Need recommendations on a budget board

primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
edited December 2003 in Hardware
I have a client that needs to buy 10 machines for a certain task, and the task requires a very light CPU and a cheap, stable mobo. Here are my criteria, can you recommend a board?

Support Duron processors
Have onboard LAN - GIGABIT PREFERABLE
Have at least 3 PCI slots
Have onboard video (not required, but highly desirable)

Remember, this is NOT for overclocking/enthusiast purposes. So, brand name is not critical at all, but CHEAP and having these features is. Each board will contain a single stick of 256mb ram, so # of ram slots is also unimportant.

Does anything fit the bill?

Comments

  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Asus A7N8X-VM, onboard AGP but no Gigabit Ethernet ($93 is that cheap enough?)
    or
    Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe (For GbE but no video)
    or
    Asus A7N266-VM for REAL cheap ($60) onboard AGP but no GbE
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    How about an ECS K7S5A pro? I think they're $40 on Newegg.

    No onboard video, onboard lan is 10/100. For the board being so cheap, you could probly buy a bunch of cheap video cards and still be under budget.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    I can't see a board with GbE and onboard video fitting into the "Budget" category.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Sounds like the A7N8X-E is the beast for me. Thanks Ghoosdum!
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003 
    #include stdio.h

int main (void)
{
	char GbE = 'N';
	char GPU = 'N';
	char Budget = 'N';
	int foundboard = 0;

	do
	{
		printf("Is this a budget board (Y/N)? ");
		scanf(" %c", &Budget);

		printf("\nDo you want Gigabit Ethernet (Y/N)? ");
		scanf(" %c", &GbE);

		printf("\nDo you want onboard video (Y/N)? ");
		scanf(" %c", &GPU);

		if (GbE == 'Y' && GPU == 'Y' && Budget == 'Y')
		{
			printf("\nNo such board exists. Please try again.");
		}
		else
			foundboard = 1;
			printf("\nThere are boards that match your criteria");
		} while (foundboard !=1);
return 0;
}

    :p

    Program:
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Which one is more important, the gigabit or the onboard video? You can get ATi R128 cards for <$20...
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Nice program, Geeky!

    No problem, prime... CrazyJoe0813 just bought the -E board and so far it's great. Too bad he has no need for GbE, but it's there just in case!
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Nice program, Geeky!

    This is what happens when you have waaaaay too much free time on your hands :D
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    The gig-E is more important than onboard video. It borders on essential. I can put $20 video cards in these things.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    ASUS A7V600:
    http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=13%2D131%2D470&searchdepa=1

    Sapphire 8mb ATi Rage Mobility AGP:
    http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=14%2D102%2D178&searchdepa=1

    Sapphire Radeon 7000 32mb:
    http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=14%2D102%2D199&searchdepa=1

    I'd go with the Radeon 7000; even the office machines I build have GeForce2 MX400s or better. They may not need the power, but for $13, I'd go with it anyhow...
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    No, you mean $130 - remember, all this is x10
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Forgot that. Personally, I think it's worth it. But the Rage 128m should be sufficient UNLESS these will run XP. I would not get a R128 for an XP machine, unless you want to disable all the visual fluff. ATi won't release drivers for XP, and the Windows drivers do not support hardware OpenGL or D3D. Even the fancy Gui lags.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    These machines will not really be used by a human operator, graphics are almost completely unimportant. They will be used almost as factory machines - as robotics controllers. So the cheapest video card possible is the one I want.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Any way to skip the graphics alltogether and control them over the network, then?
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Well, if the A7V600 really does have GbE then that's probably the better buy, even with the Via chipset, it's still an Asus.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Nah, for $200 it's worth it to avoid all the hassle of working on headless workstations. Installing them, etc. is such a pain in the ass without video.

    We need video for practical reasons, but not for daily, normal operations.
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