Best integrated motherboard (and cheap =)?

[neit]

hey,

I've been looking around a lot of the tech sites and shopping sites (tom's, here, newegg, etc) and haven't been able to find the best motherboard that fits my requirements, and was hoping some of you had suggestions that could help.

My main concerns are cost and stability. I am kinda wanting to make peripheral workstations that will run linux, and thats why i don't really care for a beat all graphics chipset. I'm looking to buy a duron with it, so i guess 100/200 Mhz ram is all i would need. I don't know much about the non 266a chipsets, thats why i was having trouble finding a good board.

I want it to have:
Integrated sound
Integrated video (good one preferred, but nforce is out of range so any one will suffice)
integrated lan (and modem if there is a cheap one)
want to keep the cost at or around 100-110

basically i want to be abe to buy a cheap case & PS, toss in a cheap duron and ram and go at it.

any suggestions greatly appreciated

 

[Stark]

pay an extra $20 and get the nforce. Seriously.

 

[clumsum]

Take a look at the PCChips/Amptron K7-841XLM, ........... it has the SiS 740 integrated chipset, good graphics and most of the other stuff your looking for:

Check it out at
Amptron.

It's a new mb but will take DDR or SDRAM so it should be good for your Duron now and XP later when you decide to upgrade, graphics are reported to be supurb for this price range.............
I saw one on Pricewatch for $75. + shipping.

 

[Mavrick007]

someone was saying in a post earlier today that Newegg has the Nforce mobo for $110 now. check it out.

 

[underpaid]

MSI K7N415 Pro @ newegg, $109.00.

***Umm, nm. didn't catch this part....VGA function NOT Included!!** Only Compatiable with Windows XP!!**

 

[neit]

yeah, thats a bummer,

I guess i'm gonna look into that sis one, are their chipsets usually stable? they seem to be making a lot of integrated solutions, and if they're good named, i might go with them (though i'm slowly convincing myself that i should just splurge on the nforce...)

 

[dbwillis]

Maybe check out a Biostar M7VKQ, its like $55 bucks, i got the M6VLQ (Intel versin) for my server..havent had any problems

 

[Colt45]

the ECS K7SEM seems to have what your looking for. SDR only though (i think)

anyways, take a look at it, the go pretty cheap too. its microATX though, im not sure if thats what you want.

 

[Windogg]

As mentioned by dbwillis, the Biostar M7VKQ is a great board. I have built about 100 systems on that board or similar and all of them run rock solid. The more time I spend at client sites means more money out of my own pocket and this board have not cost me one penny or minute in support costs. The chipset is the VIA PLE133 and include 8MB Trident Blade (Like the Matrox G200 in performance and quality), AC97 audio, and integrated 10/100 NIC. A great value at $50. If you prefer a AMD solution based on the same chipset, look at a KLE133 based chipset. The best part with a Intel Celeron (or even P3), additional savings can be realized by mating it a decent micro ATX case. The smaller size means they are cheaper and easier to place out of the way. I've used Enlight and Inwin for my systems and the 145w power supplies are also very silent. Toss in a Seagate Barracuda IV along with a 100Mhz FSB Celeron w/ stock heatsink fan and you truly have a near silent system. On the AMD systems I usually go with a slightly larger case w/ 250w power supply and a Coolermaster HS/fan.

Windogg

 

[phase1]

with no sound card, take the ga-7vtxh+ its fairly cheap, and preforms very well.. (for me it does anyway), you can read more about it here : ga-vtxh+
it has lan & sound on it, and comes with tones of features like double bios, easy tune (overclocking for newbies..) and more.
I say check it out.

 

[Bleep]

I will have to go along withthe Biostar I like the M7VKS it does not have built in LAN but for a duron/athalon board it is hard to beat. It is a pretty fast board easy to set up and the main thing it is STABLE and cheap 50 to 60 bucks add a duron for 60 bucks or so and a cheap system is on the way.
Bleep

 

[RanDum72]

You can always go with ECS K7S5A (around $50) and go with a seperate card like the Visiontek GF2 GTS-V for around $40. The mobo has sound and LAN. Just add modem.

 

[nortexoid]

check out what clumsum was saying - seriously, some people doubt pcchips/amptron, but they're latest board have been getting praise in the OEM sector..

also, the SIS 740 is the BEST integrated chipset u'll find for a duron at that price...the integrated SIS 315 graphics core rivals the GF2 MX200 core of the nfarce easily....in fact, it's not heavily memory bandwidth dependent, and thus should perform even better with SDR.