Good MB for a mid-range PC?

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

I like my NF7-S2. It's 32-bit, solid and inexpensive. A fast Athlon XP
won't cost that much. I don't know of any board that offers PCI-Express
without being 64-bit. but if I were to buy a 64-bit board today, it would
be either the Abit AN8 Ultra (a little over your budget at Newegg) or the
Epox 9NPA+ Ultra. Both are socket 939, which offers PCI-Express. More
likely to go with the Epox, although I like the heatpipe on the Abit better
than the fan on the Epox. BTW, none of these boards have on-board video.
All have onboard LAN, sound, SATA and PATA.

Regards,

Margaret

"max" <maxicon13@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:fa1je154cnu4nq2j8tgurjv2phtvso2t3p@4ax.com...
> I'm looking to upgrade a PC for a friend, and haven't built an AMD box
> before. I'm looking for something midrange - no gaming, good quality
> - and not too expensive, but it doesn't need to be ultra-cheap either.
> He'll be running XP, and re-using lots of his old components, but
> we'll get a new case, CPU, and RAM.
>
> I want something not too expensive that will perform well for a few
> years.
>
> - CPU less than $150, maybe an A64 3000+?
> - MB less than $125
> - PCI Express would be good for the future too
> - 512 M max for now
> - Overclocking isn't important, and neither is 64 bit
> - Serial port and 2 ATA ports
> - Needs to be stable and solid
> - Onboard sound is preferred
> - Onboard video is OK, if it's better than his current GeForce 3
>
> What's a good-quality MB that won't require a lot of fiddling?
>
> Thanks!
>
> max
>

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

The Abit AN8 doesn't seem to have the Serial port listed in his specs
unless I'm missing something....

Leon Rowell


Margaret Wilson wrote:
> I like my NF7-S2. It's 32-bit, solid and inexpensive. A fast Athlon XP
> won't cost that much. I don't know of any board that offers PCI-Express
> without being 64-bit. but if I were to buy a 64-bit board today, it would
> be either the Abit AN8 Ultra (a little over your budget at Newegg) or the
> Epox 9NPA+ Ultra. Both are socket 939, which offers PCI-Express. More
> likely to go with the Epox, although I like the heatpipe on the Abit better
> than the fan on the Epox. BTW, none of these boards have on-board video.
> All have onboard LAN, sound, SATA and PATA.
>
> Regards,
>
> Margaret
>
> "max" <maxicon13@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:fa1je154cnu4nq2j8tgurjv2phtvso2t3p@4ax.com...
>
>>I'm looking to upgrade a PC for a friend, and haven't built an AMD box
>>before. I'm looking for something midrange - no gaming, good quality
>>- and not too expensive, but it doesn't need to be ultra-cheap either.
>>He'll be running XP, and re-using lots of his old components, but
>>we'll get a new case, CPU, and RAM.
>>
>>I want something not too expensive that will perform well for a few
>>years.
>>
>>- CPU less than $150, maybe an A64 3000+?
>>- MB less than $125
>>- PCI Express would be good for the future too
>>- 512 M max for now
>>- Overclocking isn't important, and neither is 64 bit
>>- Serial port and 2 ATA ports
>>- Needs to be stable and solid
>>- Onboard sound is preferred
>>- Onboard video is OK, if it's better than his current GeForce 3
>>
>>What's a good-quality MB that won't require a lot of fiddling?
>>
>>Thanks!
>>
>>max
>>
>
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 07:32:40 -0500, Leon Rowell <leon429@netins.net>
wrote:

>The Abit AN8 doesn't seem to have the Serial port listed in his specs
>unless I'm missing something....

I also didn't realize that a PCIe board wouldn't support his AGP
GeForce3 (doh!).

I'm now leaning towards NForce 4 PCIe MB, getting an inexpensive X300
or GF6200 PCIe video board, and adding a serial port on PCI or USB.
This PC will have a life of 3 years, easy, so getting a more modern MB
makes more sense for future upgrades. Everything else can be replaced
pretty easily.

max

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

That's correct. If you want to use an AGP video card, you should look into
socket 754 motherboards. Personally, I'd go with the 939 and buy an
inexpensive PCIe video card for now. BTW, Leon's correct. The Abit AN8
Ultra does not have a serial port. The Epox board does, however.

Regards,

Margaret

"max" <maxicon13@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:7kdne19rhc8hbtonkugjvfjesbvs4afpef@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 07:32:40 -0500, Leon Rowell <leon429@netins.net>
> wrote:
>
>>The Abit AN8 doesn't seem to have the Serial port listed in his specs
>>unless I'm missing something....
>
> I also didn't realize that a PCIe board wouldn't support his AGP
> GeForce3 (doh!).
>
> I'm now leaning towards NForce 4 PCIe MB, getting an inexpensive X300
> or GF6200 PCIe video board, and adding a serial port on PCI or USB.
> This PC will have a life of 3 years, easy, so getting a more modern MB
> makes more sense for future upgrades. Everything else can be replaced
> pretty easily.
>
> max
>

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 16:07:23 -0400, "Margaret Wilson"
<twokatmew@nospam.msn.com> wrote:

>That's correct. If you want to use an AGP video card, you should look into
>socket 754 motherboards. Personally, I'd go with the 939 and buy an
>inexpensive PCIe video card for now. BTW, Leon's correct. The Abit AN8
>Ultra does not have a serial port. The Epox board does, however.

Thanks, that helps narrow it down a good bit. I like the sound of the
Abit board, and I've used Abit and Asus for the last half-dozen builds
(all Intel based), so I may stick with them. I'll look into the Epox,
though as I've heard good things about them.

Appreciate everybody's input!

max

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

Or an ABIT AV8-3rd eye has AGP and is socket 939, with X2 cpu support.

Margaret Wilson wrote:
> That's correct. If you want to use an AGP video card, you should look into
> socket 754 motherboards. Personally, I'd go with the 939 and buy an
> inexpensive PCIe video card for now. BTW, Leon's correct. The Abit AN8
> Ultra does not have a serial port. The Epox board does, however.
>
> Regards,
>
> Margaret
>
> "max" <maxicon13@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:7kdne19rhc8hbtonkugjvfjesbvs4afpef@4ax.com...
>
>>On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 07:32:40 -0500, Leon Rowell <leon429@netins.net>
>>wrote:
>>
>>
>>>The Abit AN8 doesn't seem to have the Serial port listed in his specs
>>>unless I'm missing something....
>>
>>I also didn't realize that a PCIe board wouldn't support his AGP
>>GeForce3 (doh!).
>>
>>I'm now leaning towards NForce 4 PCIe MB, getting an inexpensive X300
>>or GF6200 PCIe video board, and adding a serial port on PCI or USB.
>>This PC will have a life of 3 years, easy, so getting a more modern MB
>>makes more sense for future upgrades. Everything else can be replaced
>>pretty easily.
>>
>>max
>>
>
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

In article <zH7Ie.20261$pH4.689717@news20.bellglobal.com>, Edward Lee Ah
Yen <iron.palm@sympatico.ca> writes
>Or an ABIT AV8-3rd eye has AGP and is socket 939, with X2 cpu support.
>

Or the Abit UL8
--
Nicholas David Richards -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

Real-world performance diff between 754 and 939 is minimal, the only diff
you will see is when running a memory benchmark; but most apps are not
memory-bandwidth limited. However, the cost diff of the processors is
less than $1, sort of a no-brainer. But 754 motherboards are > $20 less,
in some cases much less (Chaintec has a board for $58 at newegg; but I'd
stick w/ ABit personally). And you can use a single stick of DRAM w/ 754
w/o penalty.

Why spend extra for a new PCI-E video card if he's not a gamer? Again,
you won't see any performance diff, and any cheap PCI-E video card you buy
today will be just as obsolete in one year as that old AGP card will be.
Especially if that AGP card already supports directX 9; Vista will need
DX9 support - but that's still far down the road.

"If it aint broke don't fix it".

Use the saved $$ to get a $100 laser printer, or go for a raid 0 HD set up
- that WILL definately give you a noticable performance jump, and a pair
of 80GB HDs only cost about $75 each. That's an extra $75 performance
boost you will notice each and every day. The XP setup to the raid 0 is a
bit more complicated, but well worth it. Just RTFM.

Just My Two Cents, and worth it too!