Whats the best MB with onboard video and sound??

[neosmatrix1]

Hi all,

building a computer for a friend and have been away from the computer scene for awhile. What is the best MB with onboard video and sound....

 

[Zap]

We need to know what CPU you plan to use, what RAM and what budget your friend has. As of right now the "best" would probably be an Nvidia chipset motherboard for Athlon/Duron. Expect to pay $150-200 for one of these. Have heard that the upcoming intel 845G chipset for Pentium 4 is decent, but those aren't available yet. SiS makes some Athlon and Pentium 4 chipsets with integrated SiS315 video, which is supposedly decent. At the lower end SiS makes the 730 chipset for Athlon/Duron (not sure about Athlon XP support) with barely okay 3D performance for around $75 or so. VIA also has some solutions that I'm not too familiar with that use various flavors of integrated Trident Blade or Savage 4 video solutions. For socket 370 you have many choices of various Intel 810/815 chipsets that have integrated video. VIA makes a few, plus SiS makes a few. For socket 370 with Tualatin/FC-PGA2 support you need to make sure the board officially supports the CPU before you buy it.

 

[optimistic]

SiS integreated sound is suprisinlgy good! Says AC97 sound, but it has good crip highs & full bass. Beats out my onboard Creative CT5880 sound on this Gigabyte 8SRX. Comparable to my SB Live Value!

Also C-media makes good sound chips for integrated motherboards. Look for C-Media 6ch sound, I don't know the exact chip numbers and I don't have any hands on experience with them either. But I heard they were the best! Under the dobly integrated in the Nforce motherboards.

 

[neosmatrix1]

ill be running an athlon 1600+ just standard memory. this is gonna be a no overclocker

 

[zzzz]

what is standard memory? PC133?
If it is PC133, the ECS K7SEM or the pcchips mobo bases on the same chipset(sis 730 ??) is good. The video is not meant for 3-D gaming but it is ok for office use.

 

[Boonesmi]

if your looking to keep the cost down then ill cast another vote for the sis730 chipset

ecs k7sem
amptron 810lm
pcchips 810lmr

they are all almost identical, even manufactured in the same plants, the newer revisions even support the newest athlonxp cpu's

the advantage of the amptron and the pcchips is they also come bundled with a 56k modem (so you dont need to use a single addin card)
they all come with video/sound/lan

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I'd recommend that you assemble your new system from individual components. For instance, you can get a SHUTTLE AK31A and VISIONTEK Xtasy 5632 GEFORCE2 GTS-V delivered to Ohio for 138$ from Newegg at the moment and the performance will be superior to the integrated boards, add a SBLive 5.1 OEM for 32$ and you'll have good sound as well.

 

[Zap]

DAPUNISHER, that's amost $100 more than the SiS chipset boards, not including onboard LAN. Nobody will argue that the parts you listed are better, but what if "better" isn't needed? If someone is NOT going to be playing 3D games, is the Geforce2 GTS-V needed? If someone will only be using headphones or only a pair of speakers, is 5.1 surround sound capability needed?

Boonesmi, I've read at Newegg's site that the K7SEM supports the Athlon XP. However, I've gotten them in and they're the same revision as before and ECS still says it does not.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Hey Zap I understand what your saying and while it's correct, let me explain my position. neosmatrix1 states that he's been away from the computer scene for awhile and does not state just exactly what the intended use for the system is. Therefore, based upon his wanting to know and I quote

<< Whats the best MB with onboard video and sound?? >>

this would be the Nforce at the moment which costs roughly about the same as the specs I suggested while the stuff I suggested offers superior performance making it a better price/performance ratio. The boards you guys suggest are perfect if his needs are what you suspect they are but my suggestion has equal merritt should he require better performance than the integrated solutions provide. Furthermore, I most assuredly do not require a lecture about "what if's" as lacking sufficent data it is just that "what if" and I offered a perfectly valid option to "the best MB with onboard video and sound??"

 

[birddog]

The 'best' board with on-board video & sound has to be an nForce. There are plenty of other less expensive integrated boards, but an nforce board is the best performing.

 

[Zap]

DAPUNISHER, I too had mentioned the Nvidia Nforce as the best. In this sense you would be totally correct in saying that the separate components would give better performance for equal money. Perhaps we all just need more information from neosmatrix 1 and his friend. Why does he specify onboard video? Why specify "best" with onboard video, since that is seeming (performance wise) a dichotomy.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

all good quetions Zap, As you stated it's all speculation until he provides more details and explains his thinking on the matter