Which integrated motherboard to get?

[downhiller80]

My boss has recently decided that we should all be allowed new PCs (currently struggling on 256MB P3 400MHz machines).

Our work is web development, so there's no need for fancy graphics cards or sound cards - even Photoshop will be happy running on the most basic graphics available these days.

So to keep costs down I've suggested an all-in-one deal, i.e. a motherboard with integrated VGA, audio and LAN. Guaranteed no conflict problems, and cheap as chips.

I think we're going the AMD route (~1.8GHz) - so which would you recommend. The cheaper the better, so long as it gets the job done and is reliable:

Ideally a board available from: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/motherb.htm

Cheers guys!

- seb

 

[CurtCold]

Asus A7N266-VMSE nForce + Lan+VGA+Audio+ATA133+Agp Slot


GF2 Graphics, everything onboard, awesome office board. Ask Mechbgon, or DaPunisher about these boards. I've built 2 machines with them, no probs whatsoever running win2k

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I've set up a couple and it's a rock solid board with good 2D IQ, but MechBgon is da man on this board. He has like 22 of these as workstations using w2k and not a bad board in the bunch!

 

[downhiller80]

Thanks curt, I've always had good luck with Asus products too.

 

[wtfiwwm]

when i got the same question from my boss i decided on MSI K7N2G-L with xp1700+
they all have worked great so far.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Yup, mechbgon will know all about these. You may want to PM him or something.

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: wtfiwwm
when i got the same question from my boss i decided on MSI K7N2G-L with xp1700+
they all have worked great so far.

but..in his case...

LN5054 Asus A7N266-VMSE nForce + Lan+VGA+Audio+ATA133+Agp Slot 42.50 49.94 LN4764 MSI K7N2G-L - nForce 2 on board GF4 VGA x8 AGP+Lan+Sound+USB2 77.50 91.06 IT guys on a budget will $$ ..oops..££ you on this..heh..££ ..say it out loud..

 

[Bleep]

I did not see them on your list but my favorite for a all in one board is Biostar I have built a bunch of them and have had NO problem.

Bleep

 

[ShowdOWN]

another vote for the asus a7n266 board. rock solid and affordable with everything intergrated.

 

[newbiepcuser]

Dell with geforce 4mx. You said keep the cost down. You're going to need new ram, powersupply, etc if you do an upgrade with your current system.

 

[downhiller80]

Originally posted by: newbiepcuser
Dell with geforce 4mx. You said keep the cost down. You're going to need new ram, powersupply, etc if you do an upgrade with your current system.

The plan is:

cheap ass case £36
floppy drive £6
48x cd-drive £13
botherboard £50
1.8GHz AMD cpu £70
60GB 7200rpm hard drive £60
512MB DDR £41

Oh, might need a HSF too.

BUt that's a whole unit for a remarkably good price. We could use the case/floppy/CD from the old computers, but I too think a new power supply is a must, so suddenly it seems to make more sense to buy a whole new unit and leave ourselves with a handfull of old but usable PCs, instead of a pile of components.

 

[downhiller80]

Originally posted by: newbiepcuser
Dell with geforce 4mx. You said keep the cost down. You're going to need new ram, powersupply, etc if you do an upgrade with your current system.

The plan is:

cheap ass case £36
floppy drive £6
48x cd-drive £13
botherboard £50
1.8GHz AMD cpu £70
60GB 7200rpm hard drive £60
512MB DDR £41

Oh, might need a HSF too.

BUt that's a whole unit for a remarkably good price. We could use the case/floppy/CD from the old computers, but I too think a new power supply is a must, so suddenly it seems to make more sense to buy a whole new unit and leave ourselves with a handfull of old but usable PCs, instead of a pile of components.

 

[bgeh]

i agree. the asus Asus A7N266-VMSE is a good board.........built 2 rigs for my friends and they're working fine

 

[desy]

Why the floppy at all?
Just get some usb pen drives

 

[bulldawg]

Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon

Originally posted by: wtfiwwm
when i got the same question from my boss i decided on MSI K7N2G-L with xp1700+
they all have worked great so far.

but..in his case...

LN5054 Asus A7N266-VMSE nForce + Lan+VGA+Audio+ATA133+Agp Slot 42.50 49.94 LN4764 MSI K7N2G-L - nForce 2 on board GF4 VGA x8 AGP+Lan+Sound+USB2 77.50 91.06 IT guys on a budget will $$ ..oops..££ you on this..heh..££ ..say it out loud..

I've used this MSI board and was really impressed.

 

[Grecian2000]

Another vote for the Asus board, this time from a Brit.

I built a system based on this board for a friend recently. Hardware Installation was effortless, Software installation equally easy. NVIDIA's unified driver package makes it a breeze. His computer is running Championship Manager 4 pretty much constantly. To my knowledge he has no problems with it at all.

Highly recommended. As a side note I would add that the board ships with FSB/Memory Bus jumpers set to a default of 133/133. The user maunual incorrectly labels the jumper positions, but my board shipped with a printed correction. Have a look at Asus's website if unsure.

-Lurking in the Anandtech forums as a (poor) substitute for sleep-
Phil