Whcih Motherboard to chose? 3 cheap ones battle for the gold

[pete_portugal]

Purpose: Celeron 2.0 Ghz, 2x 128mb sdram pc133 (will work at 100) geforce 2 mx 400 64mb agp, sb 128 pci, 8.4 dma66 hard drive

Also, I was considering getting 256mb ddr ram if any of you thinks I'll win anything over the 2x 128mb sdram with any of these 3 motherboards



Which of these 3 motherboards to chose from?

Matsonic MS9147C
ASROCK PEPRO SIS645
ECS P4VxASD-2+


Can anyone please help me decide with strong points on each? I have but a day to chose from.

[BipolarBill]

You're turning into a real spammer, Pete. ;)

Get the Asrock - it's an Asus in disguise.

[$1500-P4 gamer]

Yep Im with BP on that one. Asrock is good and is the low-end name for asus products. Its gonna be the better of the budget boards.:)

[pete_portugal]

Yeah, I'm a big spammer now :))

So ASROCK it is... here's how my pc will be friday:


ASRock PEPro P4 DDR/SDR SIS645 ATX Board
Celeron 2.0Ghz
256mb DDR 333Mhz
MSI Geforce 2 MX400 64mb AGP
Sound Blaster 128 PCI

What do you guys think?

I should stick with the sound card right? The built in audio is inferior than my trusty sb128?

[Ammok]

The g2mx400 will disapoint you.:(

[pete_portugal]

Hehe, I have it for some time now actually, so the correct would be to say it will continue to disapoint me!!!! :)))))

I might get a new hard drive 40gb and a geforce 4 mx440 64mb ddr later.. better no?

[BiG MiKeY]

Ge4mx card is a comparable to Geforce2 performance. buy ureslef a cheap gamer card im guessing ti4200 minumum for the latest games.

[BipolarBill]

Yup - get a Ti4200.

[omega31]

The Asrock since it doesn't use a VIA chipset. Good choice. Try the onboard sound. If you don't like it, you can switch later.

Get a ti4200, or even a geforce3. But stay away from those MX cards.

[killer_teddy]

Wots wrong with mx cards?

[Ammok]

They are very much like early intel celerons, castrated.

[deadkenny]

Regarding the video card, you should see if you can find a GF3, in preference to the GF4MX. Otherwise, ATI has some good cards in that price range you should check out.

Personally I don't care much for ASUS implementations of SiS chipsets (e.g. P4S8X). All the more so if they call it ASROCK, because that's their bargain line (2 phase instead of 3 phase voltage regulation etc.). If you want to go for an ASUS, then stick to their Intel chipsets (P4PE or P4G8X).

Once again I'll reiterate my point that Celeron plus SDRAM means crippled performance. If you want to put together a decent system you really should come up with the extra dollars for a P4 (even 1.6A or 1.8A would be a big improvement) and DDR. Otherwise go AMD, or even Tualatin.

[Ammok]

deadkenny's recommendation

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/EWspec.html?c=NOV-GF3

pretty good value.

[whargoul]

Hey Bill, I'm curious to know where you found out that ASRock is related to Asus. As far as I know, Asus has denounced any association with ASRock. Also, the closest relation I have personally found is with Amptron.

[BipolarBill]

http://www.prosouth.co.nz/hardware/systems/systems.php?page=work

[Trash Can Man]

Do not buy Asrock. They only have 2 phase voltage control like deadkenny said. 3 phase is the industry standard now and has been for 2 years. Even dirt cheap mobos all have 3 phase. I personally think Asus is far overrated and would go with ECS. When it comes to buying a mobo keep 2 things in mind, avoid via chipsets and make sure the mobos 3 phase.

[sm8000]

Hello and welcome to 18 months ago! :p

[Yoshi]

Wow this thread is old, i bet he has a whole new rig by now lol

[causticVapor]

with a celeron d or something. I wish they made tualerons up to 2GHz; they could've done it, too

[zepper]

Nothing wrong with Via chipsets, at least for AMD - you're living in the past, get over it.
The Asrock is the one of the three you listed I would get. ECS. Matsonic and PC Cheaps are all the same company and I wouldn't have them as a gift.
.bh.

:t

[sm8000]

PC Chips boards are just fine, nothing wrong with them at all. My M847LU has been great from Day 1.

[Billforce]

Almost 90% of all the computers in Colombia were built with PC Chips motherboards so they are common. The only real rank I have on the boards is certain series of boards like the M748 or similar series dual CPU slot boards will die for no apparent reason. These are all P11, P111 and Celeron (most of them) CPU boards. Oddly though, when one slot dies like the 370 pin, sometimes the slot 1 will work fine? The weakest point of all the boards is the onboard video, really suxs. The newer boards seem to be rock solid with few problems.

[causticVapor]

As for the voltage regulation comment, some configurations of two-phase regulators can handle more current than some three-phase regulator configs, so do not use the "more is better" rule all the time.

[Peter M]

Billforce, those boards are from the "bad capacitor" era (where cheapass capacitor makers used a stolen, incomplete formula that lacks the ingredients for long term stability). Check for bulged or leaking capacitors.