Help me pick!

[firehawk68]

I'm buying a new pc, a 1500+ xp cpu+256mb ddr ram and either kyro2 videocard or geforce2 ti, which motherboard should i choose to it? I can't find any info on these motherboards. these are the ones available for me:

AMD: DFI AD70-SC 266A DDR

AMD: DFI AM36-EC

AMD: ECS K7S5A DDR LAN

AMD: ECS K7VZA-266


they're all about $100 here (sweden) any comments welcome since i know nothing about motherboards... oh another thing, is the inbuilt sound on some motherboards anywhere near sb live! 1024? or should i go with a separate soundcard?

thanks.

 

[vampiro]

You might want to look at the IWill XP333. It seems to really smoke on the benchmarks and is priced at $99 at Newegg. Personally, I would spend a little more to get a Dragon + but that is up to you.

 

[firehawk68]

thanks but im based in sweden, so i'm unable to do that.

i might consider one of the following motherboards as well IF they include a soundcard that is equal to soundblaster live! 1024 bulk/value (which alone costs about $50 here)

is there such motherboards available? let me know.
these are some of the more expensive motherboards i can choose from, but only if they include the above soundcard quality:

EpoX EP-8KHA+ VKT266A DD
MSI K7T 266 Pro2
MSI K7T Turbo2
DFI AD70-SR Raid VIA266A DD

otherwise i have to go with one of the cheaper ones i originally listed about $100 or so...

 

[Jayczar]

The ECS K7S5A will work great with that hardware.
Go for it!! Regardless of what other replies you may
get in this thread or any other.

 

[Bobek]

MSI K7T 266 Pro2 is a great motherboard, but as well as others listed it won´t deliver the same quality as the SB Live! soundcard, they simply have only stereo speakers output.
ECS K7S5AL is a good choice, I already had 4 or 5 of them in my hands - good performance and stability, no serious issues. Only one little thing - Win 98SE report some problem with the audio codec on one of the boards I had, but it works fine