Need suggestions

[geo]

I'd like to build a new computer, not for gaming, but for normal everyday
use. I have several of the componets so I need to buy just the motherboard,
CPU and 1 gig of RAM.
I'd like to get a board with video, sound, lan and modem all on board. I'd
like to use Abit, but it's not totally necessary, and good size AMD cpu. It
would be nice to have a firewire port, but not necessary as long as there
are two or three PCI slots.

I'd like the board to be "almost, self installing", meaning no extra work or
head aches, and it doesn't have to be a real exspensive board, I'd like to
keep it under $100 or even $75 if possible.
One of the jobs of this new computer would be for video transfers and
editing. Taking old VHS tapes, and burning them to DVD's.

Can I please get some suggestions?

thank you,
geo

 

[BigJIm]

not going to happen for under a 100 dollars, LOL.

 

[jaster]

I'd like to build a new computer, not for gaming, but for normal everyday
use. I have several of the componets so I need to buy just the
motherboard, CPU and 1 gig of RAM.
I'd like to get a board with video, sound, lan and modem all on board. I'd
like to use Abit, but it's not totally necessary, and good size AMD cpu.
It would be nice to have a firewire port, but not necessary as long as
there are two or three PCI slots.

I'd like the board to be "almost, self installing", meaning no extra work
or head aches, and it doesn't have to be a real exspensive board, I'd like
to keep it under $100 or even $75 if possible. One of the jobs of this new
computer would be for video transfers and editing. Taking old VHS tapes,
and burning them to DVD's.

Can I please get some suggestions?

thank you,
geo

CPU is more important than motherboard. I suggest you start at
Tomshardwareguide for comparision of cpu video encoding time. Outpost.com
(Fry's) does have good cpu/mb combo and deals on memory.

 

[Bob Knowlden]

One suggestion:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131571

It's the Asus A8N-VM.

It has video, sound, and an Ethernet connection. (It's not gigabit Ethernet,
but 10/100 Mb ought to be adequate for many purposes.) No onboard modem, but
I don't recall seeing any recent mainboard with that. It supports most
Socket 939 Athlon 64 CPUs, including the expensive dual core ones.
(Unfortunately, encoding video appears to be one of the best uses for dual
core CPUs. On the other hand, Newegg has the 3800+ X2 for $325, which isn't
completely absurd.)

If you'd like more choices, Newegg also has a mainboard selector. Choose
Socket 939 and onboard video, and you'll get quite a few to consider. (The
ones with nVidia or ATI chipsets would be the ones I'd consider.)


Address may be scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

I'd like to build a new computer, not for gaming, but for normal everyday
use. I have several of the componets so I need to buy just the motherboard,
CPU and 1 gig of RAM.
I'd like to get a board with video, sound, lan and modem all on board. I'd
like to use Abit, but it's not totally necessary, and good size AMD cpu. It
would be nice to have a firewire port, but not necessary as long as there
are two or three PCI slots.

I looked at integrated mobos a few months ago but decided against them,
mostly because 2-3 PCI slots isn't always enough, and the cost of a
regular mobo with a cheap graphics card wasn't much higher. Also even
the fastest built-in graphics are so slow that even the cheapest
DirectX-9 card wil probably run twice as fast, and integrated mobos
based on SiS or VIA chipsets give poor quality 3-D graphics. I ended
up with a $60 Fry's special and a $50 ATI Radeon 9550 graphics card (a
9550SE would have been $10-20 cheaper).