Motherboard recommendation needed

  • Thread starter Thread starter tungley
  • Start date Start date
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tungley

Hi folks, need some help here. About to build my first system in many years.
Haven't kept up lately, but have been doing some research and such. Gonna go
with an AMD AM2 based system, most likely using an Athlon 64 3800+ chip. Trying
to keep my costs down, so I'll be using my current hard drives, peripherals,
etc. I don't do gaming at all, so my video needs are minimal - thus my intent is
to find a good mobo with integrated video, so I don't have to buy a new video
card. Likewise with integrated sound. Integrated LAN would be nice, but not a
requirement, since I have NIC cards a plenty.

I've used Shuttle and Soyo boards, then settled in with ASUS years ago, and have
been partial to that brand. My only current choice for an ASUS would seem to be
the M2NPV-VM. But my reading of various forums and such tells me that it's a
problematic board, and that many are DOA. Since my purchase will be from an
online vendor, I'm not sure I want to take a chance in this regard, if the board
is not ready for prime time.

So, does anyone have any other recommendations? I've known people who used and
liked Abit and Gigabyte, and I see some new vendors like FoxConn that seem to
have good reps. But I'm not familiar with any of their lines, so I figured I'd
come here and ask around. Open to any and all suggestions. Thanks.
 
Hi folks, need some help here. About to build my first system in many years.
Haven't kept up lately, but have been doing some research and such. Gonna go
with an AMD AM2 based system, most likely using an Athlon 64 3800+ chip. Trying
to keep my costs down, so I'll be using my current hard drives, peripherals,
etc. I don't do gaming at all, so my video needs are minimal - thus my intent is
to find a good mobo with integrated video, so I don't have to buy a new video
card. Likewise with integrated sound. Integrated LAN would be nice, but not a
requirement, since I have NIC cards a plenty.

I've used Shuttle and Soyo boards, then settled in with ASUS years ago, and have
been partial to that brand. My only current choice for an ASUS would seem to be
the M2NPV-VM. But my reading of various forums and such tells me that it's a
problematic board, and that many are DOA. Since my purchase will be from an
online vendor, I'm not sure I want to take a chance in this regard, if the board
is not ready for prime time.

So, does anyone have any other recommendations? I've known people who used and
liked Abit and Gigabyte, and I see some new vendors like FoxConn that seem to
have good reps. But I'm not familiar with any of their lines, so I figured I'd
come here and ask around. Open to any and all suggestions. Thanks.
Click to expand...

The ASRock is an up and coming motherboard company.. Sites like
Tomshardware and anandtech gives it decent review for that price.
I have brought alot of Asus boards over the years.. and I have also RMA
a couple from ASus.. they are generally quick about it.. [a week at
most]

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So, does anyone have any other recommendations? I've known people who used and
liked Abit and Gigabyte, and I see some new vendors like FoxConn that seem to
have good reps.
Click to expand...

Foxconn isn't a new vendor but the largest contract electronics
manufacturing company in the world, bigger than Solectron or even
Flextronics.

Motherboards aren't very expensive unless they have special features,
so I would stay with major brands like Abit, Supermicro, Gigabyte, or
Asus/Asrock, preferrably something that uses Japanese brand or Taicon
capacitors.
 
Foxconn isn't a new vendor but the largest contract electronics
manufacturing company in the world, bigger than Solectron or even
Flextronics.

Motherboards aren't very expensive unless they have special features,
so I would stay with major brands like Abit, Supermicro, Gigabyte, or
Asus/Asrock, preferrably something that uses Japanese brand or Taicon
capacitors.
Click to expand...
When last I checked SuperMicro was strictly Intel, no AMD boards. I
have used SuperMicro before. They are great boards. I had a P6SBA
P-III based for over 10 years and it was still going strong when I
decided to build with an AMD processor. Just thought I'd mention this
as the OP said he wanted to go with an AMD processor.

--
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Brian M. Kochera
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When last I checked SuperMicro was strictly Intel, no AMD boards. I
have used SuperMicro before. They are great boards. I had a P6SBA
P-III based for over 10 years and it was still going strong when I
decided to build with an AMD processor. Just thought I'd mention this
as the OP said he wanted to go with an AMD processor.
Click to expand...

I did not know that, but now that I think of it, I don't recall any
recent ones made for AMD CPUs. We use a lot of Supermicro
motherboards because they're some of the few fairly modern ones that
still support ISA slots, which we need for some industrial controller
and measurement boards that would be expensive to replace (new software
- $$$). It's strange to see a motherboard that has 3 ISA slots, 5 PCI
slots, a SATA controller, and gigabit/sec. LAN on it. Supermicro
support has been unusually good, and most e-mailed inquiries have been
answered correctly in 10 minutes, usually by at least 2 different
people. Also they have 650W power supplies can be bought for $140,
which isn't much for something of top quality (made by Lite-on).
 
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