[burnoutnotfadeaway]

I am looking to buy a new Socket 478 motherboard. I intend to run a 2 ghz P4 processor at first, then upgrade to a P4 3.2ghz Prescott processor. I would like to have onboard graphics/sound as the system will be used mainly for programming and listening to music, everyday things except playing games, so graphics isn't a necessity. I am not that bothered about which hard drive interface it supports as I have plenty of both, but obviously SATA would preferred. I would like around 2gb of ram support. A FSB of 533 is needed to run the Prescott series processors(I think?) so a decent motherboard is required. I would prefer to have some things over others but am not too fussed, so if you have any idea where I could buy such a board please let me know, thank you

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The real problem here is that socket 478 motherboards are not even being produced anymore. All the name brand motherboard makers have switched to the newer sockets. What 478 boards you see for sell are what is left over from production runs. Yes, you can find them, but the best ones are already hard to find.

Another problem you have is that the 2.0G cpu is only a 400 FSB processor, so you need to find a 400/533 bus motherboard. This limits you when trying to buy a 3.2 processor as most of them were 800 fsb cpu's. A look at newegg and tiger direct has no 533 buss cpu's except the 2.8 prescott, the higher range cpu's are all 800 fsb so you may need to either discard the 2.0 processor and go with a 800 fsb cpu or go with the 2.0 and not upgrade later to a higher cpu. I have not seen any MB's that will run all three 400, 533, and 800 fsb's.

If you really like listening to music you will not run the AC97 on-board sound hardware. I do have some computers here with AC97, and even the slightly newer realtek on-board sound. These chipsets cannot compete with the Creative Sound blaster series sound cards. I really don't like listening to music on on-board sound computers. Perhaps i notice the difference because i have both on running computers. Its a great way to sell sound cards when you can let them hear the difference between good sounds and crappy ones like the AC97.

Of the 10 socket 478 motherboards on the newegg website, only 3 have SATA ports. The rest have only pata IDE ports for HD's and cdrom drives.

So where does this leave you?

Eighty percent of the cost of a computer is for the rest of the hardware needed to be able to use the computer. The Motherboard and CPU areat most only 25% of the cost of a new computer. Do not waste you time witholder hardware but insteal look for a intel 775 socket MB and a processor that can do what you need without being Obsolete as soon as you build it.

As cheap as possible my choice would be to start with this combo.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813138034

and with this CPU.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116238

Your still spending around $250 for the MB/cpu and my only other choice would be to go with a Core 2 Duo kit.

http://www.tigerdire...=MBM-975X-E6400

SRX660

[SRX660]

The real problem here is that socket 478 motherboards are not even being produced anymore. All the name brand motherboard makers have switched to the newer sockets. What 478 boards you see for sell are what is left over from production runs. Yes, you can find them, but the best ones are already hard to find.

Another problem you have is that the 2.0G cpu is only a 400 FSB processor, so you need to find a 400/533 bus motherboard. This limits you when trying to buy a 3.2 processor as most of them were 800 fsb cpu's. A look at newegg and tiger direct has no 533 buss cpu's except the 2.8 prescott, the higher range cpu's are all 800 fsb so you may need to either discard the 2.0 processor and go with a 800 fsb cpu or go with the 2.0 and not upgrade later to a higher cpu. I have not seen any MB's that will run all three 400, 533, and 800 fsb's.

If you really like listening to music you will not run the AC97 on-board sound hardware. I do have some computers here with AC97, and even the slightly newer realtek on-board sound. These chipsets cannot compete with the Creative Sound blaster series sound cards. I really don't like listening to music on on-board sound computers. Perhaps i notice the difference because i have both on running computers. Its a great way to sell sound cards when you can let them hear the difference between good sounds and crappy ones like the AC97.

Of the 10 socket 478 motherboards on the newegg website, only 3 have SATA ports. The rest have only pata IDE ports for HD's and cdrom drives.

So where does this leave you?

Eighty percent of the cost of a computer is for the rest of the hardware needed to be able to use the computer. The Motherboard and CPU areat most only 25% of the cost of a new computer. Do not waste you time witholder hardware but insteal look for a intel 775 socket MB and a processor that can do what you need without being Obsolete as soon as you build it.

As cheap as possible my choice would be to start with this combo.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813138034

and with this CPU.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116238

Your still spending around $250 for the MB/cpu and my only other choice would be to go with a Core 2 Duo kit.

http://www.tigerdire...=MBM-975X-E6400

SRX660

[†Gladiator†]

Shop around for the ASUS P4P 800E Deluxe i have it and it's pretty good it's around 80 bucks has SATA and onboard is livable unless you are an uber audiophile (if you have speakers > than 200 dollars u r) It is agp and does not have onboard gfx. you can get a card for 30 dollars. (9200?) The best card you can get for it interms of gfx is the 7800gs which is very expensive. So.... if you do the math... it might be better to cut the losses and abandon the cpu to get a barebone kit with mobo and cpu. With the huge amd price cuts you can get a decent combo with newer tech for around 250. It's a better investment in terms of expandability but i do understand that sometimes you just want to have a interm solution.

[burnoutnotfadeaway]

Does anyone know of a website, other than Ebuyer and Dabs that I can buy a new motherboard? I've decided upon two things, it must be Socket 478 and have a PCI-X slot. Any ideas?(companies that are UK-based and not in the US) Thanks

[Neil Jones]

99% of Socket 478 boards are AGP based, as PCI-Ex came along quite late into the run and by then Socket 775 was taking over which was built on the back of PCI-Express. You'll be very very hard pushed to find Socket 478 with PCI-E on it.

The only one I could find is on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.u...tem220046143799 but this goes with all the fun and risks of buying on eBay - no warranties, guarantees, etc.

[burnoutnotfadeaway]

Oh, come on. Don't tell me nobody let you on into the secret of eBay shopping. If it arrives broken, unless stated that it's faulty - you do the "I shall contact my lawyer tomorrow morning" story. It's never failed for me once. That'll teach those filthy eBayers!