Cheap Solid Mobo

S

soccerstar426

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Jun 21, 2004
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Anybody have some suggestions for a fairly cheap motherboard that is solid and usually stable. It's for a friend of mine, I think it's a 2.4Ghz Processor he has now. He's gonna keep the same processor, but it's from a Gateway which doesn't have an AGP slot in it, so he needs a new mobo. Suggestions?
 
I would suggest if you are going on the cheap to use ECS. You can usually pickup an ECS board for 30-40 dollars. I have never had any problems with ECS and use them all the time for family members that are looking for a cheap upgrade.


Novensu
 
I've personally used lots of PC chips boards. I know they have a less than stellar image, but oh heck 20+ boards later no DOA's, no rma's. Squeeky clean. Mostly the AMD boards, but i imagine intel should be similar.

Beyond that i've heard good things about ecs, so i'll second that.
 
I pick up an ECS mobo for my sis for a cheap board. I know alot of people my disagree and say they are junk. I have had no prob with them. They also tend to offer a little more then the reliable brands at that price. It's your decision really but i've used quite a few and never had a problem.
 
i would recommend ECS..or even a smaller board with a AGP slot but high performance...get a little bang for your buck..
 
ECS is fine, despite what people say about them, they do work fine. They don't really make enthusiast motherboards, but then again, not everyone is an uber computer geek like most of us on this forum are. If you can find a Soyo board, those work fine too, but ECS boards will probably be a little cheaper.
 
I'm also looking for a cheap intel motherboard. Right now my friend can get an Intel chipset based Asus board for around $45. Its MicroATX form factor, fairly new, and I'm wanting to start a new biz soon so I need to find cheap and reliable systems, overclocking is not important. I was afraid of using PC Chips but if the reports are true that they are good then I guess I could go with them? Wise enough to use them to sell PC's to clients?
 
Longggggggggggggg longgggggggggg time ago during the Pentium 133 MMX days, I did own a PCchips mobo and it worked fine. Then later I bought a new PCchips mobo for a PII mobo, and it didn't even boot. Since then I haven't thought about PCchips again. My next couple of mobo's were ASUS's for my PII 400mhz and P4 2.4ghz and the quality and performance was great. I just recently upgraded to a P4 3ghz and went with an ECS board cause it was part of the combo deal at Fry's Electronics. I put the computer together over the weekend had no problems. I also helped my GF put together a P4 2.6ghz computer using an ECS board and that worked fine as well.

Sooo the point is......after that long paragraph....is:

ASUS = Great.......definately buy again
ECS = works like it is suppose to.........will buy if price is decent
PCchips = 1 worked, 1 died..........................but will never buy again
 
The reason it didn't boot is because PC Chips ship their boards with the CMOS reset jumper set to the clear position to save battery power, but since they are an el cheapo brand, they don't spend money on any documentation telling you this. I'm currently awaiting a new one for my server that shall arrive upon the morrow. My friend used an ECS mobo in his comp and the integrated ethernet didn't work, and also his 2.6ghz processor was forced to run at 2ghz because the auto setting for the FSB detected 400mhz and if you tried to change the jumper to force it at 533mhz (stock for the CPU) the board wouldn't even boot. Got my hands on the board when he upgraded and it's currently running my old 1.8ghz p4, works just peachy once I put a network card in it.
 
Ok, so to stay safe and to avoid headaches in the future, I should avoid PC Chips and possibly ECS? Another question though, how are VIA chipsets these days? Are they still plagued with problems how they used to be in the past?
 
AVOID ECS and SiS like the plague.

Via is okay. MSI P4MAM is a cheap board that is excellent. However, I think the MSI 865 Neo is worth the extra cash.
 
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