hello all i'm ordering parts for a new computer. But i'm stuck really on one part... the motherboard. I'm looking to get an AthlonXP 3200+ or 3000+. I've been lookin around and been getting different responses from everyone. I've read reviews on tomshardware, motherboards.org, and many different forums... So i decided to just post a thread on all my forums that i browse.. and see what everyone suggests... so, what do you guys suggest for an AthlonXP 3200/3000+. RAM does not make a difference.
Well, what features are you looking at? Do you want a loaded board with all the bells and wistles, or do you want something thats just cheap, but without having cheap performance. Also, is overclocking something you're intrested in? Brands I suggest are Asus, Abit, Gigabyte, MSI, and Tyan. The brands that I sugggest staying away from are ECS and FIC---unless you like hardware conflict headaches. You'll want to look at boards featuring either the nForce 2 chipset or Via's KT400A or KT600 chipsets for starters. Get back with what you're looking for and we can better suggest something for your likes.
i want something that's cheap without cheap performance, but still has SOME bells and whistles... know what i mean? i just don't want to have to deal with hardware conflicts. overclocking isn't important... either abit or asus is very overclocking friendly (i can't remember).. correct? i've read that gigabyte is the best all around board... i was sorta leaning toward there... but wasn't sure what you guys thought.
I'd reccomend the Asus A7N8X line. I have the deluxe board and it's been rock solid. I haven't seen anyone selling kt600 boards here yet so I can't comment on their quality, but Via boards in the past usually don't come into their own until the first revision so unless this board is different I'd hold off on the KT600 for now.
yeh, looking at the specs of Asus A7N8X looks like a very good choice, I would highly consider the board! has many features!
The KT600 is still fairly new and I've only seen a few boards based on it currently available. It is slower than the nForce 2, but not by that much in the benchmarks. It's to a point where you won't be able to tell anyway. The nForce 2 derives most of it's memory bandwith from dual channel DDR, but only utilizing one channel doesn't really seem to hurt you all that much. If you plan to use an NF2 board with video, then you'll want to get both channels filled. Wether you go for nVidia or Via, MSI or Gigabyte is probably your best bet. Newegg lists Gigabyte's basic NF2 board, the GA-7N400-L for $85. They have MSI's K7N2 Delta-L for $87. Another one that's pretty cheap and basic is the Soltek SL-NV400-L. It's a single channel NF2 board, but the performance doesn't seem to be that much less than a dual-channel NF2 board. Last I checked it was running in the low $70 range. These are the more basic NF2 boards and the only extra you really get is LAN. Asus KT600 board runs $92.99 and is actually pretty loaded. For Asus, it's also not to badly priced either.
hrm... wow guys thanks alot... alot of info there... i think it's gonna be between either Gigabyte or Asus... keep givin me opinions thanks again
Well I gotta' suggest soltek I've owned the 75DRV5-C (KT333) and now own the 75FRN2-L which overclocks very good and I have to say they are the two best boards I've ever owned. The only problem with the FRN2 is that the onboard lan isn't working...yet. I haven't tried to make it work really since I don't need it right now : I have a 3com network card. Read some reviews about the FRN", you'll be surprised to see an unknown company perform as good as or better than bigger brand names. The only thing is that these boards don't have many features. They offer Lan and Raid and that's it, besides the usual options: onboard video, sound, etc. This is good for me since I do not use raid, sata or sata raid, it also keeps the prices down. If you want lots of features, then soltek isn't for you, but if you want good performance at a cheap price, you need to at least consider it. There is a review here: http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDY4
An often overlooked motherboard brand is Soyo. They put out top quality boards, you may want to check out http://www.soyousa.com/
Soyo is a good brand but what kills them is they don't have an nForce2 solution. So if you want to overclock, you're stuck with a pci divider instead of a bus lock. But Via still makes good chipsets, regardless of what the "enthusiast community" says. I've never had problems w/ my kt333 board, and I wasn't scared of flashing my bios or tweaking it like w/ my current nforce2 board. Soyo also gives a good software bundle w/ proper cables, depending on what model you buy.
