What does this board do, making you think "doesn't like"?
You might try a bios update if it's really the board. Often
it can be the PSU instead but insufficient info to conclude
that.
Otherwise, since it's a via chipset, try an nForce2 this
time, like Asus A7N8X or Abit NF7-(something or other,
several versions now some with or w/o overclock, SATA, etc).
Low end boards might include Shuttle MN35 (or it might be
AN35?) -400 or -Ultra, but today this latter board shouldn't
be much cheaper to buy but is certainly a cheaper built and
lower featured board.
The problem now, is finding quality motherboards at retail.
There are plenty of off-brand motherboards out there.
(Stay away from Jetway for example.) Checking the experiences
on Newegg, shows a good mix of DOA and working boards.
Ideally, I'd want Nforce2 Ultra400 with MCP-T Southbridge.
The -T means better sound, as there is a DSP in the Southbridge
that can modify the sound. I didn't appreciate this, until
running the BF2 demo. The sound is much clearer (distinct) on MCP-T,
than with a separate old sound card (CMI8738 sound chip), or
the AC-97 Soundmax on another motherboard (AD1985, muddy sound).
I don't own any good sound cards.
There are still Nforce2 Ultra400 motherboards for sale. That
gets you the working AGP 8X slot you want. But a variety of
other Southbridges are used (MCP, MCP-S), so you lose the
Soundstorm feature.
You can search for motherboard models here, and can see all
the variations in Nforce2, by using the pulldown chipset
menu:
http://www.motherboards.org/mobot/index.html
To get some feedback on the various Nforce2 motherboards, you
can look in the forums here (click search for all terms):
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/search.php
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/best-overall-nforce2-motherboard-vt37231.html
If you insist on a microATX sized motherboard, and want Nforce2,
a lot of those have the Nforce2 IGP Northbridge. That contains
built-in graphics. The only issue that comes to mind with those,
is trying to mix the built-in graphics with DDR400 memory
speeds. The built-in graphics are stable if the memory is
run at DDR333, but the graphics can corrupt if for some
reason the memory is run at DDR400. The cure for that,
is to use an AGP card. Since you have an AGP card, the
built-in graphics can be disabled, and everything should
work better that way.
Nforce2 is pretty flexible with memory, in the sense that
the memory and FSB can be run async. That makes turning
down the memory from DDR400 to DDR333 easy, if the BIOS on
the motherboard is fully featured. _Always_ download the
user manual for a prospective motherboard, before buying it,
since some BIOS suck when it comes to providing the settings
necessary to get the motherboard stable.
Paul
