Looking for a Motherboard - need advice

[SSJpn]

I'm looking to get either a P4 1.7GHz-ish or AthlonXP 1700+ ish. Could anyone please give me about three good motherboards for each processor that I could read about and decide on?

For the P4 all I have in mind is the ASUS P4T
For the Athlon I know of ASUS A7V266-E and the Epox 8KHA+

but I want about 3 boards each to choose from.

PS - money is not a restraint but if there are good cheap boards out there, those will do as well.

Thanks

 

[tempo21]

hey

my advice is to look for a quality board with good support. Your suggestions are good.
Consider the abit KG7 and KT7 series boards. ALso IWILL mobos are very fast and favour overclockers. Personally if you go with ASUS - i dont think youll be disappointed.
T3/\/\p()
tek-tips regular.
_________________

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http://www.strikeforcecenter.com

 

[ceh4702]

I am using a FIC AD11 Motherboard for my Athlon 1.2 gig CPU.
It has on board audio. Seems stable to me. This board has good reviews. Cost is about $125.00. I would buy a good case with extra ventillation. They make some nice tower cases with 2 fans in front and 2 fans in the rear. An aluminum case reduces the heat by 10 degrees. Look around a bit before you decide. Less heat can make the components last longer. You might try looking at some case mod sites for links to good cases. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[paparazi]

Not sure about the P4 but for the Athlon make sure it has the latest Via KT266a chipset! NOTEa*and NOT just KT266
This is the fastest chipset for the Athlon and Palemino processors, so the fastest boards are those that use it!
Next is the SIS 735
Then the AMD760 with Via southbridge
the Via KT266
Lastly the Ali Magic
The chipset Governs the ultimate speed of the board. Martin. Vote if you found this post helpful please!!

 

[Jakespeare]

I am a 1-man OEM computer builder / service tech. I have built approximately 600 PC's myself.

I have personally used about 400 ASUS mainboards.

Need I say more ?


*Only SuperMicro makes a better mainboard than ASUS.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

ASUS are good, ABit are just as good, IMO

Also worth considering are Tyan and Gigabyte.

http://www.tomshardware.com

has some excellent reviews to help you make up your mind.

I hope this helps

 

[SSJpn]

Jakespeare - wow thats a lot of computer. Maybe you can suggest to me some good Hard drive and CD/RW manufacturers, or better yet the exact models? Also what are some qualities that I should look into when looking at hard drives and CD/RW???

thanks?? if you get this

 

[paparazi]

7,200rpm drives from Seagate (BarracudaIV),
Diamond Maxtor(Diamond Plus 60 range)
Also WD Western Digitals 7,200
All have very good reviews.
I have seen some concerns about certain IBM Deskstars!!
and unreliability issues?? although I have not experienced problems myself.
CDRW : Again going on reviews : Plextor, TDK, Yamaha seem to be consistantly tops, I am sure there are a couple more worth considering. Martin Vote if you found this post helpful please!!