What is a good budget board for an Athlon XP budget system?

[kehi]

Hey folks, I am going to build a system for a friend on a tight budget. The total for the setup cannot be more than $450 total. Please lmk if another "budget" board is available that has taken the place of the K7S5A or is there something else out that is better and cost about the same. BTW: It has to support DDR and be a full-size mobo. Thanks in advance

 

[Mark0999]

MSI K7N2G-L... nForce2, onboard video, sound and LAN.

 

[floccus]

The $450 is the total for what? The entire system or just the board and CPU?

 

[Bonesdad]

If your looking at the same cost range, consider the Biostar M7VIG...very similar to K7S5A, but with onboard vid, sound is much better and with USB 2.0.

But if I were you, spend the extra bux and get an NForce2 board. The EPoX 8RDA (non plus) is about 87 bux. Best bet.

 

[bjamm2]

Originally posted by: Mark0999
MSI K7N2G-L... nForce2, onboard video, sound and LAN.

that's probably the best bet, will run around 100, otherwise go with the

Asus A7N266-VM AA (AMD Assured Version) NVIDIA nFORCE 220 Chipset 266/200MHz FSB Motherboard Micro ATX- Retail
Socket A AMD Duron, Athlon, and Athlon XP up to 2600+
nForce 220D: NVIDIA IGP-64 north bridge and NVIDIA MCP-D south bridge
FSB:266/200 MHz
2 DIMM sockets support max. 1GB unbuffered PC2100/1600 non-ECC RAM
Slots:3x PCI 1xAGP PRO 4x
Onboard LAN:10/100 Mbps
Integrated AC97and Dolby Digital 5.1 (AC-3) Encoder Audio
Integrated Nvidia Nforce GeFORCE2 Video.
2 onboard USB ports

72$ at newegg, sound/video/lan too. Supports all your cpu's for a budget system, but definatly go with an nforce2 board if possible, much better features

 

[Peter]

With DDR RAM prices being very low currently, ECS's new L7S7A2 budget board should fit the bill. Most recent SiS 746 chipset, LAN, USB 2.0, sound, FSB333 support, no nonsense.