Pc Chips

[REDmosquito]

I have been looking into upgrading my athlon 1 ghz on asus a7v133 to an xp system. I was thinking i would go with the abit nf7s due to the good onboard sound and nforce2. That board is around 125$ The site i was configuring on has a brand called PC chips this is the board model and description.

PC Chips 848LMU SiS746 266/333MHz with AGP 8X , Sound & LAN,USB 2.0, ATX
Brand: PC CHIPS

I am leary of SiS but i have heard they have gotten better since my old k62. Anyway i only found one review on line of this board and they liked it a lot. Its only 49 dollars and thats a big enough difference with the abit board to get me thinking. I know the onboard sound probably blows but i have a sound card i can transfer over anyway. Anyone heard of this company and how are their mobos??

 

[smitbret]

If price is an object, consider the Epox 8RDA+. It won't have the Soundstorm like the NF-&, but it's a good board nonetheless.
-Brett

 

[REDmosquito]

the 8rda+ is still around 90 dollars and from what i've read about sound storm its a pretty good set up so i would probably just pay the extra 30 to get that. But 49 bucks seems really cheap to me and like i said the one review i found of it was very positive. Its not a big deal and i should stop being a cheap ass and just spend the extra dough and get a really good mobo. I am very curious if the pc chips board is a good board though, why pay and extra 80 dollars if i dont have to.

 

[pIII_Man]

Yucky...

Stay away...pc chips mobos have on and off quality now...if you have some extra dough definitly stay away...

Some people have great luck with them...others do not...

I second the 8rda+...if you want ultra cheep and still a great performer (and i mean GREAT) look to the SL-NV400 (soltek)...

I know it is not as cheep as pc chips...but this board performs very well...and has the respectible nforce2 chipest...


Proud owner of DOS 3.3

 

[Crashman]

Every PC chips board I've owned has had the keyboad controller fail. That's a bad track record.

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[endyen]

PC chips has a history of no support.

 

[rcj187]

i have some experience with pc chips but a different board and that was superb. very fast very responsive and stupidly cheap.. ok it was a completely integrated (sound video modem and lan) and it only supported sdram but ive yet to find a duron system that felt that responsive. anywat for $49 take a risk like any mobo manufaucturer you take good with the bad but at the price you probably wont beat it. and the sis746 chipset is pretty good

 

[REDmosquito]

There seems to be an inconsistency with this brand, that being said i have read a lot of user reviews for different boards from all manufacturers and theres inconsistent performance from almost everyone. I am currently running an asus and while the via kt133a chipset is starting to show its age its been so rock solid maybe i'll just stick with them.

 

[rcj187]

thats not a bad idea, if you have had good things from one brand then why change. that being said if another brand offers similar performance for half the price you almost have to at least consider and do some research. if you can find a retailer that will let you bring the pc chips board back if you arent happy then i would definitely try it

 

[REDmosquito]

I know, 49 dollars is less than half life2 is gonna cost. I have seen good reviews of the board and i am sure I'd be happy with the performance provided it worked well, but it looks like some of the boards out there are subpar. Its nearly a third of the cost of some asus and abit boards i have looked at. Thats too much to ignore so i will continue to scour the net in search of benchmarks and reviews.

 

[rcj187]

the sis746 chipset is superb placing somewhere between the kt400 and kt400a chipsets performance wise at a fration of the cost. the issue is the quality of the pc chips boards. i have only had good things from them although ive only ever used one type of their boards. if like someone else said the ps2 ports die then get a usb mouse and keyboard... it will still be cheaper than practically any other board! also look into the asrock k7s8x its the same chipset at roughly the same price (in england) as the pc chips and asrock are a spinoff from asus so it should be good quality

 

[REDmosquito]

I never heard of asrock, are they manufactured by asus for another company?

<A HREF="http://www.freewebs.com/triumph_mod" target="_new">The Game Club</A> is a hangout for gamers who play multiple titles and want a lenient community to discuss whatevers on their mind

 

[rcj187]

asrock are a seperate brand name now. they used to be the budget brand of asus but they have seperated now and are independant. they are fairly new and manufacture under their own brand name..(asrock)
check out s some online retailers like dabs.com and you will find some of their boards

 

[ChipDeath]

Just thought I'd drop in a correction..
<b>The Epox 8RDA+ <i>DOES</i> have the nforce2 Audio.</b>

I'm not sure whether they've got the official Soundstorm moniker though[Needs some form of certification], but Asus haven't either, so that's no big deal.

I've seen this posted a few times now and it might be putting ppl off what is an excellent mobo for the price. 'Soundstorm' is one of the differences between the 8RDA and the 8RDA<b>+</b>.

---
The end is nigh.. (For this post at least)

 

[rcj187]

asus does have the soundstorm moniker, or at least the deluxe version has.

 

[jihiggs]

avoid pcchips like the plague. ive never seen any one have any luck with them. i wouldnt even take one if it were free.

wpdclan.com cs game server - 69.12.5.119:27015

 

[rcj187]

*waves* i dont know if you read the whole thread but like i said i have had great things with pc chips.. the board i have used (cant recall the model right now but will look it up if requested) is superb for low cost duron systems. ive yet to find a computer that feels more responsive in daily work ie office and internet. ok so its not designed for hardcore gaming or heavy media encoding etc but its fit for its purpose. if someone just wants a home comp for surfing and office then in my opinion its the way to go. cheap reliable and incredibly responsive but a little basic and very few features.

 

[jihiggs]

even if you dont do anything special to the board, use the drivers that came with it for everything, not sis drivers, a slow vid card and a low power cpu its still a gamble. imho a board that you have to baby so much is an absolute waste of time.

wpdclan.com cs game server - 69.12.5.119:27015

 

[rcj187]

i obviously cant comment on problems you have had with pc chips im just recounting my own personal experieces. i have built 6 comps using pc chips all have worked straight out of the box and been incredible performers considering the overall system spec. maybe its the fact that i used the fully integrated versions so there really isnt much possibilty for driver conflicts etc.
like i said if you want cheap as possible you cannot beat them just dont expect to play doom3 or rip dvds on one