good mainboard for new computer?

I am a newbie and looking to build a new computer. I don't think I am going to overclock it, maybe later. It will be used for surfing and a little gaming (not enough time for serious gaming:-( ). I was thinking of a 1Gig AMD Tbird. My question is what would be a good mainboard that would allow overclocking later- the ECS K7S5a vs. the Abit KT7a? As I said I will be playing a few games, would a Gforce MX400 be sufficient for a video card? Thanks

srwven said:

I am a newbie and looking to build a new computer. I don't think I am going to overclock it, maybe later. It will be used for surfing and a little gaming (not enough time for serious gaming:-( ). I was thinking of a 1Gig AMD Tbird. My question is what would be a good mainboard that would allow overclocking later- the ECS K7S5a vs. the Abit KT7a? As I said I will be playing a few games, would a Gforce MX400 be sufficient for a video card? Thanks

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If you want to overclock in the future go will the KT7A for sure. The SoftMenu has vcore, multiplier, FSb, FSB+, etc.... The K7S5A is a stable board, but lacks in the o/c options. You have to download a new bios even to get the FSB over 133. I think the 1 gig T-bird will do well. Just be sure to get a good stepping!


Welcome to the Forums!

myself being a newbie (still waiting for my heatsink and vid card) have not built my first system, however i would recomend an Epox board. either the EP-8K7A or the Ep-8K7A+. the plus being the raid version. I have the plus and it looks awesome...wish i could test it out but o well... good luck with ur first system! hope it !

I really like my K7S5A it is nice and fast not the fastest but really good for the price. I haven't had any trouble with it not one BSOD back when I had a A7V133 I had BSOD or 2 every day. I lot can be said for this board it is highly under rated. You might want to wait because the SiS 745 boards will be here very shortly.
If you can't wait there isn't a better deal around for the combination of price, performance and stability.

I dunno, I would go with a DDR board personally, but since DDR prices have spiked again I guess a PC133 setup is cheaper for the time being.

If you go DDR, I'd recommend the KT266A chipset boards from Abit, Asus, Shuttle, Epox or MSI.

If you go PC133, I recommend the KT7A, Iwill KK266, MSI K7T Turbo, and the Epox 8KTA3 Pro.

SB

The K7S5A does use DDR. it has 2 SDRAM and 2 DDR slots.

The K7S5A is a good board, and dirt cheap, but has limited overclocking ability. To step up from it, go with a Shuttle AK31, or wait a few weeks and go with the Shuttle AK35. The AD31 is running about $85 and is a great overclocker. We can debate all day about what the absolute best board is, but it's hard to dispute that Shuttle offers the best bang for the buck at the moment.

The Epox 8K7A+ is an excellent board, perhaps even slightly better than the AK31 (opinions differ). But it's substantially more expensive.

nihili

Consider a Shuttle Ak31 r.3.1?

Just put this together with a 1.0 Ghz T-bird. It was a snap, and this is my 1st time to build a computer, much less to OC one! Board is DDR with 1 AGp, 6 PCI slots, 4 DIMMs. It only costs @ $80. OC's fairly well by FSB- up to 166 if you disable onboard audio and USB, 138 if you leave the USB (though some people have gotten higher). And unlocking a T-bird or Duron only costs $6 and takes about a minute with window defogger. I'm very happy with this board, and as soon as the rest of my parts come, I'm going to set up another one, but with an Athlon XP 1600+.