Budget Skt754 Mobo needed

[MikeyB]

Hi Everyone,

I'm putting together a budget PC together for work (internet/office/email) with a bit of light gaming. I have some parts for it which i have scavenged from prior upgrades, but am now in need of some core components. The parts I have is an 8XAGP card (Rad9600Pro), 512Mb PC3200 DDR, DVD ROM drive and a 160Gb SATA HDD.

I was looking at getting a Skt754 board and a Sempron 2500+ to go with it. I'm after recommendations on the board to get. What I need is a 8x slot, at least 1 SATA, and onboard NIC and sound (neither of which need to be flash)and not much more. However I would like to buy from on of the upper tier manufacturers (Asus, MSI, GigaByte). Any thoughts on a budget board from these guys?

Ta
Mike

[JustAnEngineer]

Is $64 cheap enough?

Edit: Two weeks later, it's only $50.

[Philldoe]

get the EPoX 8KDA3+ or this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813123225

[just brew it!]

If you want peace and quiet, the MSI K8MM-V has a thermally controlled CPU fan header that works even without the CNQ driver installed. I haven't done a full system build with this board yet, but I'm currently burning one in with Folding@home, and plan to use it in a HTPC build. Seems stable and solidly built... has passive cooling for the northbridge (always a plus in my book!), and heatsinks on the voltage regulators.

Unless you're planning on doing some light gaming on this box, you could save the R9600Pro for another build and just use the K8MM-V's onboard UniChrome graphics...

Edit: Weird... seems that there are two slightly different versions of this board. The one I have (K8MM-V), which I picked up at the TigerDirect Outlet, has the heatsinks on the regulators... the one on NewEgg's site (which they can't seem to decide whether it is called a K8MM-V or a K8M800-CE) appears identical, other than the fact that it is missing the heatsinks on the regulators.

[Turkina]

I just got a Gigabyte K8NS ($58 ) and its been great. Needed a BIOS flash to recognize my Sempy 3400+ though, using the windows @BIOS utility it was painless (phew)

If youre REAL budget conscious, theres a Foxconn SiS760 mobo ($49) that will save you a few bucks (and Ive heard some good things about it, considering its lack of frills).

~Turkina

[just brew it!]

I just got a Gigabyte K8NS ($58 ) and its been great. Needed a BIOS flash to recognize my Sempy 3400+ though, using the windows @BIOS utility it was painless (phew)

If youre REAL budget conscious, theres a Foxconn SiS760 mobo ($49) that will save you a few bucks (and Ive heard some good things about it, considering its lack of frills).

~Turkina

I'd be a little wary of this board. We had a couple of 'em at work; one inexplicably died after a couple of weeks, the other one would not POST following a BIOS flash to the latest version (yes we tried clearing the CMOS).

[LicketySplit]

The one linked is a good board, altho the 3+Pro is better( and a bit more expensive). Epox is a great platform, you will love the features.

[MikeyB]

Thanks guys for the info!

JBI, which board did you have the grief with? The foxconn or the gigabyte?


Mike

[just brew it!]

Thanks guys for the info!

JBI, which board did you have the grief with? The foxconn or the gigabyte?

Gigabyte. I've never used the Foxconn one.