I'd recommend the DFI AK74.
Before I exchanged it for an A7V I used it for about two days. It worked flawlessly and was easy to install - real plug and play No shuffling cards, no problems, stable at least for the short time. Not like the A7V, which CAN be stable - but you have to work on this first, and gather knowledge.
That's only me, though, I might just by chance have gotten everything right.
I returned it because it had no multiplyer changing options for overclocking.
It's the cheapest board known to me (Here in Germany it's about DM 219)
It got recommended by AMD recently, by the way
PLUS it has got the coolest name ... followed only by A7V. Why? See
this page on details for the AK74 and my page
here in the case of the A7V
Here's the Press Release :
"DFI AK74 Motherboard wins AMD Recommendation !!!
Taipei, September 13th, 2000.
In what is seen as a major step forward in the recognition of DFI as a top quality manufacturer of motherboards, the AK-74 motherboard has been approved as an AMD motherboard.
?This is a significant milestone in our company history,? says Tony Wu of DFI?s Research and Development department based just outside of Taipei, Taiwan. ?A lot of work from our whole R&D team has gone in to ensuring the quality of this motherboard. It is a great achievement for a great team.?
Although DFI is recognized across the globe as a manufacturer of stable, reliable mainboards, this is the first one to gain recognition by AMD, whose opinion is highly rated within the industry.
?We are very proud to have gained approval by AMD for our AK-74 motherboard,? said Bobby Chen, DFI?s marketing director, ?but it has always been our number one goal to offer the best there is and we are constantly focusing our attention on how to make our mainboards even better.?
The AK-74 motherboard is an ATX form factor, socket A mainboard which supports AMD?s Athlonä and Duronä processors. With 4 PCI slots, and AGP slot that supports 2x and 4x AGP, 2 external USB ports and an AMR slot, DFI?s AK74 is well equipped for heavy use.
?Ease of use is an important feature of our motherboards,? continued Bobby Chen, ?but it is equally important for us to offer stability and reliability. Our AK74 series offers both, and the recommendation form AMD really supports our own belief in DFI products.?
But it is also a very adaptable motherboard, with Wake-on RTC (Real Time Clock ? this offers the user the chance to program the computer to switch on automatically at a user-defined time), modem and LAN features which make use that much easier and friendly. THE AK74 series is also equipped with Ice Qube, Suspend to RAM (STR) and AC?97 audio codec with Yamaha AP.
?The stability and reliability are derived from DFI?s commitment to improving quality, and our R&D department is always looking at ways to improve our products. With the giant leaps in technology, problems arise and the key to keeping ahead is to find solutions,? said Tony Wu. One fine example to such a solution is DFI?s Ice Qube, which offers more space around the processor to ensure greater heat dissipation, thus minimising the risk of overheating and ultimately downtime. ?Some solutions are simple and some are more complicated. Our Ice Qube concept belongs to the former.?
With the tremendous amount of good reviews from international systems integrators to the home-builder, the AK-74 looks set to become an industry leader mapping out new levels in quality, reliability and stability.
"