Decent mobo with integrated graphics & AGP

Hi all,

I'm building a PC for a mate who doesn't play many games at the moment, but
wants to have the option of upgrading his system to accommodate a decent
video card in the future should he get into games or video apps. He's after
decent bang for buck in a low-mid range system. Accordingly, I'm looking for
either an NForce2 or Intel 865/875 board to combine with an overclocked CPU
for a good cost-effective system. Hard part is I know nothing about boards
with integrated graphics having always avoided them like the plague.

Can anyone recommend a decent board (preferably based on the NForce2 or
i865/i875 chipsets, but will consider others) which provides integrated
graphics and an AGP slot for possible future upgrades?

Biostar M7NCG 400

NForce 2 w/GeForce 4 MMX integrated graphics (up to 128MB shared memory)

AGP 8x slot

5.1 sound and onboard LAN

very stable and reliable

Fitz

Jetway make good ones

"]v[etaphoid" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I'm building a PC for a mate who doesn't play many games at the moment,
but
wants to have the option of upgrading his system to accommodate a decent
video card in the future should he get into games or video apps. He's
after
decent bang for buck in a low-mid range system. Accordingly, I'm looking
for
either an NForce2 or Intel 865/875 board to combine with an overclocked
CPU
for a good cost-effective system. Hard part is I know nothing about boards
with integrated graphics having always avoided them like the plague.

Can anyone recommend a decent board (preferably based on the NForce2 or
i865/i875 chipsets, but will consider others) which provides integrated
graphics and an AGP slot for possible future upgrades?

I'm building a PC for a mate who doesn't play many games at the moment,
but
wants to have the option of upgrading his system to accommodate a decent
video card in the future should he get into games or video apps. He's
after
decent bang for buck in a low-mid range system. Accordingly, I'm looking
for
either an NForce2 or Intel 865/875 board to combine with an overclocked
CPU
for a good cost-effective system. Hard part is I know nothing about boards
with integrated graphics having always avoided them like the plague.

Can anyone recommend a decent board (preferably based on the NForce2 or
i865/i875 chipsets, but will consider others) which provides integrated
graphics and an AGP slot for possible future upgrades?

I've used a very good number of Abit NF7-M boards over the year, they've
been great performers, very reliable, and pretty decent at overclocking, as
far as IGP boards go. They'll definitely play WarCraft III with all
settings on high with the integrated video, which is pretty decent.

steve

"]v[etaphoid" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I'm building a PC for a mate who doesn't play many games at the moment,
but
wants to have the option of upgrading his system to accommodate a decent
video card in the future should he get into games or video apps. He's
after
decent bang for buck in a low-mid range system. Accordingly, I'm looking
for
either an NForce2 or Intel 865/875 board to combine with an overclocked
CPU
for a good cost-effective system. Hard part is I know nothing about boards
with integrated graphics having always avoided them like the plague.

Can anyone recommend a decent board (preferably based on the NForce2 or
i865/i875 chipsets, but will consider others) which provides integrated
graphics and an AGP slot for possible future upgrades?


I've so often recommended the Biostar M7NCG-400 for just such a
purpose that I'm beginning to sound like a salesman for Biostar. I've used
many of these boards and haven't had any problem or regrets. Kony
reported some problem a few days ago in alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt
with certain memory settings but I haven't had any myself.

nForce2 IGP, TV-out, decent sound, LAN, 8x AGP slot, etc. It's
significantly cheaper than the similar Asus A7N8X-VM but has better
features. No SATA, Firewire or RAID, but then you don't seem to be
looking for a high-end board.

Biostar????

"Fitz" wrote in message
...
Biostar M7NCG 400

NForce 2 w/GeForce 4 MMX integrated graphics (up to 128MB shared memory)

AGP 8x slot

5.1 sound and onboard LAN

very stable and reliable

Fitz

Jetway???

"David Hemingsley" wrote in message
...
Jetway make good ones

"]v[etaphoid" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I'm building a PC for a mate who doesn't play many games at the moment,
but
wants to have the option of upgrading his system to accommodate a decent
video card in the future should he get into games or video apps. He's
after
decent bang for buck in a low-mid range system. Accordingly, I'm looking
for
either an NForce2 or Intel 865/875 board to combine with an overclocked
CPU
for a good cost-effective system. Hard part is I know nothing about
boards
with integrated graphics having always avoided them like the plague.

Can anyone recommend a decent board (preferably based on the NForce2 or
i865/i875 chipsets, but will consider others) which provides integrated
graphics and an AGP slot for possible future upgrades?

"David Hemingsley" wrote in message
...
Jetway make good ones


No they done. Jetway makes junk, always has.

"]v[etaphoid" wrote in message
...

" Can anyone recommend a decent board (preferably based on the NForce2 or
i865/i875 chipsets, but will consider others) which provides integrated
graphics and an AGP slot for possible future upgrades? "


A while ago I replied to a similar query on usenet. I listed a number of
400FSB Nforce2 motherboards for the OP to look at. I'm not making any
specific recommendations with the following, so maybe you'd like to look
them up yourself:

Micro-ATX:

- Albatron KM18G Pro http://snipurl.com/9aq0
- AOpen MK79G-1394 http://snipurl.com/9ap6
- AOpen MK79G-N http://snipurl.com/9apr
- Asus A7N8X-VM http://snipurl.com/9aou
- Asus A7N8X-VM/400 http://snipurl.com/9aov
- Biostar M7NCG http://snipurl.com/9aq6
- Biostar M7NCG-400 http://snipurl.com/9aq9
- Biostar M7NCG-400 (7.x) http://snipurl.com/9aqe
- Chaintech 7NIF2 http://snipurl.com/9aqs
- Epox EP-8RGM3I http://snipurl.com/9arl
- Epox EP-8RGMI http://snipurl.com/9arm
- FIC K7M-NF18G http://snipurl.com/9asx
- Leadtek Winfast K7NCR18GM http://snipurl.com/9asu
- MSI K7N2GM-IL http://snipurl.com/9atk
- MSI K7N2GM-L http://snipurl.com/9atk
- MSI K7N2GM2-ILSR http://snipurl.com/9atn
- MSI K7N2GM2-LSR http://snipurl.com/9atn
- Shuttle MN31L http://snipurl.com/9aoq
- Shuttle MN31N http://snipurl.com/9aop

ATX:

- Abit NF7-M http://snipurl.com/9apt
- AOpen AK79G Max http://snipurl.com/9apj
- Aopen AK79G Tube http://snipurl.com/9apl
- AOpen AK79G-1394 http://snipurl.com/9ape
- AOpen AK79G-V http://snipurl.com/9app
- AOpen AK79G-VN http://snipurl.com/9apq
- Biostar M7NCG Pro http://snipurl.com/9aqb
- Gigabyte GA-7N400V http://snipurl.com/9arx
- Gigabyte GA-7N400V Pro http://snipurl.com/9art
- Gigabyte GA-7N400V Pro2 http://snipurl.com/9aru
- Gigabyte GA-7N400V-L http://snipurl.com/9as4
- Gigabyte GA-7NNXPV http://snipurl.com/9ars
- Jetway KOCAB18P http://snipurl.com/9atc
- Leadtek Winfast K7NCR18G http://snipurl.com/9as9
- Leadtek Winfast K7NCR18G-Pro http://snipurl.com/9asb
- Leadtek Winfast K7NCR18G-ProII http://snipurl.com/9asf
- MSI K7N2G-ILSR http://snipurl.com/9ati
- MSI K7N2G-L http://snipurl.com/9ati
- Soltek SL-75MRN http://snipurl.com/9ata
- Soltek SL-75MRN-L http://snipurl.com/9ata

Yes, Biostar.
Take a look at their website.
I'm running three of their boards and have had no problems with them at all.
One is being used by a six year old- a good test of reliability.

Their documentation is a little weak, but aside from that, it a good product
and a great value for the money.

Fitz