Please recommend a feature rich Socket-A MB

[JS]

Would you please recommend a feature rich Socket-A MB. I do not care about overclocking, etc. My first criteria would be a feature rich board. If possible I would like to have SATA and USB 2.0 capable. My second criteria would be stable/reliable and supported. I have SB Audigy2 sound card, so I do not need sound on MB. I do not need graphics on MB. Maybe feature rich is misleading. I might mean up-to-date interfaces.

It is easy to find reviews of current hardware, but I can't quite seem to figure out the best board/chipset for this old technology. Your knowledge in this area would be greatly appreciated.

MB has died. I can not afford new MB, CPU, and memory; unless it is truly a viable economic alternative please don't suggest it.

Current CPU: Athlon XP 1900+ (Stock Cooler)
Current memory: 1GB DDR PC3200 CL3
Current Power: 350W (Enermax Whisper EG365P-VE)
Current Case: Full Tower ATX
Old MB: ABIT KG7

Thanks,
/Jim

 

[Admiral_Cecil]

Hello,

Socket A mobos are getting kind of rare, especially the good ones since you waited a few years too long.

The A7N8X is the best one but that's hard to find too.

Visit newegg.com. Then go to the motherboards section and look up the nforce2 mobo.

 

[JS]

So I am definitely looking for a Nforce2 chipset. Was that the flagship for the socket-A? And the flagship for Nforce2 chipset was the Asus A7N8X? They seem to only list the A7N8X-X on the Asus product site. Is this the only one left in the current line. Is it recommended over other models?

Thanks
/Jim

 

[Scout]

No, the "X" line from Asus was their cut down budget boards where they stripped features off to lower the price.

Most of the socket A stuff is pretty low end now-a-days with PC Chips and Jetway sort of manufacturers. The flip side of that is you won't be spending much $$$ for one!

Donno where you live, but I've noticed at a number of local computer shops they have a clearance sections with some pretty good socket a boards, new in the box and clearance priced! Might be worth a visit...

 

[vagabond]

Asus A7N8X Deluxe 2.0 if you can find it or Abit NF-7 2.0.

Both are able to handle 3000+ Socket A CPUs. That means you can run everything from Duron to Athlon to Athlon XP to Sempron.

Not sure with the Abit but with the Asus you can run dual channel. I run dual channel but I didn't see any performance advantages.

nForce 2 Northbridge,SATA, Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE1394, 5.1Sound, etc.

More than likely you can still find them in closeouts or eBay.

 

[Crashman]

No, the A7N8X was never the best one, not even close. Heck, Epox even had a better board. But the best was the Abit NF7-S

 

[Crashman]

Actually the Abit NF7-S was the best. Version 2.0 came out over two years ago, so everything on the market is version 2.0. The documentation at most sites was never updated, but version 2.0 supports 400MHz bus, and like I said, if you buy any NF7-S, it's going to be version 2.0

Not to be confused with the NF7-S2, which is a cheaper version of the NF7-S version 2.0! Confusing? Definately!

 

[vagabond]

Forgot about the Epox 8RDA3 +.

Like Crashman says the Abit is the best one. I remember him recommending that same board when I upgraded to Socket A a loooooong time ago.

 

[JS]

Thanks everyone! Looks like an Abit NF7-S version 2.0 (~$75) is the recommendation. I appreciate all the comments.