Help in choosing a MOTHERBOARD

[BarontheFirst]

Was kinda wondering what is going on in the world of mothboards lately and what everyone is using. Basically I am looking to pickup a AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 2.16GHz 333FSB Socket A cpu and can't decide what board to get or from who. I have been happy with Biostar in the past but now I see that ASUS, ABIT, and a few other companies got some nice boards. Basically I am replacing or upgrading my personal PC and using what is in it for my MAME cabinet. What I have now is a Athlon XP 1800+ and a Biostar M7VIG motherboard. This should more than take care of the games I play on the cab. Anyway please let me know. Thank's for any info!!!!

[pointdablame]

I've built 3 systems around the Asus A7N8X mobo and totally love it.  The Abit NF7 is also really really good.

I don't think they make the A7N8X Deluxe anymore... there is an A7N8X-E  I think which replaced it.  Either way, I'd look at one of those 2 if I were you.

[SteveJ34]

I have always been a strong believer in ASUS and have also built 5 stations around the same board mentioned above.

[Matt Berry]

The Asus A7n8X Deluxe and Asus A7n8x-E Deluxe (make sure it is the deluxe board) are both very good boards. I have built 2 systems with it for myself and countless others for other people. The only problem with this board is the post voice is on crack and will sometimes report problems that don't exist. It is very easy to turn off and doesn't effect anything.

Asus makes very nice motherboards - I've built a lot of systems with other boards abit, biostar, FIC, but my top 2 choices are Asus and MSI.

[BarontheFirst]

Thanks for the quick replies I will look into making my next mobo a ASUS then

[SOAPboy]

Built 3 machines with this board

http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_GA-7N400%20Pro2%20(Rev%201.x).htm

for Socket A, ill but NOTHING but that board.. REV 2 IS out so yeah..

Seriously tho, that board is so solid its really amazing..

[BarontheFirst]

Well here is my order!


80179-R  AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 2.16GHz 333FSB 512KB Processor Retail *** Free 2nd Day

240314  Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe nForce2 Ultra 400 Athlon(XP)/Duron SktA DDR ATX Motherbaord w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, Serial ATA Retail ***Free 2nd Day*** 


I hope everyone likes this!

[Matt Berry]

Now all you have to do is get some good memory for that combo. 1gb of OCZ 3200 with 2-2-2-5 timings is cheap and makes a huge difference. Corsair XMS is nice too, but not as good as the OCZ - Couple that with a Raptor or 2 and your system will be smokin 

[Bluntman]

I've built many systems, in each I've either selected a MSI or asus. I've never been unhappy with either, in even the smallest sense.

[jfunk]

One thing I love about my ASUS board (A7n8x) is the 'MyLogo2' stuff..  Create your own bios boot logo so you don't get the standard ide discovery/ram initialization/etc..  Gets rid of that pesky 'PC' feel    Straight into a custom WinXP boot screen and then MAMEWAH as a shell.  Can't beat it