New Board...

Hey guys. I got a major score here!

My friend was running 2 computers and got tired of having to deal with it (don't ask me why), so he got all of his stuff compiled into one really sweet computer (lian li case, 320 gb, XP 2600+, etc.) and decided to sell me his old stuff for a nice price.

I am getting a Koolance watercooling case, asus mobo w/ XP 1700+, 768mb Kingston DDR value RAM, Geforce 4, Audigy Live and a nic, all for right around 200 bucks. The case alone was worth 300 new (but is now covered in duct tape- i'll be painting it soon hehe)

My problem is- the mobo is ruined. He had to pull the chipset HS off of it to put on his other mobo, and in the process, hurt the bottom of the board and it won't even boot. What i'm hoping for here is a cheap new board (or possibly used if anyone has a hook up)

What I've been looking for is a cheap board (under 50 bucks) and have found 3 that really catch my eye:
PC Chips, MSI SIS 745 ULTRA , and ECS K7S5A PRO

Each are less than $45 w/o shipping from newegg. I don't know who PC Chips are- is that a decent brand/ board? I know MSI (running a KT6 Delta here) is a good brand, but how about their low end boards? And ECS i've heard of, but don't know at all how they perform. Anyone have any pointers?

Thanks Guys!
~Bobb

Dont skim on your mobo. It will be a huge bottle neck and you'lll just end up replacing it anyway. Go for the Abit NF7-S ver. 2 it is pretty cheap, and its killer. If you insist on going cheap pick up a FIC board, they supposedly are okay and cheap.

linkey

Shuttle AN35N $63.00 delivered from NewEgg, nForce2 Ultra 400SPP & MCP, LAN, USB2, OCs pretty well for a budget board. Had mine for 6 monthes now, no problems.
Regards, Balrog

Don't short yourself

I agree with 9mmCensor
ON your mobo, do it right or you won't be happy

The mobo is the foundation for every other performance issue and expansion you may want. DON''T SKIM, YOU'LL REGRET IT.

PCChips is the same company as ECS (PCChips being OEM, ECS retail). A lot of people were claiming great success OC'ing the the MSI Ultra 745 when it first came out. It was pretty much eclipsed by the nForce2 when it came out though. If the XP1700 is a Tbred B, then you'll have a decent chance of OC'ing it to 333MHz FSB, so you might want a m/b capable of 'officially' supporting that (KT333 or better or nForce2). You might want to check out some of the Via chipset boards, since they've been discounted to compete with the popularity of the nForce2 m/b's. Frankly you'll probably be better off with a KT333 m/b than with SiS chipsets.

Take a look at the refurbished items at Newegg.

Don't buy a crappy motherboard, I just took a look at Newegg and here are a couple of the refurbished boards they have right now.

MSI K7N2-L Motherboard nForce2 (SPP, MCP2) $49

SOLTEK SL-75FRN-L/ (SPP+MCP) nForce2 $42

Soltek nForce2 (SPP + MCP) , Model SL-75FRN2-RL $49

These are great boards!

If you look in (rebate Sales) they have a Shuttle AN35N-Ultra nForce2 Ultra 400 for $47 after rebate. WOW