Best Athlon XP mobo for ~$80?

[DeepBlueJH]

In about a month I'll be building my girlfriend a new computer. I have $800 total to spend. As of now, I'm decided on an XP2000+ as the CPU (might pick up something faster in a month if prices drop).

I have nearly all of the parts picked out except for the mobo. I'm looking for a motherboard with integrated audio, but not integrated video. As for chipsets, does ddr333 help the XP2000 much? If not, then a ddr266 chipset will work just fine. Any suggestions on which one is good for about $80?

Thanks.

 

[Boonesmi]

the epox 8k5a2 is one of the best boards you can get right now... its just slightly over your price (last time i checked mwave.com has it for around $90 with shipping included)

its a kt333 based board with usb 2.0 support, supports pc1600/pc2100/pc2700 also supports all the current and future socketA cpu's (including the soon to be released 333mhz chips)

 

[DeepBlueJH]

That is a little more than I need... I dont need USB 2.0... and I might not even need ddr333 (does this even help with the 266FSB Athlons?). This is for my girlfriend and she isnt much of a "power user"

 

[Boonesmi]

the 8k5a2 is really a very good board.

but if your wanting to save some $$ i would go to newegg and check out the via kt333 based motherboards (any of them should work fine for what you need, just check them out and get one with the features you want) if memory serves correctly they start at about $70 shipped

 

[DeepBlueJH]

yeah... I know I want the kt333... but are there any specific brands that are good. I'm particularly looking for decent integrated audio.

 

[Boonesmi]

since your not really interested in overclocking, or usb2.0 the boards will all be pretty similar to each other

all the boards will have onboard sound, and they are all pretty good

the shuttle AK35GT2 does have the cmedia 8738 sound chip which is probably a little better then most of the other low end/low priced kt333 based boards

 

[Vette73]

Look for the newwer Epox board with the Kt333 and 8235 South bridge.

It will have a 6Ch sound card and should support Barton CPU's.

Yes it will cost a little more BUT don't skimp on the board, a good board can be upgraded, and makes the vaule of the computer last longer.

Also what else are you getting that is eating up your $800. A Athlon 2000+ plus in under $100 and 256mg of DDR333 (PC2700) is around 60

But go to Epox and look for the EP-8K5A2+

 

[DeepBlueJH]

Originally posted by: Boonesmi
since your not really interested in overclocking, or usb2.0 the boards will all be pretty similar to each other

all the boards will have onboard sound, and they are all pretty good

the shuttle AK35GT2 does have the cmedia 8738 sound chip which is probably a little better then most of the other low end/low priced kt333 based boards

That shuttle board looks good... I'll keep that one in mind

 

[DeepBlueJH]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975


Yes it will cost a little more BUT don't skimp on the board, a good board can be upgraded, and makes the vaule of the computer last longer.

Also what else are you getting that is eating up your $800. A Athlon 2000+ plus in under $100 and 256mg of DDR333 (PC2700) is around 60

q]

Again, I'm not wanting anything fancy... I'm getting basic 2.1 speakers and would really rather not pay for anything that isnt going to be used. This computer wont be upgraded for a while also.

As for whats using the $800... as follows:
17" trinitron monitor
XP2000+
Motherboard
Case
256mb DDR
DVD-ROM
CD-RW
Logitech 2.1 speakers
basic keyboard/mouse
modem
Radeon 7200 video
40GB hdd
floppy
CPU cooler, case fans, cables.

I priced that list at roughly $700. My orders were "$800 maximum", so I would be doing good to shoot for low $700s if possible.

 

[rogue1979]

The Shuttle seems to have the best sound solution, it's only short coming is low DDR voltage adjustment. I doubt if PC2100 will be able to run PC2700 speeds without more DDR voltage. Here is a suggestion, scrap the XP2000+ and jump on the XP1600+ AGOIA-Y for $54 shipped at newegg or gamve.com. You won't even have to unlock it, all of them seem to be able to hit 166MHz at stock voltage! Take the money you saved on the cpu and buy a Radeon 9000 for $66.

 

[DeepBlueJH]

I feel I should note that this computer will not be overclocked in the slightest bit. It will be my girlfriends (who is pretty much comp. illiterate), and stability is paramount. I'm leaving everything at its stock speed and want fast hardware out of the box.

 

[Profyrion]

I'm considering both the Asus A7V333 and the MSI KT3 Ultra 2 (and leaning toward the MSI). Both are good boards. I've found the MSI as low as $77 online.

 

[DeepBlueJH]

Thanks for the ideas you guys... I'll be looking into those.

 

[spanner]

I would go with an nforce 415, they don't overclock as well as the KT333 but they have great intergrated audio and they are almost as fast and no 4in1s to mess with. Most importantly they are super stable.

 

[Boonesmi]

yeah those darned 4in1's

they take about 20 seconds to install, its such a pain.

( hehe note the sarcasm )

 

[Macro2]

Plenty of choices. Soltek, MSI , Epox, Asus, nforce 415.

Good luck you'll have no trouble under $800.

 

[Macro2]

Don't chinch on you CD-RW and DVD ROM drives. I always used toshiba DVD ROM drives and at least a Liteon or better CDRW.

 

[pdo]

I'm a SIS fan so how about an AOPEN AK75 Motherboard SiS 745 for $63+shipping at Newegg? It just got released and it seem really promising.

 

[MusicSoundsBetterWithYou]

Second that AK75 recomendation....i use that with a 2000+ and 512 megs of crucial at 266....beautiful performance, cheap price, and also incredible stability....

Also its 69 shipped, grab a Mercules muse LT or Pine audio card if u dont wanna mess with the onboard audio(it has it tho) but being the music freak i am i need a well filtered audio system....and i dont trust on board audio...

ALSO no 4 in 1's....its for his chick...less work the better

if not i recall the ECS KT333 board being stable and having good audio....tho the SiS with actual decent PCI drivers will desptry the VIA in Hard Drive Perf, the most useful to a non gamer/programmer...

 

[jarsoffart]

You could try the Abit NV7-133R. It has 5 PCI slots, USB 2.0, onboard LAN, onboard Audio, and onboard Raid.

 

[Oakenfold]

Why exactly don't you want onboard video(does your woman play 3D games?)? If this setup is for your GF then I suggest an nforce board or pickup a kt266a or a K7S5A board.
Depends on how much flow you want to spend but seriously, if all she does is surf the net, word process and send email you can do all that for WAY under 800.00..
If you want the stability I'd suggest the nforce setup. Speed go via and well the K7S5A is gonna be your budget machine on par around kt266 performance..all good setups..


I think you need to determine what she's going to be using this rig for. You don't need an XP 2000+ to do the above mentioned things.