Consider this alternative to AMD

[Richard Cranium]

Does this 400mhz FSB mobo with a SIS650 chipset and DDR look like a good running unit ?
Biostar M7SXG SiS650 DDR Vid/Snd
http://www.tcwo.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi...gi2Ty0Wg2zS9fC

Coupled with this CPU
Celeron 1.7G 128k 400FSB
http://www.tcwo.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi...gi2Ty0Wg2zS9fC

This is my "Budget" high end system for business/home usage.

Possibly couple with SCSI drives for ultimate data storage protection.

Please skip the "you could buy this for... instead"
I'm well aware of hardware pricing.

[Brainchild]

That sounds like good running system. 400 mhz FSB really sounds good, even a celly, IMO

[Thud]

Well, for that kind of money you could buy......j/k

Actually, that looks like quite a deal! I don't know much about the new PIV based Celerons, but I doubt they're dogs, and they're very reasonably priced.

That mobo seems to offer a nice starting point for a value system, and a nice upgrade path since it has an AGP slot and supports the whole line of PIV's.

Looks great to me!

[Etruscan]

Yeah, it looks great ... except it seems to me that intel is like a dope pusher in a playground: 'here ya go kid, the first one is free'. After that they get the user 'hooked' on P4 with their new board. The P4 CPUs that will "upgrade" the board from the basic Celeron 1700 are lot more pricey. Once you get past that first "great deal" the bargains are few and far between from what I've seen.

I'm with you Doc on these SiS boards with a Celeron though. Most from ECS and PcChips take SDR and DDR too, nice feature. A really cool deal. I am tempted to buy one for myself.

[Richard Cranium]

I have had several customers with my AMD 1.0 Duron & Biostar VIA boards have difficulty running certain games on them.

The older Intel based boards install them fine.

I was hoping for a "cover all bases" machine that I could mark up a bit more than the standard machine I sell at sub Wal-Mart pricing.

[Etruscan]

Gee, I had no idea there were any problems with games and a 1gig Morgan. However, as you may have guessed, I'm not a real keen 3D gamer and don't really know that much about it. I get kind of shaky behind a big gun. Like, what games? What kind of problems? You mentioned installation.

PS: Doc, I just reread your post, duh, it is older games not newer ones that stump the SSE Morgan.

[thekemp]

doc,
i have just built a similar system for a mate of a mate! but with a 1.8ghz celeron DDR ram. he said thats a propper computer i said i know and when i gave him the bill he was even more happy!
the graphics that comes out of that sis 650 chipset is far better than anything from the intel camp to boot! plus you can run 333mhz ram in that sucker too as its the same price as 266mhz you may as well!

[Richard Cranium]

Etruscan
One user had the Biostar M7VKG mobo and could not install Microsoft Golf and some of the kids games.

Another had the ECS KS5A [whatever]and could not install Need For Speed.

I don't remember the exact error message they mentioned, except it was no real big deal to them so I dropped it.

I felt bad that a brand new machine would not run some of the games,, one of them asked in advance if he would have probs with his games and I told him no,

I'm not sure if the problem is the Morgan or the motherboard..

theKemp, I'm very tired right now from running the Jet-Ski all day.
What is 333mhz RAM ?
I bought some PC2100 to go in the Intel machine.

[Etruscan]

It is a liitle tricky trying give guarantees to people that they will be able to use all the software out there. In the seller's shoes, I wouldn't want to go much further than saying it will run the OS. After that, it is your problem. However, I also know when someone comes to you, and you try to help them out, and you are almost 99% sure that the board you built for them will do what they want it to do, and then it doesn't, and then you feel bad.