Looking for an LGA775 motherboard

[doup93]

I'm looking at building a secondary rig and would like to have your opinion on integrated graphics boards.

The rig will be using an Intel CPU so I'm limited to G3X or G4X chipsets basically. Is G4X worth going to? Should I rather get a P3X or P4X and "real" vid card? I want it to be as cheap as possible.

The rig will be used for casual stuff (email, internet, etc). No gaming at all on that rig.

Thanks all

[sswilson]

Do you already have the CPU?

In all honesty, if you're absolutely sure that the use is going to be "casual" (and not going to change down the line) just about any integrated graphics board will do the trick.

Do you already have any hardware to go with it, or are you building from the bottom up? How about OS.... do you have one to put on it, or are you planning on purchasing one?

If you're building from the bottom up and need everything including monitor / OS it's very hard to build a low end general use machine for less money than it costs to get a pre-built one on sale at one of the big box retailers. (as much as it pains me to say it.... :) ).

[doup93]

I already have the cpu as well as the RAM (2x1 GB DDR2 800) as well as hard disk, DVD/RW and casing with PSU so all I'm missing is a board.

[sswilson]

If you're not looking for a strong overclocker then this one looks great based on video output features.... NCIX.com - Buy ASUS P5N-EM HDMI mATX LGA775 Nforce 630I GF7100 DDR2 PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2PCI Video DVI HDMI Motherboard - P5N-EM HDMI In Canada. .

I'm normally not a big fan of Nvidia chipsets with intel procs, but in the mATX realm feature set is king IMO.

There are less expensive boards out there, but this one looks to have just about everything you'd ever need.

[doup93]

I don't plan overclocking it... much. It's not an important criteria.

I was looking at this board NCIX.com - Buy ECS G45T-M2 mATX LGA775 G45 DDR2 1PCI-E16 2PCI SATA2 HD Video HD Sound GBLAN Motherboard - G45T-M2 In Canada..

[sswilson]

Looks like it should be a decent board, but if you're willing to pay that much, you might want to consider an extra $20 - $30 for a board / discrete video card combo.

[doup93]

What would be good options then?

For discrete graphic, I was thinking either a GeForce 8400GS or a Radeon 3450.

[sswilson]

I'm running one of the sapphire 3450s and it works well, but as a passively cooled card it does get quite hot.

Folks around here have had a lot of luck with these gigabyte P35 boards.... NCIX.com - Buy Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L ATX LGA775 P35 1333FSB 1PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN Motherboard - GA-EP35-DS3L In Canada. .

This 3450 ($40) appears to offer HDMI output as well as DVI-D and standard VGA outputs. NCIX.com - Buy Powercolor Radeon HD 3450 Fanless 600MHZ 256MB 800MHZ DDR2 PCI-E HDMI Video Card - AX3450 256MD2-H In Canada.

That would bring the total after taxes to pretty well $150

[belgolas]

I would still recommend the NCIX.com - Buy ASUS P5N-EM HDMI mATX LGA775 Nforce 630I GF7100 DDR2 PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2PCI Video DVI HDMI Motherboard - P5N-EM HDMI In Canada.. It has so many features and will perform just as good as a discrete graphics card at none gaming needs and be the cheapest solution. Almost half the cost of having a GPU and mobo.

[doup93]

If I decide to go with a discrete graphics card, then I was thinking of the following:

NCIX.com - Buy ECS P45T-A ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E16 2PCI SATA2 RAID HD Sound GBLAN CrossFireX Motherboard - P45T-A In Canada.

and

NCIX.com - Buy EVGA E-GEFORCE 8400GS 450MHZ 256MB 800MHZ DDR2 PCI-E VGA DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Low Profile Video Card - 256-P2-N732-LR In Canada.

Anyone has experience with the ECS motherboard?