wanted: transitional mobo on a budget guys, need help on my upcoming upgrade. i'm looking at a system that will make me use some of the stuff i have right now and move up slowly. speed is not my main concern but 1.7 or 1.8 is where i like to start with. right now i got a stick of 128MB PC133 SDRAM, a 16MB ATi Rage Pro, a 10GB harddisk. i also have a Kingston 256MB PC133 in another machine and a GForce 2 64MB & 3Com NIC that can be exchageable. first off just for a challenge i need it in micro ATX size. hopefully one with built-in graphic and AGP slot. AMD or Intel (Celeron 1.7/1.8 – they are cheap) will do. built in sound (LAN would be nice). FYI I’ve never played around with an AMD machine before. this machine will replace my current P3 550 on a MSI board. it will be used mainly do to basic graphics with fireworks, dreamweaver, net, office docs, no games (seriously...i don't play). Anybody running an ASROCK board? so fire away and make me a happy dude.
Why do you want to buy an 'all-in-one' board? Usually they are poorly made, cheaply produced, and performs rather poorly. I wouldn't recommend that kind of system at all, unless you are seriously looking for a budget system, doing simple office work, and strictly no games. You can build a cheap, and reasonably powerful AMD system. Athlon XP 1700+ is about RM235 only. That's really affordable IMO.
I tend to disagree. Buy an all in one mobo that has expansion features (5-6 PCI, AGP, etc), that way when you need to you can just buy a PCi Sound card and the best Video card and you will have a great system, without spending much. I would recommend an nforce (if you can find them) or nforce2 with 6.1 sound. not too cheap though.
nforce 2 platform is your only choice then good performance, fantastic onboard sound which can do dolby digital encoding and decoding..onboard NIC and integrated graphics..if you are an overclocker, PCI and AGP bus is locked 8) ...and the best thing is..it's not from VIA just need to get urself a HD, 1 stick of RAM(2 if u want dual channel) and a CPU and u r ready to rock. *too bad they don't have the one with on-board graphics now (but they are coming out soon) Fedele: soundstorm only 5.1 larrr...audigy 2 is 6.1
nForce2 based boards may be your board of choice because of the many features that they integrate onto the board. The only drawback right now is that is still in limited availability and its kinda expensive. If you can wait, then the prices may drop a little when the board becomes more mainstream!
But he wants a MicroATX board, and I don't see any MicroATX board in the market with many expansion options. And most important of all, he has a budget to meet. When I think of all-in-one boards, I always think of SiS and Intel, because both of them offers cheap on board graphics solutions. So don't get me wrong. I do agree nForce2 is the best option.
thanx for the suggestions, and i do agree with most of your concern but i have a budget to meet and i'm building a system thats going to be compact and housed in a slim casing. i'm tired of bulky towers and extra PCI slots that i don't even use. in all my computing years since the 486, i have yet to use more than 3 of the slots. i figured if i can find a compact mobo, even 1 PCI slot would be enough, that's stable, i won't even have to rip it open every once in a while. i guess i'm trying to get something in the line of barebone system from ASUS (Prodigy), MSI (Metis AMD based) and Gigabyte (GMAX FA/FB series). this would be the PC i won't mess with, the main gig, while i tear the other one every week. check out www.mini-itx.com for my inspiration. thanx Chai for understanding. like i said, i don't play games, i used to have a SB live now it's somewhere in its box, and i run my audio out to my seperate hi-fi system, it's adequate for me. on the other hand i would be building a recording rig in the near future and that machine will have a sound card that'll cost more than the PC itself. is there any board with nForce2 that's in microATX? how about the VIA mini-ITX board, seen any around KL? and have any of you seen any slim casing around KL, FYI the Lian Li 9300 is still bulky for my needs. those small cutie board makes me drool, perfect for a project. and like the subject suggest, it's suppose to help me move slowly with what i have in hand. if i have the money i won't even be here asking ques, would i? i do dream about the Abit Max2 but i just don't have the cash.
If you want portability, flex-ATX solution is pretty good at what it does. It's quite affordable. If I remember correctly, RM800 should get you a EPIA-800 system. But it also depends whether you want a CD-ROM or not. I don't think they sell mini-ITX off the shelf. You might have to order. I'm not extremely familiar with this sort of system.
800 bucks!!! outta my league dude..... i'll keep dreaming. flex ATX, what's the size like? any model you can point me too? i was checking out the ASUS P4S 533 VM. what do u think. and what kind of chipset do u think i should look at at which to avoid?
RM800 includes the processor, mobo, on board graphics, sound, it's basically a complete system. I would avoid Asus at all cost, especially if they are low end models! Below RM350 are 'classified' as low end. Now I'm confused. I remembered that flex ATX is a very small form factor, but then I found out that it's as big as typical ATX board. Try www.shuttleonline.com and look for XPC.
thanx Chai. o.k, i think i better narrow down my choices. i'm thinking of getting an AMD based board with maybe a XP1700. what board can u recommend? i've been reading alot about ABIT nowadays but the good boards cost a fortune. what if i get a low level board with SDRAM (very important since i have budget for mobo and processor only right now) and move up when i have the money. i can shift my GForce 2, HD, NIC and the 256MB ram over. if below RM350 for an ASUS is low end how about other brand? like Abit, MSI and the like? BTW have you seen the ASUS Prodigy? it's a barebone system in an ASUS slim casing, i think it the P4S533 mobo, going for RM650. what do u think?
Epox 8khA+ and 83kA+..both also below RM350 wert..but they were one of best board in the market few months ago. I think anything below RM300 is 'classified' as low end, not RM350 (but still, 8KHA+ only RM290 ) if you want to get a board that can run SDRAM now, and able to support DDR-RAM when you wanna upgrade in the future, you might want to try ECS K7S5A (SiS 735). but as you know, ECS..ermm + SIS ... hehe... Tell us ur budget. 1000? 1500? 2000? 2500? 5000!? 8000?!!!
Actually I'm talking about Asus only. Ask Adrian himself. He will say the same thing. My friend works with an Asus distributor. He told me personally that Asus low end board sucks. Reliability wise, even the packaging shows! I bought my MSI KT3 Ultra for only RM330, so is it considered as low end?
thanx again Chai and ZuePhOk. i'll read up some info on these boards and get back at you. geez, i'm ashamed of my budget, i have to say around RM300 bucks for the board. i'll sell something to get the processor. i kinda like the red MSI boards.... where can u find EPOX board around Low Yat? i mean one that has more than one model? and do u guys have any favorite shop in low yat or anywhere else in K.L for that matter? and thanx guys... this really helps, beats talking to yourself.
chai: ohh asus only horrr..i tot all the brands dude: there is nothing to be ashamed of your budget. you think we all bought our mobo for RM600-700? NAhhh...crazy..my mobo also 310 oni..we ain't millionaire..
i checked around with the price list i collected from low yat and i can't find the EPOX board listed anywhere. any clue where i can find it? so ZuePhOk, tell me what mobo ur running right now?
o.k dude, don't get so excited..... any idea where i can find it then? and Chai, how's the performance of your MSI? care to share with me?
It's just past midnight... so Happy Birthday, ZuePhOk! Hope you get all the hardware goodies you dream of at night! Heheh...
adrian..NO NO..i don't think you got my point. I mean 03-01-03 is my board 1 year old birthday not MINE hehehe
