which motherboard

yaacov81

i need to replace my motherboard.
there seem to be a million to choose from.
i want something for around £50.
any suggestions what to get and where to get from?
i have a pentum 4 cpu.

lellie

erm..

first ask yourself a few questions..

do you want onboard sound?
do you want onboard graphics?
What else do you want built in? Network card?

Places to buy - ebuyer or dabs are probably best..

Manufacturers.. Abit, Asus... MSI perhaps..

SONIC_2

erm..

first ask yourself a few questions..

do you want onboard sound?
do you want onboard graphics?
What else do you want built in? Network card?

Places to buy - ebuyer or dabs are probably best..

Manufacturers.. Abit, Asus... MSI perhaps..

If you answer the questions about on board sound, video etc, I'll happily try to help you out. It may also help if you could tell me the speed of your P4 chip, and if you know it, the type of memory you have installed.

lellie

If you answer the questions about on board sound, video etc, I'll happily try to help you out.  It may also help if you could tell me the speed of your P4 chip, and if you know it, the type of memory you have installed.

yeah that's what I'd need to help too..

having P4 would suggest DDR RAM hopefully finding a SD RAM board is near impossible these days..

yaacov81

i already have all the toher components.
it is a p4 2.66 cpu.
i replacing a microstar ms6701 motherboard. i have 512 ddr ram.
not sure about onboard stuff to be honest. (i know i had realtek ac97 sound -or something like that).
is this enough information.

lellie

ok.. well basically do you have a sound card and graphics card? if you do then you don't need any onboard sound or graphics..

512 DDR RAM - is that one stick of or a matched pair of 256 (as if it's a matched pair you could go for a board that runs dual channel ram meaning faster..)

yaacov81

i have 2 sets of memory of ram.
i have looked inside. it seems that there is a graphics card but possibly not a separate sound card (all the headphone/speaker sockets seem to be coming from the motherboard.
thanks

(just in case - when i switch on the power absolutely nothing happens - does this still mean that the motherboard is dead - as far as i know it has been checked with a different power pack)

yaacov81

one other thing
at the moment i am looking at the asus p4s800d e deluxe and also abit vt7.
(from pc pro)

lellie

i have 2 sets of memory of ram.
i have looked inside. it seems that there is a graphics card but possibly not a separate sound card (all the headphone/speaker sockets seem to be coming from the motherboard.
thanks

(just in case - when i switch on the power absolutely nothing happens - does this still mean that the motherboard is dead - as far as i know it has been checked with a different power pack)

ok so you want onboard sound but not graphics..

erm that sounds like mobo but could be other things.. have you tried a different processor?

Anyway.. motherboard.. as for both the 2 you're looking at.. they both seem like good boards and pretty good value.. From all the reviews I've seen though I think I'd probably go for the asus board... It's got a reputation for being an ideal board for enthusiasts and the chipset is the first P4 chipset to rival intel.. but see what other people say.. that's just my opinion..

yaacov81

only prob with the asus.
has fsb of 800.
must admit not sure what exactly this is, but it seems new, is it possible that this may not be compatible with my cpu (p4 2.66).
i am now looking at pc pro archives for older motherboards.
i have just found the asus one on novotech.com for £30 less than everywhere else - seems a bit weird

lellie

only prob with the asus.
has fsb of 800.
must admit not sure what exactly this is, but it seems new, is it possible that this may not be compatible with my cpu (p4 2.66).
i am now looking at pc pro archives for older motherboards.
i have just found the asus one on novotech.com for £30 less than everywhere else - seems a bit weird

nah novotech are always cheap and they've had some offers on asus boards lately..

FSB (front side bus I do believe) is basically the speed of the chip.. it does work with older chips.. it goes as slow as 400FSB I think and I think your chip is 533 so it will definately work.