On board video audio?

[xtremsabu]

Would you advise staying away from motherboards with on board video and audio? Also if a motherboard had on board agp video and onboard 3d audio. Who i be able to get a sound and a new video card and then disable them or will they work together?

[DManly]

Well, if you want to assemble you computer in the cheapest way possible, then having the vid and audio on board makes a lot of sense. (I saw a 100mhz board with 4mb AGP & SB compatible for about a $100, wow!)However, if you are interested in getting state of the art video & audio, then this in not a good way to go.

Further, most integrated motherboards give you the option of turning off the built in audio / video. But, like anything, I have seen boards that do not allow this. Check before you buy.

One last thing, If you are considering a prebuilt system from a large vendor, then most likely it will feature a "house brand" motherboard, made specificaly for that computer system / case. Not much upgrade path there. Unless you change a lot of components including the case.

Good luck!

[Peter M]

Hi!

When a board has an AGP graphics device onboard or integrated into the chipset, it cannot have an AGP slot as well. If you want to upgrade the video in the future, it will have to be PCI.

Onboard sound devices do not impose such a problem. Want to replace it? Disable it, and use an add-on card instead.

I have positive experience with the all-in-one socket-7 boards that PC-Chips make. The SiS 6326AGP they use for graphics has good 2D performance, refresh rates and picture quality. The 3D part has good image quality and DirectX6 compatibility (only two of the more sophisticated fog modes and anti-aliasing are missing); the 3D performance is mediocre though.

Regards, Peter