Cheap Mobo with USB2 & Firewire?

[Squamish]

Can anyone recommend a "low end" mobo with USB2 and Firewire? Won't be used for hard core gaming or RAID, but will use Win98SE, Soundblaster Live, GF3 video, cable modem, DDR ram. No preference on Intel vs. AMD, but would like to stay away from nForce chipsets unless they are stable. TIA!

 

[stultus]

I think the inclusion of firewire excludes cheap, low-end boards.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Squamish
Can anyone recommend a "low end" mobo with USB2 and Firewire? Won't be used for hard core gaming or RAID, but will use Win98SE, Soundblaster Live, GF3 video, cable modem, DDR ram. No preference on Intel vs. AMD, but would like to stay away from nForce chipsets unless they are stable. TIA!

Look for a nForce2 board with the MCP-T southbridge. You get firewire, and can throw that sound blaster away and use the onboard 5.1 dolby sound.

Look to spend around $100, but get ethernet, USB2.0, GREAT 5.1 sound card, and Firewire.


If you can live without firewire then look for a cheap KT400 board. Other then that go nForce2

 

[Buz2b]

Who says you can't have cheap AND firewire?!? You could get an L7S7A2. How's this! Firewire is "optional" with this board but it can be had for $66 here. But not sure if this one has the firewire but it looks like it might.

Edit: Upon further review, it looks like the board a da Egg doesn't have the optional firewire. However, you can probably find that without too much trouble.

 

[Peter]

You need a board that uses a recent SiS chipset, where FireWire is already a chipset integrated component. That'll give best performance and price.

On the no-nonsense front, that'd be ECS L7S7A2. Or L4S8A2. Depending on what CPU brand you want.

Note that both can come w/ or w/o FireWire, so watch what you buy.

 

[Buz2b]

On the no-nonsense front, that'd be ECS L7S7A2.

Exactly what I linked to earlier. Probably should edit so that it shows the board so as to avoid the confusion.

 

[Squamish]

Thanks to all for your suggestions, I'm looking at a Gigabyte GA-8SQ800 board (about $100) since I've had a good experience with my GA-8IEXP. Sure would like to find a similar board for Athlon XP, the price/performance difference is compelling.

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: Squamish
Thanks to all for your suggestions, I'm looking at a Gigabyte GA-8SQ800 board (about $100) since I've had a good experience with my GA-8IEXP. Sure would like to find a similar board for Athlon XP, the price/performance difference is compelling.

Personally not fond of Gigabyte but whatever; why would you want to spend more money on something that has no big advantage over the previous one suggested? Not to mention the difference in cost of the CPU's. You said in the initial post that you wanted "low end with USB2 and Firewire". That is what was suggested.

 

[Squamish]

Didn't see any that listed Firewire in the specs, even at the Newegg link. Am I missing it somewhere?

Edit: The ECS board looks like a winner with a Firewire PCI card, now to find some reviews!

 

[Peter]

Firewire-on-PCI, whether onboard or on a card, is substantially slower than chipset-embedded. This is because PCI is a so much slower bus than SiS's chipset internal ongoings.

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: Squamish
Didn't see any that listed Firewire in the specs, even at the Newegg link. Am I missing it somewhere?

Edit: The ECS board looks like a winner with a Firewire PCI card, now to find some reviews!

As we mentioned earlier; it is "optional" on the MB. Some will sell them with firewire and some won't. You just have to ask before you buy. Do try and get it "onboard" though; as mentioned, it is faster.
As to reviews, they are hard to find. If you go back up to my initial suggestion post, you will see that one of the links I provided is to a review. It is one of the few out there. Another source might be to go to
this forum (ECS), and see what others are saying and maybe ask a few question.

 

[JSSheridan]

Epox 8RDA+

I can't believe no one has mentioned this yet. If you are willing to spend $100, this is your board. Peace.

 

[Peter]

ocworkbench did review the L7S7A2.

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: Peter
ocworkbench did review the L7S7A2.

Yeah, that is the one I mentioned earlier:

you will see that one of the links I provided is to a review.

That was the OC Workbench review.