Best Budget Athlon Motherboard?????

[Rhodent]

I have been out of the loop for about 8 months on whats the best motherboards going for the AMD chips right now. I am simply asking for suggestions for what you think is the best board with onboard video and sound. I want pretty good stability, not really looking to overclock and wanting it to use with about a 900 to 1000 Duron. I want to use SDRAM also. I am hoping to get the board and chip for less than 150. ANy suggestions? All are welcome. Thanks a bunch!

 

[cchen]

I'd reccomend an ECS board - they're cheap and stable, and have good o/c ability
They don't have onboard video though

 

[microAmp]

Get Duron 1.0 GHz has the new SSE on it. ECS mobo with Sis 735 chipset is one of the boards that can use SDRAM and later move to DDR, but only has 2 slots of each....

 

[eplebnista]

IMO, I'd recommend this MSI board. I have used a board with the KM133A chipset and it is a very stable setup.

hth,
eplebnista

 

[Pabster]

ECS K7S5A.

Rock solid. You can use PC133 or DDR.

 

[VTrider]

<< I'd reccomend an ECS board - they're cheap and stable, and have good o/c ability
They don't have onboard video though >>



On the contrary, the ECS k7SEM motherboard has both onboard sound and video, cheap and stable. I've built 4 systems around this board and highly recommend it if your looking for an economy budget, stable, inexpenseive socket-A motherboard.
It can be had for between $57.00 and $67.00 (price varies) from Newegg. It runs the SIS 730s chipset, not a powerhouse for sure and not to be compared with the SIS 735 chipset, but if your just looking for an inexpensive stable platform w/onboard sound and video look no more.

-VTrider

 

[flood]

<< ECS K7S5A.

Rock solid. You can use PC133 or DDR. >>

 

[ToBeMe]

ECS K7S5A Without A Doubt!

 

[cchen]

<<

<< I'd reccomend an ECS board - they're cheap and stable, and have good o/c ability
They don't have onboard video though >>



On the contrary, the ECS k7SEM motherboard has both onboard sound and video, cheap and stable. I've built 4 systems around this board and highly recommend it if your looking for an economy budget, stable, inexpenseive socket-A motherboard.
It can be had for between $57.00 and $67.00 (price varies) from Newegg. It runs the SIS 730s chipset, not a powerhouse for sure and not to be compared with the SIS 735 chipset, but if your just looking for an inexpensive stable platform w/onboard sound and video look no more.

-VTrider >>



don't bother with the onboard video - it really stinks and can't be compared to other video cards

 

[MrHelpful]

The man meant the K7S5A. And so do I.

 

[veryape]

Sorry to stray off the topic at hand, but imagine asking this question just a few short years ago.You- "can you get me a motherboard withonboard everything and a processor for under $150?". Answer- "Ahahahahahahahahaha, yea, and I own New York and will sell it to you as a package deal with the board and processor." My how things have changed in such a short time.

 

[Rhodent]

Thanks everyone. I see one recommendation for the MSI Board. It doesn't clearly say that it has onboard video, but since you recommeneded it. I assume it does. I am useing an MSI right now and I do like its quality. As far as the ECS I see a lot of recommendations. Does the K7S5A not have onboard video or do all the SIS chipsets provide their video on them? I see the K7SEM board definitly has the onboard vid and sound but it only has 2 PCI's. Hey I don't wanna see picky but 2 thats a few too few. LOL Can anyone clarify this a tad for me. Much appreciated.

 

[MrHelpful]

Just pair the ECS K7S5A with an ATi Rage PCI. You wouldn't see much difference between that and onboard video.

 

[Cygni]

K7S5A doesnt have built in Video, but it does have built in sound and ethernet. The K7S5A is my top choice for a budget system because of its awesome performance and beautiful price (under $60!). At a price like that, you can pair it with a Geforce2MX 200 or a Kyro1 and have far better performance than an intergreated board for under the cost of most KM133A boards (including the MSI board mentioned earlier). The only probs with the K7S5A would be the fact that it only has 2 SDRAM slots... but it makes up for that with the fact that it also has a pair of DDR slots (which i suggest using, if you can eek out the extra $70 for the 256mb of DDR).

Go Here for the ECS listings on Newegg.com, it should be the first entry on the list.

Good Luck!

 

[cchen]

the K7S5A doesn't have onboard video but the em does

 

[kmike75]

The ECS K7VZA is a very stable board also. It doesn't have on board video either, but to me any 16 to 32 meg video card is better than on-board video. Check out pricewatch.com for a combo athlon or duron/k7vza. You will need to look to Crucial for RAM for this board though. It's picky, but very stable beyond this.

 

[Bovinicus]

The nForce based boards seem to be pretty good, although they may be a bit more expensive than you are looking for. However, if you plan on doing any gaming, I wouldn't go with anything less. It would also require upgrading to DDR, but if you don't really plan on gaming, the other posters have already given some good suggestions.

 

[VTrider]

Okay Rhodent, here's my .02c again:

In regard to what Cchen said about not boterhing with onboard video because it stinks and all and can't be compared to other video cards well.....

I gather from your original post that you are looking for a motherboard with onboard sound and video that's stable and overclocking is not an issue (with SDRAM). I still stick to my recommendation of the ECS K7SEM.
It's cheap, reliable, has a mature chipset, everything your looking for according to your post and has many 'bells & whistles' (built in LAN, just like the K7S5A, etc.). I agree that you can't compare it to other video cards because it's not meant to be compared to other video cards.
Although there are only 2 PCI slots on the K7SEM, you gotta remember that you don't need any for the video card (also has an external AGP slot for upgrading video card) or sound card. If that is a problem, then I would go with the K7S5A and a low end video card like TNT2 M64, ATI Rage, GF2 MX200, Kyro1, etc.

If you stated what this machine is going to be used for, it might help all of us to narrow down the selection a bit. I believe the K7SEM is a safe bet, but like others here if I were in your shoes I'd be leaning toward the K7S5A with a low-end video card. Just be aware that for a long time, these AT message boards were (and still are) constantly filled up with issues about the k7S5A, not saying anything for fear of getting flamed, but just do your homework before choosing

-VTrider

 

[JohnnyPC]

I would second the motion for the K7S5A but I'm always a bit nervous when I get a new one. I've assembled 5 systems with this board and was only able to get three of them to boot out of the box...the other two I had to RMA. Early in my experience with them I did a search here for tech help and was amazed to see that a BUNCH of people have had similar experience with unreliablity. It seems that you either get a good one or a bad one. If you happen to get a good one then you can rest assured that you will be blessed with a downright smokin system...all for about $70 shipped...

 

[Rhodent]

Hi, Thanks Vtrider and all you guys for your posts. The system is for my sister and her kids. She knows zero about a computer and they only know a little from school. Not gonna be a lot of hardcore gaming. It will mostly be an internet and Word Processing machine. A little gaming maybe. I want to get the thing going for as cheap as possible but have it be upgradable as time goes on so that they can get good use out of it for say a couple years or more. Who knows how long. That was why I thought of onboard vid and audio with the AGP slot would allow for a fast vid card at a later time if needed. And if It has more than 2 PCI slots then that wuld allow for a nice sound card or DVD decoder or whatever at a later time if It ends up getting upgraded. I also like the idea of the dual ram slots so I can use some extra SD I have now but possibly move up to the DDR later for even better performance. Is there any truth to all this about the 1 GHZ Durons having the new SSE? Is this an like an XP or MP duron type thing? Or are all Durons of that speed having the new feature? I noticed on that MSI Board mentioned that it says it only supports up to a 950 Duron but a 1.4 Athlon for some reason. Thanks for any further help.

 

[VTrider]

Yeah no kidding - I build systems frequently for friends, relatives, co-workers, etc. - and I'm absolutely dying to get my hands on one of these K7S5A boards because it's pretty much the perfect board for my needs.
This 'hit or miss' thing about their reliablility always makes me second guess myself, the last thing I need is more tech support calls from people asking why their system won't boot, or randomly boots, etc.

*sigh* Oh what to do?

-VTrider

 

[Cygni]

The 1Ghz Duron is fairly new which is why alot of motherboard manuals might not mention it.

And yes, it does support SSE, just not the new SSE2 introduced with the P4.

The 1Ghz+ Durons are using a new core called Morgan that is essentially a AthlonXP/MP/4 core (called Palomino) with a little less onboard cache, thats the only difference. That loss of cache will hurt a little in high end graphics programs, CAD programs, and high end gaming, but will be completly transparent to anything else. It will be like having a 1Ghz Athlon for all intents and purposes, for way less money.

 

[VTrider]

Rhodent:

Well, the K7S5A does have the upgrade path to DDR in the future and it does have a faster chipset. Don't worry about a DVD decoder card for the K7SEM though, two of the K7SEM machines I just built have DVD drives in them and they play without a hiccup (1.2 AMD 266FSB and 256mb PC-133). Also, i've seen posts here of this chipset running 1.4gig Athlons w/o any probs.

 

[Rhodent]

Another thing to mention is that which ever board I go with I want it to be stable because I'll be over an hour away at school and since they are pretty illiterate in the computer world. I can't really offord a lot of crashing or booting problems to be going on.
As far as the decoder card goes. They will most likely never use one I just want to leave a pathway for who knows what. Although I happen to use an H+ myself although my GHZ T bird plays just fine, you can't beat the flawless smooth TV out playback of DVD's with this card.

 

[Pabster]

Candoman wrote:

"If you don't want to mess with probs for days on end, stay away from ECS K7S5A! That's a prophet warning. You will remember my words 'Stay away from K7S5A' whenever you'll have to play with that thing trying to get it to work!"

Why do I get the feeling you've never actually owned a K7S5A?