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Seems I can't get through the year without some major computer malfunction. I should just up and buy a factory made comp since I'm such a dumbass, but they're too expensive. shrug. Anyway, I'm looking to switch out the motherboard. I need a mobo for the following:

1.6 ghz 1900 xp Athlon cpu
640 ram (uhm...I used to know what kind.)
9500 pro Radeon ATI card (agp required of course)
soundblaster live value card.
USB ports will be necessary of course. at least two.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

ASUS A7N8X - Deluxe model if you want - shouldn't be too costly - I have one, and have NO problems.

I have been using an ASUS A7V266 board with my 1800 Athlon XP proc with no trouble ...

I believe the main diff between Kodiak's and mine is the chipset ... A7N8X is an nForce chipset and the A7V266 is the Via chipset: If you should have a preference.

Yeah, pretty much. There are other things but in general that about sums it up.

Grif i know you and i had similiar systems and the same Mobo and CPU and i had to upgrade to get my GFX card working.

I went for the ABit NF7S Ver 2.0, it has rave reviews is compatible with everything you have and you can up you processor to AMD 3200+ if you want to in the future.

Been running mine for 4 months now and it is rock solid, i know you have an Abit Mobo just now and the problems you are having ith it might put you off the ABit brand but i can definitely recommend this one for you.

http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/pro ... =1&model=6

If you do decide to go for this Mobo make sure you are buying the version 2.0

same thing here, NF7S version 2.0

solid

i have an asus a7n8x deluxe... you can ougrade the cpu on this one later too... might be a waste getting a mainboard with built in sound of you already have the soundblaster though...it may cause you problems until you figure out how to turn off the one built into the mainboard (not hard, but you ARE an ametuer by your own admission, right?). the other side of that is you may have a difficult time finding a mainboard without built in sound.

whatever you get, make sure you can upgrade the cpu, will take faster ram up to ddr 3200, has usb 2.0 and firewire..

Yup NF7S ver 2.0 has all the things Steel asks for and turning off all the bits and pieces you don't need like onboard sound is a doddle on this board, as is upgrading the bios.

Both Asus and Abit are good boards IMHO and no matter what Mobo you get just ask for assistance Grifter and we will all be able to help out, to get you up and running ASAP.

Oh and as a further note Lomac used to have a problem With some Nforce2 Mobos and Multiplayer (Serious warping and lag issues) l made a lot of inquiries about the NF7-S before i bought it since i would be wanting to go MP with Lomac a lot and did not want this to be an issue i had to deal with. So i got a lot of replies telling me MP in Lomac works great with this Mobo and after having it for 4 months now myself i can definitely say that the NF7-S has 100% absolutely no issues with MP in Lomac.

Wow! I really appreciate all the input guys. Turns out my comp problems were more pressing than I realized. Apparently the HD decided to up and die on me. While my buddy J was replacing it for me, he suggested rig for under 300 hundreds bucks. Hopefully everything will go smooth with the installation and I will have a computer running xp! finally! I'm upgrading to a:

SOYO "SY-KT600 Dragon Ultra Platinum" KT600 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A

Specifications:
Supported CPU: Socket A AMD AthlonXP/Athlon/Duron Processors
Chipset: VIA KT600+VT8237
FSB: 400/333/266MHz
RAM: 3x DIMM for Non-ECC un-buffered DDR400/333/266/200 Max 3GB
IDE: 2x ATA 133 up to 4 Devices
Slots: 1x AGP 8X, 5x PCI
Ports: 2xPS2,1xLPT,2xCOM,1xLAN,8xUSB2.0(Rear 4),3x1394(Rear 1),Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: CMI8738 6-Channel Audio
Onboard LAN: Broadcom GbE
Onboard SATA/RAID: VT8237 Integrated Serial ATA controller, 2x SATA; Sil3112 SATA RAID controller; 2x SATA, RAID 0/1
Onboard 1394: VIA VT6306 1394 controller
Form Factor: ATX


I'm also installing a 3200 amd chip. This thing should move like the wind!

That's a serious piece of hardware mate! Good choice, ye lucky git!

So your hard-drive died huh? I've had 2 die on me over the past 5 years and I've also had 1 power suppy die on me. Very annoying!

Thanks Kodiak. with computers, I need all the luck I can get. Yes, Jason calls me the slayer of hard drives. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I've killed four in the past five years. In my defense, all but the last one were used. Don't know why my last one died. It was a 20 gig Maxtor. three years old.

Good to see you are finally joining club XP bro, hope you have more luck with your hardware in the future.

Just as a note i have had 2 Hard Drives in 6 years and they are both still running i have had no hardware failures (but it's bound to happen sooner or later).

In 9 years of computing, I can proudly say I've NEVER had anything die on me.

Yeah, except your dad's sense of humour, by all accounts! :lol: :lol:
Anyway, incase most of you don't realise ALL HDs have at least a 2 or 3 year warranty on them. And with that item you should ALWAYS keep your receipt - because if they fail within that time you are entitled to a replacement. Some HDs even have a 5 year warranty dependant upon maunfacturer, go check it out. I only dicovered this a few years back when I had one fail on me. Fortunately, I had the receipt for my whole computer, and of course it was itemised with the specifications. new hard drive completely free, no questions asked.