Best motherboard for ~50 bucks?

[eLiu]

Hey,
I think my motherboard's AGP slot is screwed up, or so I think. What led me to the conclusion is this:
I bought a Radeon 9600pro, tried it out...stable in windows, but wouldn't play games. Odd, no? Tried diff drivers & some other things...eventually tested it in another computer (1.2duron, ecs k7s5a, 256mb ram, 300W PS). It was happy in there, played games fine.

The interesting part is...the Radeon was very hot in this box (epox 8k7a), even though it was just sitting in windows. It ran cool on the ECS, even after gaming for an hour. I tried an ATI Rage IIC in both--same problem...hot on the epox, not hot on the ECS. Tried a Matrox PCI card--about the same temp on both.

This makes me think that my motherboard's AGP slot is screwed up somehow. Otherwise, why would it be causing whatever goes into it to heat up so much?

If I'm wrong, please let me know and save me $50

Anyway, speaking of $50, what is the best motherboard I can buy for that price? Stability & compatibility is the *most* important thing for me. Overclocking options are nice, but not really a big deal--Multiplier and FSB modifiers are enough. I don't care if it's by dipswitch, jumper, or BIOS. Also...support for Tbreds & Bartons would be nice. A firewire connector would also be nice...but then again, not a necessity since I have an audigy w/that.

Well, this is what I've turned up so far: ECS "KT600-A"

Though...does it have any OCing features? I checked ECS's website, but htey don't say. Also...ECS says there's a firewire header--how do I utilize that? Does that mean I have to track the firewire cable into the inside of the case?

What do y'all think of this? Any suggestions/ideas?

Thanks,
-Eric

 

[DAPUNISHER]

My advice is gamble on Neweggs refurb section, for instance AN35N ultra for $39 shipped or check the for sale/for trade forum for deals.

 

[Audiofight]

I am not sure what model mobo to suggest to you, b/c I usually buy an Asus or an Abit board for my rigs. I like having lots of features and a brand I trust.....

But, you can get some nForce2 mobos for $50-60 and I believe that the nForce2 chipset outperforms the KT600 chipset, but I could be wrong. I did own the $66 Biostar nForce2 400 mobo and it had on-board GF4 graphics...nice backup just in case....extremely quick boot times and very responsive in WinXP. Plus it had voltage, multiplier, and fsb adjustments. Not bad for a cheapy.

Just my .02

 

[furie27]

I've got this running in my secondary machine and it's only $51 at newegg.
Biostar N7NCD m/b http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-216&depa=0

 

[Bar81]

Try this:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-157-009&depa=0

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: furie27
I've got this running in my secondary machine and it's only $51 at newegg.
Biostar N7NCD m/b http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-216&depa=0

Hey, that looks pretty good. How do you like the board so far? Does it accept bartons (for a future upgrade maybe)? And does it have multiplier/FSB adjustments? And most of all...is it stable/happy/etc? hehe

Thanks,
-Eric

Edit: I found some reviews for this board, and the reviewers seem to have been very satisfied with it. The only complaints were lack of SATA/firewire and that some of the bundled software didn't work for them. But then again, I won't be missing SATA or firewire, and I can do w/o the software on a $51 motherboard. So, unless you have any complaints about it, I think this will be the board I go with.

 

[Z80]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
My advice is gamble on Neweggs refurb section, for instance AN35N ultra for $39 shipped or check the for sale/for trade forum for deals.

I second the above advice. I have the Shuttle AN35N Ultra and for what it does (no SATA or firewire) I like it better than my NF7-S. It is stable and reliable and overclocks very well. I ordered a second one when I saw that Newegg had refurbs available.

 

[seashlock]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
My advice is gamble on Neweggs refurb section, for instance AN35N ultra for $39 shipped or check the for sale/for trade forum for deals.

I agree with this, I got a MSI board for my intel 2.6c here for $69 when it was retailing for about $150 and it works great. It just didn't come with the accesories but for that price I didn't care.

 

[Fern]

eLui

1) Were you previously using something other than an ATI vid card? If so, did you run Driver Cleaner or something similar before installing the 9600 pro?

2) Does your mobo allow for changes in AGP voltage?. If so, see what it's set to, or maybe reduce it

 

[furie27]

I'm very satisfied with my 2600+, I can generally hit speeds of 2.18 ghz pretty stable and cool. No ability to raise/lower the voltage core or any other voltages. If you're not interested in SATA or Firewire, why pay the extra?

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: Fern
eLui

1) Were you previously using something other than an ATI vid card? If so, did you run Driver Cleaner or something similar before installing the 9600 pro?

2) Does your mobo allow for changes in AGP voltage?. If so, see what it's set to, or maybe reduce it

1) I was previously using an nvidia geforce2 pro that died on me. I ran driver cleaner after that with an old rage IIC (AGP) plugged in--windows recognized it by default. Before installing the 9600, i uninstalled the rage IIC in deviice manager.

2) Nope...it's supposed to detect stuff by default I think, b/c I couldn't find any options to lower the voltage.

Some on the overclockers.com forum suggested that I try another power supply...but I'm wondering how a faulty power supply could only mess with my AGP slot and not the others...lol.

-Eric

 

[Dyflam]

What are some of the problems you can encounter when replacing motherboards and processors? Does it screw up your registry or do anything weird?

 

[Brian48]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
My advice is gamble on Neweggs refurb section, for instance AN35N ultra for $39 shipped or check the for sale/for trade forum for deals.

Ditto!

 

[Falloutboy]

defenatly go for a AN35 may not have many features but is a rock solid board which for 50 bucks is a good deal

 

[Vivi]

I was going to get the AN35 from newegg but should have gotten it sooner when it was 57 bucks. They rised the price to 61 now, wtf?! :|