Motherboards & G400

[David Pogoff]

I'm looking for advice on a motherboard that is as stable and trouble-free as possible for hosting a dual-head G400 and Win2K.

I hear that my best bet is an Intel motherboard - 440BX. Any other thoughts?

Thanks.

[xortam]

ASUS are nice with the embedded SCSI chip. What and how many devices (and interface) will you be using. Do you need ISA? Do you have existing adapters? Do you plan on overclocking your system? Single or dual CPU? Are you spending on a budget? Are you building a server, workstation, what?

[Rags]

Just about any newer BX motherboard will do. Can't go wrong with Abit, Asus, A-Open. Stay away from FIC, Gigabyte, A-Trend, Amptron, PCCHips, DFI.

Rags

[paulcs]

I'm with Rags and the three A's: Asus, AOpen, and Abit. Let me throw in MSI just for good measure.

All four have recently produced great BX boards--maybe the best boards ever: the Abit BX133 (Socket 370), the Asus CUBX (Socket 370), the AOpen AX6BC Pro II (Slot 1), and the MSI BX Master (Slot 1).

Asus has a great board based upon the i815e chipset, the CUSL2. They also make a some fine Athlon motherboards, including a great Slot A board.

Abit, after what I thought was a lackluster year or two, has practically exploded with a series of standout motherboards. I've heard nothing but good things about their new BX board. After avoiding the Athlon like the plague for several months, Abit has produced some really great boards base on the KX-133 and KT-133 chipsets.

MSI is also producing some fine motherboards these days, and their BX Master is very highly regarded.

Intel makes some rather lackluster motherboards, including their BX "Seattle 2." It's very stable, but not the fastest board on the planet, and Intel boards tend to be rather inflexible.

A BX board would probably be the most hassle free solution, although, sooner or later, they'll be some upgrade path issues to deal with. Your AMD options are pretty good as well.

If your really, really into tweaking, the new Abit boards are good choices. The sheer amount of options can be a little confusing, however. Asus's CUBX (again, Socket 370) and P3B-F (Slot 1) are fast, very stable, and as trouble-free as these things get. The AOpen AX6BC Pro II is as bullet proof as motherboards get, and it's pretty darn fast. Not a lot of exotic features, however, and the FDD connector is in a really dumb place. The MSI BXMaster is also stable, fast, and a good choice if you intend to use a lot of PCI cards.

So, like xortam, I'm curious as to what you intend to do with this system and how much you intend to spend.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 23 August 2000).]

[paulcs]

So's the Abit board. Sorry and thanks. It was late. I've edited the errors out.

Thanks again.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[rubank]

I´ve been an ASUS man for years, but I currently run an ABIT BF-6 (slot-1) and I´m very pleased with it. Soft Menu III makes it very easy to configure in all possible ways.

My G400 runs flawlessly in AGP 2X at 135 FSB, as does everything else, at default voltage.

A very nice board, and cheap.

rubank

[rjcarr]

Well, I have the Abit BE6 and I don't like it, lots of conflicts and random issues, so stay away from it. I think the problem is that it has the ata66 controller that pooch screws everything ... I heard the BE6-II is better though, but not sure.

[DataOrb]

paulcs, the ASUS CUBX is FCPGA Socket 370.



------------------

"Excuse me for butting in, but I'm interrupt-driven..."
__________________________________________________ ____
Worstation Specs:
Asus P3B-F w/Celeron@680mhz
160mb PC100 7ns RAM.
Matrox G400 142/190Mhz.
IBM 75GXP 7200RPM 15Gb.
Seagate U8 4.1gb Hdd,
SBlaster Live! Digital.
17" Mag InnoVision 770Ti TrinitronFR Monitor @1152X864
Logitech MouseMan Wheel USB (on Everglide Giganta SE)
Focus 127keys MM Keyboard.
HP SCSI Cd-Rw 7200Si
AOpen X48 CD ROM.
AOpen 1040Pro Slot DVD
3Com NIc @ Tevel/3Com Cable Modem
Modded case, the "banshee". 6 fans.
3Com Palm IIIx + GoType + AxxPAC

[Rags]

I hate the onboard High Point controllers. On my BE6, I just disabled the POS, and never had a problem since. Of course with a BF6, you don't have to worry since it's not there.

Rags

[rjcarr]

rags-

I did the same things, just disabled the mf'er, didn't make shit any faster anyway, at least I couldn't tell.

I did hear the BE6-II was better though, there isn't a separate controller or whatever, just built in (I think).

Anyway, glad someone else had problems with that POS (no offense)

-joe