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Help me decide on a motherboard to buy.

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Anton

Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Hello,
I would like to upgrade my current system, a Hp prebuilt by replacing the motherboard, case, and adding a newer hard drive.

Right now I'm leaning towards the ASUS CUV266 motherboard. At first I thought DDR ram would be great, but after reading some reviews, it turns out the pentium 3 won't take full advantage of DDR's capabilities. I can get this board for $24.99 plus $20.00 shipping, brand new, retail box. I've read some reviews, and it seems to be a very good board. The other board I am looking at is the Abit SA6R board. Here are the disadvantages and advantages to each board:

ASUS CUV266:
Pros:
-Low cost, $44.99 shipped.
-DDR ram, can handle up to 3GB
-NO onboard sound or video
-6 USB
Cons:
-5pci
-No raid (not that I'll use it but I like the idea of being able to have 8 IDE devices)

Abit SA6R:
Pros:
-6PCI
-RAID, up to 8 IDE
-Can reuse my old SDRam
Cons:
-$78.95 shipped
- max 512MB ram
-4 USB (i think)
- ONboard video and sound :(

I'm sure I missed a lot of things, but this is what's more important to me. Is it worth paying extra to get the extra PCI slot, and have RAID or 4 more IDE devices, yet be limited to only 512mb of SD ram? Or would it come out the same to buy some DDR ram with the money saved, and have more room for expansion? Appearently the ASUS board comes with 128 mb of DDR ram.

If anyone knows of a better board with more features than these, let me know. It has to be socket 370.
Thanks
 
Yes, it's a pavilion 7940. I will be replacing the case with an ATX case. The pavilion cases are micro ATX.
 
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