!