Need A Good Motherboard Search Engine

[Orangeman]

Hey Gang,

I'm looking for a specific type of motherboard. Must meet the following requirements:

Takes 512 64x64 (high density) sdram
Upgradeable to DDR ram
can take either Pentium or Amd (at least) 2G processor
AGP 2 (4x) or greater

I've looked around quite a bit and haven't found a motherboard that meets all these requirements. Is what I'm looking for impossible or can someone point me in the right direction?

I guess what I'm looking for is a motherboard search engine, so I can plug in the requirements and come up with a result.

Thanks,
Orangeman

[NooNoo]

the mobos that have both sdram and ddr capabilities are low end pc chips type boards.

I take it you mean you dont mind whether it is amd or pentium

It's not impossible, just inadvisable.

[slgrieb]

You might want to check out the MSI KM2M-L. See specs at http://www.msicomputer.com/product/d...l=KM2M_Combo-L

MSI boards carry a 3 year warranty ( 2 years parts and labor, 1 year parts only) and I have found them to be very reliable boards. I've RMA'd something like 2 or 3 in the past 4 years. Should cost you something like $68.

[Orangeman]

Thanks Cowboy,

You just helped me out an awful lot!!

Thanks,
Orangeman

[DocPC]

Thanks Cowboy,

You just helped me out an awful lot!!

Thanks,
Orangeman

So you want to go from one turd to another?

How about I send you a pic of the blown caps on the MSI boards I replace on a weekly basis for a school district here...........last count was near 400.

Punkinhead, spring some bux and get a REAL board. I'll help ya. I might even sell to ya wholesale if ya give up AOL..... :butt:

[Major Kong]

What about the ECS K7S5A-Pro? Low end board yes, but I've used a couple of them with no issues at all. They are under $50.

But seriously though ya might want to see what the Doc has in stock.

[freddy]

Hey Gang,

I'm looking for a specific type of motherboard. Must meet the following requirements:

Takes 512 64x64 (high density) sdram
Upgradeable to DDR ram
can take either Pentium or Amd (at least) 2G processor
AGP 2 (4x) or greater

I've looked around quite a bit and haven't found a motherboard that meets all these requirements. Is what I'm looking for impossible or can someone point me in the right direction?

I guess what I'm looking for is a motherboard search engine, so I can plug in the requirements and come up with a result.

Thanks,
Orangeman

nice bedtime reading book for you here http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...&category=1107 ,,,,

then u can work yourself up to 486s then p1 and then see the SPLIT in arcatecture between intel and amd


freddy

[Orangeman]

nice bedtime reading book for you here http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...&category=1107 ,,,,

then u can work yourself up to 486s then p1 and then see the SPLIT in arcatecture between intel and amd


freddy

Sorry Freddy, that seems a bit too advanced for me...

Okay, so I'm looking for and AMD...

[freddy]

Sorry Freddy, that seems a bit too advanced for me...

Okay, so I'm looking for and AMD...

ok , try this http://www.newegg.com/app/manufactor...alog=22&DEPA=1
for amd cpus , or this for intel http://www.newegg.com/app/manufactor...log=280&DEPA=1

or this for via http://www.newegg.com/app/manufactor...log=355&DEPA=1 CAUTION ??? this refers to PCCHIPS m/boards,


seriously , i think the links only refer to -instock- items- , but hope its a help


cheers freddy

[slgrieb]

OK. couldn't resist. Had to jump back in. In spite of DocPC's opinion, I've had fewer returns on MSI than most boards including Asus, Abit, Gigabyte, and Intel. MSI is the third largest mobo mfg now, and their sales are increasing about 12-13% a quarter. Hmm. ECS are not bad boards, but they are pretty bare bones boards. I like the utility bundle with MSI' s stuff and consider them worth the extra money.

Hey, Doc, how about some recommendations for Orangeman. Since we are here for mutual help and support, a positive contribution would be nice. Everyone's experience with products varies; let's hear yours.

Orangeman, you can find all kinds of reviews of mainboards online. AnandTech, Hardware Central, Sharky Extreme, and AMD's list of recommended boards are all good resources. Beyond brands, I'd say buy the board locally from someone with a reputation for support.

[DocPC]

We sell ECS.....high failure rate. We have no choice in the matter, as cheap customers require them.

We do have an Asus offshoot called Asrock. Cheap, takes AMD and has 2 ea SDRAM and DDR. It's a micro board with all down but includes an AGP slot, and a VIA chipset.

Our normal customers use mostly Intel product.

[Radical Dreamer]

I've been using an ASUS P4S533-MX and it runs fine, takes either 2 SDRAM or 2 DDR sticks, supports up to 3000mhz+ P4 at 533 bus, has onboard everything, but thats easily disabled.

[Rô©kHøµñÐ]

I have been using ASUS's CUSL2 for almost 3 years now not a single problem.

While we are on the subject of motherboards though, anyone have any problems with gigabyte boards? I am thinking of going with one of thier i875p boards for my next system.

[Froghead]

In our 9 years in business we've built over 5000 systems using the following mainboards, Shuttle, QDI, ABIT, ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI as well as the odd Intel, Soyo and IWill. We are the only company in our town who offers a standard 3 year warranty with all of our systems hence durabilty, reliability and support are more important to us than price. We still use Shuttle for all our All-in-one onboard systems. Asus and Gigabyte for our mid to upper range boxes.
Our favourite is a toss up. Asus has a 3 year warranty and Gigabyte just 2.

Personally I have an ABIT KT7 runnning a Duron 700 for the kids and this one is an MSI KT3 Duron 1200. Previously had an Asus P5A K6/2 500 and a QDI Explorer/250 P166MMX. All four systems have always run flawlessly and still are to this day, even the older ones for their current owners.

Over the years we have seen good boards, bad models, bad production runs, bad BIOS, dropped shipping containers etc. from EVERY manufacturer.

In my opinion the most important thing to look for in a mainboard is not price but SERVICE and SUPPORT.

Examples of our service.
1 - Customer bought all the components for a system for his 15 year old son to build a computer with. He returns a few days later with the box complaining about the bad motherboard I sold his son. Said we'll have alook at it later in the day. When I look I notice that when the son installed the maonboard in the case three of the tabs from the backplate weren't bent out of the way of the USB and LAN ports and probably shorted out the board. I called up the father, told him to bring down his son and I would show him what he had done wrong. Explained it's no big deal, we've done it ourselves but basically it's his fault the board is dead. BUT... I'll send it back to the distributor as an DOA RMA and get a replacement for him as long as he can wait a few days. No problem, I just charged them for the R & R and testing of the board and they were happy.
2 - Customer bought mainboard that quit after 3 months. He brought it in and we upgraded him to a different one for jjuts the price difference. He comes back a few hours later saying new one is dead too. I ask did he change the jumper for the correct FSB. Ahhh...no. I change it for him and away he goes.
3 - Customer bought new system on internet - comes with DOA mainboard.
Internet company has no stock and he's out of luck until they get some.
We sell him new board and install it and offer to sell his replacement on consignment when he gets. Bad news is the board we sell him croaks after 6 months after he does the ASUS BIOS LiveUpdate. We replaced it again.

Moral of the longwinded saga above. Find a good local Computer shop that offers good products and backs up what they sell. While everyone here can offer outstanding advise in the end it's vendor support that may count the most.

And finally, with all I hear about ECS we can honestly say the only ECS boards we've seen were dead ones.

For more info on motherboards go to
http://www.motherboards.org/rank/AMD...oard-rank.html