question about motherboards w/ onboard audio/video

[wupith]

I know most people dont like motherboards with onboard audio and video becuase of the poor quality, but i was going to build a system for basic tasks such as word processing and thought that a motherboard with onboard audio and or video could save me some money. I was planning on building a 900 mhz athlon or duron sytem that will have a network card.... and i was wondering if you guys could recommend a cost-effective mobo that is stable and compatible with a network card and perhaps a tv tuner as well.
thank you

 

[GiveMeDeals]

Never seen an Athlon mb has BOTH onboard audio and video, ONLY audio.

 

[jamesbond007]

Have I got a treat for you!

This motherboard here has onboard audio, video, and network. The onboard video is very nice and the audio is the generic AC97 codec. It utilizes the SiS730 chipset, which is very good and also uses iDICT (something that helps DVDs, I think ) which helps DVD playback with very low CPU utilization. I know it can be had at www.cdrexpress.com for under $100, too!

Very nice board, and I'd reccomend it.

 

[jamesbond007]

Ok. I decided not to be lazy and linked it right to the page you need.

LINK!

 

[wupith]

thank you so much....... that board is just what i have been looking for!
saves me 20 bux for sound, 20 bux for video, and 20 bux for network card... GOD could not be better!!!

 

[GundamF91]

you SERIOUSLY shouldn't skimp on VIDEOcard. It's as important as your CPU speed, unless you do only word processing, etc.

onboard audio's fine, as it's not a big factor....but if you want even games from a year ago, you better invest in a good VidCard, ie. GeForce/GeF2, etc.

 

[NaughtyusMaximus]

You might also want to take a look at this, and this.

 

[wupith]

i plan on playing some games,, but only 2d games like doom or starcraft and things like that... do u still recommend i buy a seperate video card?

 

[ProviaFan]

Yes, do yourself a favor and get a good video card. It doesn't have to be fancy. An old TNT2 would work if you want to get something REALLY cheap while still half-decent. But you really should get a Radeon LE or something like that for about $70 (iirc). You'll be much more pleased with the 3d (and 2d) performance.
--
Josh

 

[jamesbond007]

If you're going to be using this system on a 15" or 17" monitor, buying a better video card, IMHO, is not worth it. The onboard video can easily game. Not high res like some gaming freaks want, but you will still be able to play the game with ease. You can use the onboard video now, and today at Best Buy, I saw a PCI Radeon. You could pop that baby in there down the road, if you want, or stick with what you got. It's an excellent value with a very nice chipset.

You can't go wrong.

 

[Peter]

Well, how 'bout a PC-Chips M810LMR. Has VGA, sound, LAN and four USB ports right onboard, and a modem riser card included. People are generally happy with that board, and it's by far the most cost effective solution.

btw, all you separate-graphics fanatics ... a Radeon LE already costs almost as much as that entire mainboard, and a TNT2 is actually slower than the integrated VGA in many things.

The SiS 730 internal 3D VGA isn't bad - just give it fast RAM (PC133 2-2-2 or 3-2-2), and if the game is a very demanding one, skip the high resolutions just like you would have to with a cheap separate card.

Besides, the M810LMR does have an AGP 4x slot for later upgrade, should you decide you want to play more ...

regards, Peter

 

[ProviaFan]

Yes, the PCChips boards work nicely (and have an easy-to-use BIOS, afaik), when they work. But mine crapped out some time ago, and I replaced it with a Gigabyte board...now I'm much happier. Anyway, the onboard video on my Socket 7 PCChips mobo was terrible...no OpenGL support, for one thing. And it seems that even the recent integrated chipset from Intel doesn't support OpenGL (from my experience with a very new HP system). So that's why I don't like them. But if you're NEVER going to be using an OpenGL-only game, then these mobos will be just fine for you.
--
Josh

 

[rexfalk]

Asus makes a SIS 730 Chipset board too, the A7S-VM that can be had for $90 or so (Check Pricewatch).
I've used the ECS board, the K7SEM and although it has worked out fine I think I would feel better using the Asus given the track record of past PC Chips products.

Rex

 

[optimistic]

Here's a great price for ECS K7SEM!

SiS® 730S Chipset
Socket A for AMD® Athlon/Duron (K7) processors
(FSB) speeds up to 200/266MHz
Onboard graphics or provide own through 4xAGP
RealTek 8139C LAN Chip on board
AC97 Audio Codec on board
DURON 750 w/ FAN

 

[optimistic]

This board is great too!

Specifications:

Supports AMD Athlon up to 1.5GHz
Supports Duron up to 1.2GHz
Supports 200 and 266MHz Front Side Bus

VIA ProSavage KM133A (VT8365A + VT82C686B)
Integrated S3? Savage4 Graphics Core (SMA - Shared Memory Architecture)

1 x AGP Pro 4X Slot (Integrated AGP-4X video is automatically disabled when AGP card is installed in AGP slot)
3 x 32-bit PCI Bus Master Slots
1 x CNR (Communication and Networking Riser)

SoundBlaster Pro Hardware and Direct Sound Ready AC97 Digital Audio Controller with Codec onboard (can be fully disabled to use optional add-on card).

CPU Multiplier Setting
BIOS FSB Setting in 1MHz increments
BIOS Vcore setting
DIMM Voltage Setting

RedStorm Overclocking