Best Motherboard for AMD XP CPU (mid-price)

[Tiberius13]

I am going to be computer shopping for a new system (on a budget) for my sister and her hubby this weekend. I'm up to speed on most computer components - but the one that can always give me fits is the motherboard.

It is so easy to get stuck with a crap motherboard when a budget comes in to play if you aren't careful. Therefore, I need some ideas on the "best quality for the price" AMD motherboards. I'm perfectly happy with the Asus A7M266 that I have in my system, but when I got that back in April it was arguably the best motherboard out when it came to taking advantage of DDR RAM... During the last 10 months I'm sure that there are better price/performance performers that have hit the market.

Fill me in people! Tell me which mobos you'd go with and why! (I don't need top end stuff like Raid support)

 

[marneus]

I would vote 4 Soltek with Kt266A chipset, seems to 2 perform better than several more expensive ones... though boards based on the newer KT333 chipset should B out soon and should hopefully knock down prices some more...

---If at first you dont succeed... get a bigger hammer... that'll teach it !!!---

 

[bdaley]

Nothing can touch the k7s5a when it comes to price/performance. I've had mine for over four months and it's been great, but there have been a lot of boards with problems.

It's seems you either get one with all kinds of issues or one that kicks ass. I guess I was lucky to get a kick-ass one.

Supposedly the rate of bad boards has gone way down lately, so your chances of getting a good one should be pretty high.

"There's no such thing as gravity, the Earth just sucks"

 

[Guest]

I agree with bdaley. The ECS K7S5A received pretty good reviews, and I've seen it for less than $50 on Pricewatch. If I remember correctly, the MOBO also has on-board audio and 10/100 ethernet. Not bad for an entry level board.

Good luck!

 

[dhlucke]

ECS K7S5A

<font color=red>God</font color=red> <font color=blue>Bless</font color=blue> <font color=red>America!</font color=red>

 

[ath0mps0]

Here's another vote for the ECS K7S5A. You do get everything you need onboard except for video. I got mine for US$50. This board is not the most overclocker friendly, but I have successfully gone to 166MHz(333FSB). The SiS 735 chipset is one of the fastest available being barely edged out by the moderatly expensive VIA KT266A chipset for fastest speed. But on technical marks (PCI bridge latency) SiS wins. On presentation, only the high priced nVidia nForce has it all. For my money, the K7S5A gets the gold medal.

BTW steer clear of the K7S6A. It uses the SIS 745 chipset, which is feature reduced while only adding support for DDR333 (which I'm already running on my K7S5A).

I thought a thought, but the thought I thought wasn't the thought I thought I had thought.

 

[Tiberius13]

Thanks for the input guys!

In my own research I had narrowed down my 'finalists' as follows: (the Soyo Dragon + may have been my top choice but doesn't make this list due to price considerations)

1) ECS K7S5A ($99 Cdn)
2) Epox EP-8KHA+ ($180 Cdn)
3) MSI K7T266 Pro2 ($168 Cdn)
4) Soltek SL-75DRV4 PURPLE RAY ($168 Cdn)

Obviously the ECS looks very attractive at that price - and includes onboard LAN which the others don't have. In talking to people about it, there seems to be 'issues' with about 1 in every 5 or 6 ECS boards they sell. Most of those issues were power supply related however. As I plan on having a solid power supply (Enermax 350W) in this system I think I can safely assume I have a 95% + shot of getting an ECS board that works just fine.

If this system wasn't for someone else, and on such a tight budget, I have to say that the Soltek board really looks great and may have been my top choice. (I am actually tempted to get it and then swap my motherboard with it and give my current mobo to my sister in their system... but my current mobo is an Asus A7M266 which still is still valued at almost $250... hmmmmm....)

 

[bdaley]

If you do get the k7s5a, let us know how it works out.

Good luck.

"There's no such thing as gravity, the Earth just sucks"

 

[Octivus]

I just saw that soltek board for alot less, here's the site: http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=548345/mode=look2_1/ut=3f3265b0124cf7b0/

Is it cheaper because it's oem? Or is this simply a better place to buy it.

 

[knowan]

It's lower on Pricegrabber because Tiberius13 listed the price in Canadian dollars and you are listing it in US dollars. After conversion the board you picked out costs a bit less than $160 CAD. By the time you add in shipping and duty taxes at the border, he's getting a much better deal locally.

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[knowan]

I'm waiting for the Via Kt333 chipset mobo's to start coming out. It seems to be alot more "future proof" than what's on the market right now.

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Knowan likes you. Knowan is your friend. Knowan thinks you're great.

 

[Tiberius13]

Simple answer... I'm in Canada..