buying a new MOBO can't decide!!!

[philipg]

I'm in the middle of purchaseing a new MOBO and have done alot of digging to find that these offer the best of what I want in a board:

1.) BCM - GVC VP1541

2.) Gigabyte - GA - 5AX

3.) ASUS P5A.

Now I have a k6-2/333(66) and want a board I can upgrade in the future. But I can't decide which one of these is worth the buck. I already have other accessories in mind for video(AGP) and sound.

I just want to know what everyone else's experiences were/are with these or can you recommend a different one.

Thanks for all input.

[JimS]

If you are going to use AGP video card, I might steer clear of the ALI chipsets. The highest rated SS7 board is the Epox MVP3G-M. Check out reviews at Anand Tech, Super7.net, etc.

[Susan]

Yes, I have to agree...stay away from the ALI chipset. How about the Soyo 5EMA+? It's got the ETEQ chipset, made by VIA for Soyo and it's great.

[philipg]

I thought the Via VP3 chipsets couldn't handle the 100Mhz bus frequency very well only ALI and the VP4 chipsets did.

I don't know the article may have been wrong.

[philipg]

Thanks for you input Those are both very nice boards but I'm still stuck on deciding unless I just end up getting the Epox 51MVP4E-M board. That looks like the best I've seen, but would like to see a price for it somewhere.

[Susan]

I use the 5EMA (the plus did away with the simm slots), an AMD 400, and SB AGP TNT without a hiccup.

[Roy]

Check my reply at www.sysopt.com/forum/Forum5/HTML/000807.html (http://www.sysopt.com/forum/Forum5/HTML/000807.html)

[tpetre]

i have a ga5ax ver.4.1 ali chipset and have run a stb v4400 and a cl ultra tnt2 with no problems at all plus the gigabyte is easy to set dipswitchs and bus speeds to 140mhz in 5 mhz steps cant get that on an epox.