Budget Motherboard Suggestions

[AndyUK]

I am an ICT Technician at a primary school and build the computers from scratch myself. Budgets are very tight! This year I am struggling to find a motherboard.

Previous years I have used the Asus P4P800-VM with Celeron 2.4 and 2.66 Processors, 512MB Crucial DDR400 Memory and Maxtor 80GB SATA Hard Drives. These systems run what the children and staff use without any problems at all.

With that motherboard not available any more, I am looking at the LGA775 version now instead of Socket 478. I need to have onboard graphics due to the tight budget. The processor I will be getting is Celeron D 331 2.667Ghz. Memory will probably be 512MB or 1GB if I can afford it.

I was looking at the Asus P5P800-MX but that seems to have temperature reporting problems. I have also looked at other boards by Asus, Gigabyte and MSi

I have read countless topics at forums and various reviews at E-Buyer, Dabs and NewEgg and just as I think I have found a motherboard, it seems to have a problem!

So I need to ask for help on what you suggest.

Thanks in advance.

Andy

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

Why not just order a bunch of cheap Dells? They'll do what are required of them, and would be much easier and perhaps a bit cheaper than building them.

Although, buying prebuilt systems takes all the fun out of computer shopping...

 

[AndyUK]

Every year I do think about buying Dells but never seem to get the price cheaper than I build them.

For £202 exc VAT, I can build one with 1GB ram based on the P5P800-MX motherboard. This is without a monitor as we already have them.

I do prefer to build them but if the price was right then I would have to think again.

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

Check and see if Dell has volume discounts. Since you're part of an organization, you should be able to get some really good deals.

And new monitors are nice - they usually come with some 15" or 17" TFT displays. Don't forget that you may also be eligible for a site license of Windows - that would save money in the long run.

 

[AndyUK]

I didn't think to ask Dell if they have volume discounts on hardware.

We already have volume licensing for Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 Pro and Server CAL, all in one nice low price. Thanks for mentioning it though.

 

[AndyUK]

I didn't think to ask Dell if they have volume discounts on hardware.

We already have volume licensing for Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 Pro and Server CAL, all in one nice low price. Thanks for mentioning it though.

Spoke to dell and the cheapest they can do is £270 which is more than I can build for.

So has anybody any suggestions for a good cheap LGA775 motherbaord?