What's a good Socket 478 mobo?

[t3h l337 n3wb]

My friend's birthday is in like a week, so me and my friends are trying to get him a nice present for his crappy computer. We want to upgrade his mobo to something that can overclock his 2.2Ghz Northwood Celeron. His current mobo doesn't even have AGP (he has an HP computer)... He has a micro ATX case. Our budget is about $30 right now, but it's expanding as we're asking for more donations I was looking at this one:

EPoX mobo

The EPoX nForce4 Ultra board is like the 2nd best overclocker, so I'm thinking this one should overclock fairly well. Anyone else have other suggestions?

UPDATE
Budget has been upped to $45!

 

[imported_goku]

ew epox and you have to be 100% sure that a standard ATX motherboard WILL work that system. For example a lot of dell systems these days have completely proprietary power connectors, can't use power connectors=teh screwed.

 

[DavidoFoo]

Ew epox? I guess you didn't see the nf4 ultra mobo review.

 

[suicidalpigeon]

Originally posted by: DavidoFoo
Ew epox? I guess you didn't see the nf4 ultra mobo review.

um..if i recall, the epox 9npa+ got an editor's choice from the nf4 ultra roundups.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Yeah, I heard the EPoX nf4 boards rocked. But I don't know if that's true with this model. My friend has an HP, not a Dell. I know Dell does weird things with their power connectors, but I've never heard of any other company doing that.

 

[suicidalpigeon]

it's best if he just buys a whole new system later when he really needs to, and when he does, he can get an amd system. if he changes mobo's he'll need to reinstall the os, which is a whole new problem. just give him the $30 so he can use it on whatever he pleases.

 

[Porter21]

Originally posted by: wafflesandsyrup
it's best if he just buys a whole new system later when he really needs to, and when he does, he can get an amd system. if he changes mobo's he'll need to reinstall the os, which is a whole new problem. just give him the $30 so he can use it on whatever he pleases.

There's the reason why he has a budget.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

He won't be able get a whole new computer til like he goes to college in 3 years...

 

[suicidalpigeon]

Originally posted by: Porter21

Originally posted by: wafflesandsyrup
it's best if he just buys a whole new system later when he really needs to, and when he does, he can get an amd system. if he changes mobo's he'll need to reinstall the os, which is a whole new problem. just give him the $30 so he can use it on whatever he pleases.

There's the reason why he has a budget.

what do you mean?

 

[CKTurbo128]

I actually just did a similar thing to my brother's Dell Dimension 4500, which had a Socket 478 Pentium 4 2.0 GHz. I recently upgraded the motherboard to an Abit IS7-E, which has support for FSB 400/533/800 Socket 478 CPUs and several overclocking options. It works out great.

 

[imported_goku]

How did you hook up the power connectors

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Not all Dells have weird power connectors I believe...

 

[Steven the Leech]

Sounds like a good move, Add AGP card for a budget gamer. Just make sure that your CDrom will clear the motherboard, I would reccomend getting dimensions off of the old MB and checking the manufacturers spec's to see if they are actually the same size before you order. Some HP have a fan header to the Power supply fan that hooks in the motherboard [will run without it being connected], never noticed any other type of connections, except the front panel header, which can be easily taken apart and reconfigured to fit the new motherboard properly, may help to find an old case that you can salvage a few 2 pin molex type connectors if you have to change the front panel connectors.

And make sure the current power supply has a p4 4 pin power connector, as the epox requires one.

Socket 478
Chipset:VIA P4M266A Chipset
Processor:Intel® Pentium® 4/Celeron®
Max FSB:400/533MHz
Memory:2 x DDR SDRAM PC2100, 2GB max.
AGP/VGA Slot:1 (4x mode @ 1.5v)
PCI Slot:3 (32-bit)
IDE:2 x E/IDE Ultra DMA/133, 4 drives max.
USB:6 (4 Rear, 2 Pin Header) USB 2.0
Network:Integrated 10/100 LAN
Video:VIA ProSavage 8 Graphics
Audio:C-Media CMI9739A Selectable 2 or 6-CH integrated sound
BIOS:Award BIOS v4.51
Size:MicroATX (245mm x 210mm)
Accessories:IDE/Floppy Cables, I/O Shield, CD Driver, Manual
Please email sales@epox.com for more detail spec information not listed

 

[QuantumPion]

I had a DFI lan party intel 875p board in my old comp. I hardly had a crash in 2.5 years!

 

[ND40oz]

Don't forget to make sure you can get the backplate out of the hp so you can put the new one in. I have an hp here that has a removable backplate, so you probably will be alright, but double check.

 

[imported_goku]

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
Not all Dells have weird power connectors I believe...

Power connectors in meaning the front I/O like power switch and HDD/Power LEDs. I know the old dells had proprietary PSUs which wouldn't work with any other board and the new PSU aren't proprietary BUT they are mounted in an unstandard way.

 

[w00t]

DFI 875P is nice.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
What's a good Socket 478 mobo?
Topic Summary: Looking for a birthday present for my friend...

The Abit IC7-G is Rock Solid. :thumbsup::laugh:
But $30 won't get you one. :roll:

 

[Muscles]

I'm still on an Asus P4C800-E Deluxe and it's been rock solid since I bought it years ago. I've had a 3.0C OC'd to 3.5 ghz on it. It's definitely one of the finest motherboards I've ever used in my life, aruably "the" best However you get what you pay for. It's expensive.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Yeah, but I need microATX

 

[DanDaMan315]

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
Yeah, but I need microATX

Lol I was going to try and sell you a mATX pulled from a Gateway, but then I realized, o yea he needs to overclock

 

[Blain]

Good OCing socket 478... MicroATX... for only $30?
You're just asking too much! :laugh:

 

[CALIKUSH]

Just go to newegg man and look around around. Here are some boards that you might find interesting.

Matx S478 mobo's


I suggest the intel asus board for $58 bucks
ASUS P4S800-MX Socket 478

Or a cheap foxconn

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Well, the budget's been expanded to $45 Anything good? There's and MSI one for $42. Is that good?

 

[ryox03]

I actually have a ASUS P4S800-MX, it isn't a bad board but you cant adjust vcore. I was however able to overclock my 3.2E to juuuust under 3.5 stable. I don't know what is holding me back from getting higher, the cheap 250 watt emachines PSU, or the memory. I am going to be upgrading to a ATX socket 478, and a full ATX case that will fit my 520 watt PSU (too large to fit in this case). and replace my 512mb pc2700 with another pc3200 1 gig stick so I will have a 2 gigs running at pc3200...the mix match in ram is probably part of the problem considering that temps never seem to get that high, especially considering I cant even raise vcore at all. I do not remember how much I pushed out of my celery when I had it, but im sure you could muster something.