Integrated Motherboards

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alun Roberts
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Alun Roberts

Any recommendations for an ''all dancing, all singing'' integrated
Motherboard.

I shall attempt to build my first comp soon - and as playing games or
listening to loud music is not high on my list of priorities I would
appreciate recommendations for an integrated motherboard.

Thanks in advance.
 
Alun Roberts said:
Any recommendations for an ''all dancing, all singing'' integrated
Motherboard.

I shall attempt to build my first comp soon - and as playing games or
listening to loud music is not high on my list of priorities I would
appreciate recommendations for an integrated motherboard.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Hi,

If you want integrated graphics as well, then have a look at the NForce
based boards (Asus, MSI etc).
Put a couple of sticks of memory in for dual channel mode and you have a
respectable system.

SteveH
 
Alun said:
Any recommendations for an ''all dancing, all singing'' integrated
Motherboard.

I shall attempt to build my first comp soon - and as playing games or
listening to loud music is not high on my list of priorities I would
appreciate recommendations for an integrated motherboard.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

You have confused me. Try again.
 
Sorry Matt will try to be more explicit.

Basically a motherboard with just about everything on board, sound, video,
LAN, modem and all the other bits that make you clever, knowledgeable people
add on - you know what you are doing - and I don't - yet!
 
For the least $?

VIA KM266 or KM400 chipset.

KM400
http://msicomputer.com/product/detail_spec/product_detail.asp?model=KM4M-L
$70 at newegg.com

KM266
http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdetails.asp?model=m7vig+pro
$56 at newegg.com

You'll still need a modem. This one is great:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...=18&manufactory=1585&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1
$11 at newegg.com. It connected to 3 different isp's in Win XP and 98, at
good speed.

The KM400 is new so there are no user reviews yet -- nobody knows if it has
any glaring problems. But it is more future-proof. You can put in a pc2700
256Mb memory module. That particular one has 4 usb-2 ports right on the
back, and headers for 2 more.

The KM266 has been around for awhile and is the current budget leader. It
takes the older pc2100, but some pc2700 will work in it. The one above has 2
usb-2 on the back and headers for 4 more, which means if your case has them
on the front.

If price is not an object, an nforce board would have faster graphics, and
one of the better nforce boards that uses the nvidia sound would have hi-fi
sound.

Whatever board you get, there could be issues, but if you're only adding the
above modem to it then that's not so likely.

Ed Light

Smiley :-/
MS Smiley :-\
 
Alun Roberts said:
Any recommendations for an ''all dancing, all singing'' integrated
Motherboard.

I shall attempt to build my first comp soon - and as playing games or
listening to loud music is not high on my list of priorities I would
appreciate recommendations for an integrated motherboard.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

If you don't want to overclock:

Shuttle Model MN31N $82

If you do:

Biostar Model # M7NCG $95

Or go real cheap with Biostar M7VIG PRO $56 and
AMD Athlon XP 1800+Thoroughbred Core Retail $57
and run it at 2000+ speed with cheap PC2100 memory @ 143MHz

All shipped free from www.newegg.com
 
You ought to take a look at MSI's K7N2G-L, it's got onboard sound,
video, lan, and a tv-out. I dont think it comes with a modem, but i'm
sure you can pick up a 56k somewhere for 20$. It's also a stylish shade
of red, if youre at all interested in color :)

The soltek 75MRN-L has the same features, minus the tv-out. Both boards
are nforce2 and hover around the 140$ mark. Their onboard video is the
best at the moment, and it allows quite a bit of upgradeability.

MSI's a bit more expensive but has the tv-out, the soltek is less
expensive, but doesn't have tv-out.

I haven't done research on boards with onboard modems, mainly because
I've got cable. Either way, I've seen some selling for as low as 10$.

Another way to go would be to buy some old video card, like a TNT2 or
g400 or whatever you can pick up for 20$, and get a board like the
soltek 75frn-l which doesn't have onboard video. It still has the sound
and lan, and future upgradeability as an option. You could save maybe
30-40$ that way.

I'm a big fan of the nforce2 boards, theyre coming out with the next
generation of that chipset right now so prices ought to be going even
lower. It's been getting great reviews, hope this helps your research.
 
rAD said:
Biostar Model # M7NCG $95

Or go real cheap with Biostar M7VIG PRO $56 and
AMD Athlon XP 1800+Thoroughbred Core Retail $57
and run it at 2000+ speed with cheap PC2100 memory @ 143MHz

All shipped free from www.newegg.com
Click to expand...

Like rAD said:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=&submit=Go&description=m7ncg

I have lost enthusiasm for the M7VIG Pro. For $40 more you get the
latest chipset. The M7NCG ought to satisfy you for years, or you could
sell it used much easier than the M7VIG Pro.

Haven't seen many boards with modems.

Hey, that shuttle looks pretty good, rAD. M7NCG doesn't have firewire.

I don't know why they get cheap with PCI slots on the IG boards.
 
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