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I'm looking for some... information regarding a personal project of mine, the details of which may or may not be disclosed at a later date. I initially started out hoping to use an Intel Celeron M, but there isn't enough support for Socket 479 processors. Additionally, going the AMD Athlon 64 route enables me to utilize Socket 939 motherboards which currently support most any AMD dual-core.
That said, I'm asking for your input (and links to relevant, credible articles, if possible) to determine, mostly, what the best micro ATX K8 motherboard would be. I need good, stable, user-friendly and professional-looking drivers. I also need a relatively medium to high performance chipset, supporting current and future trends (PCIe, SATA, NCQ, etc).
It got the highest user ratings out of all the 939 mATX boards, and EPoX is very well known for making high quality boards, which attract the enthusiast crowd, but provide excellent stability as well. But, be sure to get a BIOS update if you want to push past a 220MHz FSB.
Last edited by Predator on Sun Mar 19, 2006 9:37 am; edited 1 time in total
Contributed by Predator, Guest 510 iVirtua Loyalty Points • • • Back to Top
It got the highest user ratings out of all the 939 mATX boards, and EPoX is very well known for making high quality boards, which attract the enthusiast crowd, but provide excellent stability as well. But, be sure to get a BIOS update if you want to push past a 220MHz FSB.
Wow, you're looking at a AMD, pickle? Change of heart?
Well, I've considered AMD, Intel, and even VIA. To be frank, I'm open to all platforms, and Intel (rather, motherboard manufacturers) really haven't provided an effective solution catering to Intel's low power single- and dual-core solutions.
Just to get a Pentium M on a Micro ATX motherboard affordably involved using a CT-479 adapter, and then Pentium M's on the Mini-ITX solution are further hindered by morons who think that the i855 chipset is just fine. The Mini-ITX solution with the i915 chipset costs too much, and isn't in good enough supply.
And frankly, Via... is a joke. If there's SOMEONE in the world who sits in his chair encrypting files daily, then a VIA Mini-ITX solution is for that person. Bless the man. Unfortunately, that isn't me, just as it is likely not the million other PC users out there.
So, what's left is AMD. They have much better performance-per-watt than any other Intel offering, but the drawback is the chipset stability argument. Since I'm rather unfamiliar with the K8 platform, I thought I'd toss the question to people who were familiar. :)
Quote:
SSHH be quiet or you'll scare him from buying one!
Bah. I've owned one AMD...
Quote:
I just took a look at the whole list, and I'd recommend this EPoX: [link]
Newegg's links seem to have broken... was that a Micro ATX board though?
Hmm.... I couldn't find any Micro ATX EPoX's on Newegg. Like I said, the link busted. Unfortunately... the MSI referred by KoolDrew is nowhere to be found in mass quantities. The only variant of it I can find is on Newegg, but that one features only a 10/100 LAN, which might be acceptable.
Am I missing someplace?
-Pikl
Last edited by A_Pickle on Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:07 pm; edited 1 time in total
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