on board graphics?

  • Thread starter Thread starter David Ciemny
  • Start date Start date
D

David Ciemny

Hi all..building a machine for a local small business here. Nothing high
end. No gaming or anything that would require a lot of cpu or video card
horsepower.

I am trying to keep costs to a minimum however I want a dependable system. I
was thinking of straying from my original design and putting in a mobo that
offers onboard gfx. Personally I don't like it but if just basic
applications, web browsing, and emailing are about all that is going on
might this be a viable option? A low end gfx card was all that was going to
go in anyhow.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Dave
 
David Ciemny said:
Hi all..building a machine for a local small business here. Nothing high
end. No gaming or anything that would require a lot of cpu or video card
horsepower.

I am trying to keep costs to a minimum however I want a dependable system. I
was thinking of straying from my original design and putting in a mobo that
offers onboard gfx. Personally I don't like it but if just basic
applications, web browsing, and emailing are about all that is going on
might this be a viable option? A low end gfx card was all that was going to
go in anyhow.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Dave
Click to expand...

Then again I am really seeing low end boards carrying onboard graphics.
Might be better off with the original plan.

Dave
 
Then again I am really seeing low end boards carrying onboard graphics.
Might be better off with the original plan.

Dave
Click to expand...

There are some quality boards with onboard graphics (nforce 2 for the AMD
processors for example) and many of them are good values. Intels 865 series
are good for P4 based office systems as well. You will see lots of low end
boards with integrated video because the budget concious is were onboard
video makes sense. If you need 3d performance, and plan on gaming, then no
onboard video will do. If you need business and internet apps only, any
will do, so then you go for stability and quality within the budget.
Onboard video, even the cheap ones, will normally compare to the low end
graphics cards. Current motherboards also have real AGP slots if added
video capability is needed.

Avoid the cheap, noname boards, and you should be ok.

JT
 
Then again I am really seeing low end boards carrying onboard graphics.
Might be better off with the original plan.

Dave
Click to expand...

Integrated video should be fine for described uses, with the most modern
dual-channel DDR memory based solutions being even far faster than
mentioned uses would need.

"Low end" is more relative to who made it than whether it has integrated
video. The box probably doesn't need overclocking options or dolby sound,
etc, so all you'd need do for decent board, is choose a decent brand,
perhaps spend moment to seek user reports on potential candidates.
Likely candidates would come from Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, Abit, Tyan, Intel
(you didn't mention which platform you're looking for). PCChips,
Amptron, ECS, Biostar, etc, etc, are low end whether they have integrated
video or not.
 
kony said:
Integrated video should be fine for described uses, with the most modern
dual-channel DDR memory based solutions being even far faster than
mentioned uses would need.

"Low end" is more relative to who made it than whether it has integrated
video. The box probably doesn't need overclocking options or dolby sound,
etc, so all you'd need do for decent board, is choose a decent brand,
perhaps spend moment to seek user reports on potential candidates.
Likely candidates would come from Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, Abit, Tyan, Intel
(you didn't mention which platform you're looking for). PCChips,
Amptron, ECS, Biostar, etc, etc, are low end whether they have integrated
video or not.
Click to expand...

true Kony..apologies for not mentioning the platform. Plan on going with an
AMD Athlon xp. I have had good luck with MSI boards. Going to price out an
Intel system but may be too high.

Thanks..

Dave C.
 
I bought two of them and I like them for systems where you want to
save some money. And though Id prefer a full fledged Asus A7n8x deluxe
or the abit equivalent - they are surprisingly good.

The two caveats for me are - the fact the Microatx versions only have
3 slots usually. Though you dont really need a lot of slots that sure
seems like a small amount though as people point out you get LAN,
sound already built in. About the only thing youd need is a TV card
or modem I guess so its no big deal.

The other is theres a fair amount of people who say you cant run at
200 FSB if you use onboard graphics. Thats its unstable. Now some can
and some cant. But its widespread enough that many board makers dont
even list 200 FSB anymore except in a footnote in the manual telling
you it can if you dont use the onboard graphics. I think technically
ALL the boards - the nforce 2 ones can run at 200 but some boardmakers
dont list it because of this - I maybe wrong but that was impression I
got.

If you wait around and they might have it now - the ASUS version is
often sold at Newegg for $45 . this seems like the avg refurb price
there for the non-micro ATX versions like the ASUS and BIOSTAR. Both
were 45. The Leadtek I bought was also 45. The biostar I bought was
35 because it was the same thing but it was microatx. Ive never seen
an abit like that. The main one to check is ASus . They intermittently
get some other brands like Leadtek or Biostar etc I think the new ones
are around $60-70 so the refurbs are a really good deal provided you
are as lucky as I am and get a trouble free one .

The two I bought - newegg warns that all of them are barebones -
meaning just the board in a white box no cables and panels and manuals
etc. The two i got were retail - full options with it. This seems to
be a hit and miss thing whether you get the retail box or not. The
accessories look new and were sealed. The box looked new - the board
looked new too but there a slight sign like scuffed plastic clips
where the heatsink goes on to show it was used briefly. They both work
great despite my whining about the biostar which had a wonky bios when
I first got it . Wouldnt work until I flashed up to the latest bios.

Personally I dont rate ANY of the boards listed with PCHIPS as low a
PCCHIPs . Ive had a really bad opinion of them since years ago when
MBs were actually expensive and they were one of the few cheapo boards
and someone said Toms Hardware gave it a good rating. Then I saw the
posts bashing them relentlessly everywhere. And there was that scandal
claiming they actually had plastic blobs masquerading as memory cache
on their boards. After that there were websites which told you what
boards - they were sold under a vaeriety of names - Amptron was one I
think and they often were the no-name boards sold for dirt cheap at
dubious places. They always seemed to be the botton of the barrel.

The two I got - I tested Harry Potter and some other games on them and
they run OK. Of course at much lower res and with a crude picture -
many of the effects are gone etc compared to my ATI 9800 XP 3200 ASus
a7n8x deluxe setup but it runs.

Another low cost alternative is buying the SOYO board at Newegg new -
I saw it for $47 today there and it has a $10 rebate. Dont know how
reliable soyo rebates are theyve been running LOTs of rebates lately.
They had a huge rebate deal at Mwave for months - get their microatx
with built in graphics board for free if you buy a prcessor there (its
over now) so you ended up with say a 2000 Athlon and soyo board for
108 -50 rebate= 58.

The one at newegg doesnt have graphics but is a full sized board with
sata raid built in and other stuff. The caveat there is as Ive posted
in another post - some reviewers say the ati9700+ cards lock up in the
board. Lesser cards seem to work.

Also Tiger Direct has the same soyo board in a system
http://www.tigerdirect.com/email/wem711.asp
$20 after rebates - the same soyo board with graphics I think ,
microatx and case/ps 350 watts , cheap speakers and keyboard.
Great deal if you want a cheap system but the caveats here are a lot
of people bash Tiger Direct so I dont know about the rebates though
others have said they got them. The other is - this microatx is a step
below the ones I mentioned - the graphics arent 400mx level and the
whole thing is like a emachines. A neighbor bought a emachines cheapo
deal though he got talked into tons of options ballooning the price up
but the basic MB etc was a real cheap with savage 3d graphics. That
was really cheapo. Couldnt play a lot of games that the 400mx could
and had a lot of conflicts. The TV cards he wanted wouldnt work with
the savage so I gave him a VooDoo 3 card ancient and that worked fine
with the TV card though it cant play almost ALL the games out now.
 
Hi all..building a machine for a local small business here. Nothing high
end. No gaming or anything that would require a lot of cpu or video card
horsepower.

I am trying to keep costs to a minimum however I want a dependable system. I
was thinking of straying from my original design and putting in a mobo that
offers onboard gfx. Personally I don't like it but if just basic
applications, web browsing, and emailing are about all that is going on
might this be a viable option? A low end gfx card was all that was going to
go in anyhow.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Dave
Click to expand...

IMO you'll be better off if you stay away from on board graphics. A low
end GeForce 4 MX-440-8x is only $40 and change. On board graphics require
more RAM and CPU time.

regards

Dud
 
The two I bought - newegg warns that all of them are barebones -
meaning just the board in a white box no cables and panels and manuals
etc. The two i got were retail - full options with it. This seems to
be a hit and miss thing whether you get the retail box or not.
Click to expand...

If forced to pick a percentage, I'd guesstimate that about 15-25%
of the Asus refurbs are whole, retail box with accessories.
Sometimes I'll see two refurb'd versions of same boards, which I
suspect is a differentiation between the bare and retail
versions, but I never bought the more expensive version instead
so that's just a guess. Myself, I've never received the cables
with one but they can be ordered from Asus, $2 for the rear I/O
shield (pretty important if you want case to look good on the
rear) or individual ports for (think it was) $5, whole port
kit/manual/etc for $25, plus $5 S/H. IIRC, they'll send the I/O
shield free, once per customer (not once per board).
 
If forced to pick a percentage, I'd guesstimate that about 15-25%
of the Asus refurbs are whole, retail box with accessories.
Sometimes I'll see two refurb'd versions of same boards, which I
suspect is a differentiation between the bare and retail
versions, but I never bought the more expensive version instead
so that's just a guess. Myself, I've never received the cables
with one but they can be ordered from Asus, $2 for the rear I/O
shield (pretty important if you want case to look good on the
rear) or individual ports for (think it was) $5, whole port
kit/manual/etc for $25, plus $5 S/H. IIRC, they'll send the I/O
shield free, once per customer (not once per board).
Click to expand...

you know I think you are probably right. I was wrong when I said ALL
the boards I got were retail the ASUS wasnt. I forgot about it. I got
the white box with that which was a more expensive board the ASus
a7n8x deluxe. I had forgotten I had to buy the accesories pack
separately directly from Asus which I did after I read in the Newegg
reviews that people were getting them there. One person wrote that he
got it FREE. I asked them why they were charging me - ha ha , and
they said they charge everybody. I didnt complain cause they only
charged me $20 for the pack and you got a lot of cables and stuff for
extra USB and firewire ports with that board which would have cost me
at least $20 and that included shipping and as I mentioend shipping is
a killer here. I would have been charged more than $20 just for
shipping even if it was free and they included shipping in that 20.

Also as usual I mangled that post - what I meant to say was PC CHIPs
was sold under a lot of names supposedly . Almost seemed like they
were hiding after the fake cache scandal. And I actually bought one of
those boards as a second board. I didnt like it. One site had a huge
number of names it was sold under and it seemed to be even sold under
no name at some places. Kind of like going to a supermarket and
finding some cheap house brand beer that just had "BEER" on the label.

The savage graphics stuff - there are tons of boards which use savage
and unichrome graphics instead of the 400mx level stuff. They tend to
be on cheaper boards. I tend to shy away because the chipset isnt an
nforce and they seem inferior though OK just not as good as the nforce
and the graphics - Im sure just for non games , just surfing the net
Savage is OK and maybe even unichrome - but since Nvda is one of the
leading graphics chipset makers and they constantly update their
drivers and probably have better performance in the 400mx video than
the savage or unichrome though Ive never seen any tests - I would tend
to go for the nvda boards.
 
Also as usual I mangled that post - what I meant to say was PC CHIPs
was sold under a lot of names supposedly . Almost seemed like they
were hiding after the fake cache scandal. And I actually bought one of
those boards as a second board. I didnt like it. One site had a huge
number of names it was sold under and it seemed to be even sold under
no name at some places. Kind of like going to a supermarket and
finding some cheap house brand beer that just had "BEER" on the label.
Click to expand...

PCChips is just one of the names, they are still sold under many
but some boards simply became very popular, like ECS K7S5A.

The savage graphics stuff - there are tons of boards which use savage
and unichrome graphics instead of the 400mx level stuff. They tend to
be on cheaper boards. I tend to shy away because the chipset isnt an
nforce and they seem inferior though OK just not as good as the nforce
and the graphics - Im sure just for non games , just surfing the net
Savage is OK and maybe even unichrome - but since Nvda is one of the
leading graphics chipset makers and they constantly update their
drivers and probably have better performance in the 400mx video than
the savage or unichrome though Ive never seen any tests - I would tend
to go for the nvda boards.
Click to expand...

Savage video is about on par with an OEM nVidia TNT2 (the OEM
significance being that they were slightly lower clocked
versions). I'm referring to the "normal" first TNT2, not the
later budgetized version that was called a "vanta" or "m64",
rather what was once nVidia's fastest GPU, for it's time.

For typical 2D work it'll do fine, but if a nForce2 board is even
remotely close in price it's probably worth a few extra $.
 
Hi all..building a machine for a local small business here. Nothing high
end. No gaming or anything that would require a lot of cpu or video card
horsepower.

I am trying to keep costs to a minimum however I want a dependable system.
Click to expand...

On-board video is usually more stable than an add-on card.
I
was thinking of straying from my original design and putting in a mobo that
offers onboard gfx.
Click to expand...

I use on-board video on all the non-gaming machines I build. Never a
problem.
Personally I don't like it but if just basic
applications, web browsing, and emailing are about all that is going on
might this be a viable option?
Click to expand...

Its not only viable...its preferable.


Have a nice week...

Trent©

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!
 
PCChips is just one of the names, they are still sold under many
but some boards simply became very popular, like ECS K7S5A.
Click to expand...

I didnt know ECS was PC CHIPs . I always had the impression that it
was kind of an iffy board from some of the posts but others have said
it was OK. I usually see them in relation to outrageous FRYs deals. I
guess thats why they are so cheap.It seems like an OK deal though
since you get a processor & board combo dirt cheap.
 
I didnt know ECS was PC CHIPs . I always had the impression that it
was kind of an iffy board from some of the posts but others have said
it was OK. I usually see them in relation to outrageous FRYs deals. I
guess thats why they are so cheap.It seems like an OK deal though
since you get a processor & board combo dirt cheap.
Click to expand...

At first they seem like a good deal, but when considering that
the lifespan is shorter, then suddenly for a savings of only
$20-50 the system might have 1/2 the lifespan. Many of us
wouldn't want to use a system, older slower technology for that
many years, yet I also know many people with (relatively) older
systems that have no need or desire to upgrade again unless
they're forced to... such people are more than glad to have cheap
older systems, cheap by technological age rather than because of
initial low-cost construction with a corresponding lower
reliability.

I'm also of the opinion that the components that board supported,
like a 60GB HDD, 1.5GHz CPU, etc, would be high enough
performance that they "would've" been viable for longer into the
future than yesteryears' technology.
 
Duddits said:
IMO you'll be better off if you stay away from on board graphics. A low
end GeForce 4 MX-440-8x is only $40 and change. On board graphics require
more RAM and CPU time.

regards

Dud
Click to expand...
house.

Lol..sorry it took me a while I was out buying a house:o))

Went with a MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR. Built a few machines with this board. Put
in a low end ati card and everything went fine. Thanks for the replies.

Dave
 
Duddits said:
IMO you'll be better off if you stay away from on board graphics. A low
end GeForce 4 MX-440-8x is only $40 and change. On board graphics require
more RAM and CPU time.

regards

Dud
Click to expand...
house.

Lol..sorry it took me a while I was out buying a house:o))

Went with a MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR. Built a few machines with this board. Put
in a low end ati card and everything went fine. Thanks for the replies.

Dave
 
Back
Top