Help with motherboard selection 1

[cbs604]

I need a new motherboard. I have an AMD XP 2000+ cpu, and 256Mb PC3200 ram.

I looked at the Gigabyte website and was faced with a staggering list of 100 or more mb's to choose from. All I want is a mb that will support the above components, has onboard vga, audio and lan.

How does one navigate through that list and come up with one or two mbs that will suit. How does the chipset selection come into it? How to decode the Gigabyte part number system? I worked out that -L on the end means LAN, but what about the rest? A number such as 7v400m suggests that it supports a 400 FSB (which would suit my ram) but it doesn't, it only supports 333.

Help please - need a little guidence on how to zero in on a suitable mb.

(Bring back the simple days!!)




Cheers,
Brodie

 

[paparazi]

Actually given your needs you have narrowed it down considerably!
The best platform for your components and with onboard graphics is a motherboard based on Nvidia's Nforce 2 chipset but the intergrated "graphics version" usually denoted by the letter "G"
Problem is Gigabyte are about the only manufacturer who hasn't got a Nforce2 G option.
Therefore I am pointing you towards the MSI and Asus equivelents:
Just read the specs and decide which version suits your needs best.
Note* Nforce2 motherboards have built in Geforce 4 MX440 graphics so are reasonably capable of light gaming.

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=398

http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socketa/a7n8x-vm/overview.htm

Martin

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[ceh4702]

You may want to look for Motherboards with the Nforce2 chipset that can use DDR400 RAM and also have the integrated MX440. I was reading an article a while back that said that the integrated graphics option of the Nforce2 chipset is the best integrated graphics available today. Six months from now that may not be so.

One problem I have seen is that some Integrated motherboards may not be of the highest quality. Sometimes the sound is not the better quality or you cant fill all the memory banks with DDR400.

Asus makes a motherboard that is integrated but it may be a little pricey at around $94.99 or just under that the A7N8X-VM/400. Abit has a motherboard for about the same price the NF7-M. To get much cheaper you have to go with a VIA Chipset. I think they use some sort of Savage Graphics like Delta Chrome or Savage 8. I have a little Mini-ITX motherboard with Savage graphics and a S3 800 Mhz processor and it works pretty well, but I do not play games on it and sound is not too good. Of course they still sell the original Nforce chipsets A7N266-VM AA that comes with a integrated Gforce2 and USB 1 only. This option only goes up to a XP2400, with a BIOS Flash, for the processor and can only support PC2100, DDR266 RAM, but it sells for about $60.00.


If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[iamauser]

Those are both great boards, except for the Asus A7N only supports 266 - I have about 8 here at work. My latest board is an MSI K7N2 ILSR Delta. It has a lot of options - going all the way up to the serial raid version. A word of caution - if you are currently using an IDE RAID controller, you cannot disable the onboard SATA RAID and point the BIOS to boot off the IDE controller. I paid $60 for it refurb at NewEgg and it is great. USB 2.0, I 1394, AGP 8x, EAX Sound (AWESOME), 400mhz FSB, can overclock FSB, Sata Raid (2 controllers plus 1 IDE RAID controller) 2 more IDE controllers. You can use the RAID on any combination of the 2 SATA controllers and the 1 IDE.

 

[cbs604]

Thanks for all the advice - it looks like I need to do a bit of reading up, particularly with regard to all the various chipsets.



Cheers,
Brodie

 

[paparazi]

cbs604
Hi! for socket A there are really only two NEWER chipsets that support integrated onboard graphics.

Via's KM400 which as ceh4702 pointed out uses the less capable S3 unichrome oboard graphics solution, that may not be important but generally the KM400 is a slower chipset than the alternative:

The alternative as mentioned is Nvidia's Nforce2 chipset, you will be looking for the IGP version (integrated graphics) and one of the latest Nforce2 400 variants which as the name implies officially supports 400fsb.

Again as mentioned the integrated graphics is upto Geforce 4 MX440 standards
Sound is also excellent especially on the top MCP-T chip equipt motherboards, they have full digital 5.1 "soundstorm" onboard.
The MCP-T chip also has Firewire support and the ability for a second Lan connection.

Older integrated graphics chipsets like the original Nforce and KM266 are OK but have been surpassed in both speed and graphics performance.

So in short if you want bells and whissels choose a motherboard that has an Nforce2 400 with the IGP Northbrige and MCP-T southbridge.
These motherboards may have more features than you want and cost more.
To save money choose a motherboard with the same Nforce2 400 chipset with IGP Northbridge but with the plane MCP Southbridge (this hasn't got the second lan or firewire and doesn't have the soundstorm ) but still capable business sound.
Clear as MUD!!!! lol
Martin


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