SiS 748, 745, or nforce2?

[Kooldino]

Ok, i need to get a mobo for someone. Obviously price is a concern, but the primary concern is compatibility and stability. So anyway, I'm looking at nforce2, 748, and 745 boards. Newegg has a few 745/8 boards listed, but in the user comments it notes that they lack in some things (on board NIC, etc).

For now, I'll only be running a Duron on it, but it needs good RAM compatibility and some upgradability for the future. What do you think?

[Taz]

The three 748 boards I know of all have on-board LAN, (Iwill, Aopen and ASRock), what other features do you need?

[Kooldino]

Originally posted by Taz
The three 748 boards I know of all have on-board LAN, (Iwill, Aopen and ASRock), what other features do you need?

by "lacking" in regards to the on board LAN, i meant the quality/reliablility of it.

[Taz]

Originally posted by Kooldino
by "lacking" in regards to the on board LAN, i meant the quality/reliablility of it.

The onboard LAN on my Aopen AK76F-400N works perfectly

[Sasq]

no problems with my onboard lan on my msi746 either.

[Gurm]

I'm seriously considering the ASROCK with SATA and RAID for a whopping $54!

- Gurm

[DentyCracker]

That board is a steal at $54. The only concern is if you are going to push the FSB, then running 2 sticks of memory at 200 MHz may be problematic. Corsair PC3200 works well in slots 2 and 3, from all reports. It apparently doesn't like Geil at that speed

[DentyCracker]

Oh, and Gurm, if you get that board, check the Asus/ASRock forum on www.ocworkbench.com for latest performance BIOS

[Gurm]

No, I have no intention of pushing it. I'll run it at the correct speeds, thank you.

- Gurm

[Kooldino]

Originally posted by Gurm
I'm seriously considering the ASROCK with SATA and RAID for a whopping $54!

- Gurm

I saw that board the other day, but never heard of ASROCK.

[Taz]

Originally posted by Kooldino
I saw that board the other day, but never heard of ASROCK.

They're a subsidiary of Asus. Think of them as Asus's budget range

[Kurt]

Originally posted by Taz
They're a subsidiary of Asus. Think of them as Asus's budget range

NO. Think of them as BUDGET, manufactured by Asus.

_NOT_ the same thing!

[Dr Mordrid]

Budget does not necessarily mean low quality, esp. when somethings made by ASUS or MSI.

Example: the MSI 745 Ultra....a rock-solid-SOB if ever there was one and also around $50 USD.

Dr. Mordrid

[Kurt]

see, the MSI 745 Ultra is NOT budget when you make an apple-apple comparison.

the ECS is budget, it goes for 30 EUR. The MSI is NOT budget, it goes for 55 EUR. One is about twice the price of the other.

[Chrono_Wanderer]

My A7S333 is extremely stable (never seen a blue screen of death after purchasing ~1yr, although it lacks a bit of features oh well.