Which motherboard to get? (nForce2 vs. KT400 vs. KM400)

Sir Fredrick

Guest
Oct 14, 1999
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My roommate wants me to build a computer for him. I have not been keeping up with the latest chipsets/motherboards, so I am quite unfamilliar with the intricacies/problems/advantages of each. His price range for a motherboard is about $80. These three motherboards fall within that range:

ASUS A7N8X-X (nForce2 chipset)

ASUS A7V8X (KT400 chipset)

MSI KM4M-L (KM400 chipset)

For a casual non-gamer (aside from the occasional not-too-graphics-intense game) who just wants something that will work and will be reasonably fast for a few years, what's his best course of action?

Thanks.
 

edaskew

Junior Member
Jun 4, 2002
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Haven't tried any via chipset boards. I see lots of gripes about them. Sis sucks. I have an MSI K7N2 non delta. Totaly stable out of box ran as per advertised staight out of the box. Running mine at 350mhz useing samsung ddr333 with XP2800+ and love it. Nforce2 chipset rules......
 

paperfist

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2000
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www.the-teh.com
That Asus board uses a single channel memory controller (it's a stripped down version of the Asus Deluxe board) and while you don't get huge performance running in dual channel every little bit counts. I'd go with an Epox 8RDA+ which has the dual channel and sells for $80ish.

I haven't kept up with VIA and SiS, but the nForce2 boards are always faster in tests, they have the very nice SoundStorm audio on some models, onboard LAN and the other features like SATA, firewire, etc. They seem to be pretty stable boards and ingeneral the nVidia drivers are nicer then VIA's.
 

Vette73

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
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You need to do this deal RIGHT NOW!!!!!

Newegg.com has a special buy....

Biostar M7VIZ (KM400) and a Athlon 1800+ for only $99 at newegg.com

The board has Video, sound, and ethernet. The CPU is retail so it has a 3 year warrenty and comes with a heatsink.

This board also has a AGP port so if your freind wants to play games in the future he can add any AGP video card he wants.
 

MichaelD

Lifer
Jan 16, 2001
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Originally posted by: Marlin1975
You need to do this deal RIGHT NOW!!!!!

Newegg.com has a special buy....

Biostar M7VIZ (KM400) and a Athlon 1800+ for only $99 at newegg.com

The board has Video, sound, and ethernet. The CPU is retail so it has a 3 year warrenty and comes with a heatsink.

This board also has a AGP port so if your freind wants to play games in the future he can add any AGP video card he wants.

While this outwardly appears to be a good deal, I don't know about that Biostar mobo. Maybe try and do some research for reviews of that mobo? It would be a really cheap way to build a brand new system. Decent case and PS, $80, 512mb of PC2100 for about $80...hell, you're in business!

But I'd imagine that the onboard video is not even as "good" as a GF4 MX, the onboard video that the NForce boards use.

Maybe try to get an NForce board w/onboard video? How "casual gamer" is he? He may only play a game once a month, but if that game is UT2K3, then there's gonna be a problem using onboard video!

Remember this: you get what you pay for. Assuming you already have a legal copy of the Operating System (shut up, guys! :p) what kind of budget is he looking at?
 

Sunny129

Diamond Member
Nov 14, 2000
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another vote for nforce2. it is currently the best chipset for AMD cpus hands down. you didn't mention VIA's new KT600 chipset as a possibility, but even then, an nforce2 board is better...
 

Sir Fredrick

Guest
Oct 14, 1999
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Thanks guys, looks like nForce2 it is then.
Other components:

Some funky blue case that he liked
350W Antec PSU
Athlon XP 2200+ retail
256MB PC2100
Radeon 9200 64MB (retail)
80GB WD special edition

already has keyboard mouse and monitor.