July 2002 Value Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 3

Motherboard

When we go to choose a motherboard for our Value Gaming System, we really try and get the best bang for our buck. This includes making sure the board in question has the performance and overclocking necessary, but we also keep an eye on the feature set. Whether you're buying a low-cost gaming system or an ultra high-end powerhouse, the motherboard is still one of the most important purchases, as it provides the backbone for your entire computer. Our main criteria in the motherboard selection continues to be one that includes high performance, stability, features, expandability and overclocking, all at an attractive price.

Athlon Motherboard: MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU

Current Cost: $103
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

The VIA KT333 is the natural choice for our value motherboard selection, as it provides the optimal base for a powerful Athlon XP gaming system. We gave the overall selection some serious thought, but it kept coming back to the MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU. This particular motherboard has just about every feature you could want, including USB 2.0, IDE RAID and 6-channel audio, all at an incredibly attractive retail price.

Its performance and overclocking are also right at the top of the scale, and the KT3 Ultra-ARU matches up perfectly to the best bang for the buck mentality of our Value Gaming System. The EPoX 8K3A+ is certainly a powerful board with overclocking options to spare, but the MSI just offers a few more features for the dollar and is a bit more suited for a value-oriented configuration.

Pentium 4 Motherboard: ASUS P4S533

Current Cost: $103
Months on list: 2
Price Change: $-1

When selecting the Pentium 4-1.6A as our Intel processor choice, we made sure to match it with a powerful motherboard that would allow some serious overclocking potential. When combining Pentium 4 overclocking, performance and value, the natural choice is a motherboard based on the SiS 645DX chipset. SiS has a real winner on their hands, and provides support for both PC2700 and a true 533-MHz system bus.

The ASUS P4S533 is currently one of the most popular Pentium 4 motherboards, and for good reason. It provides a virtually perfect base for the Pentium 4-1.6A GHz, and along with offering high performance at stock speeds, overclocking this processor to the 533 MHz bus should be a walk in the park. All of this comes at a very attractive $104 price tag, which makes it one of the lower-cost ASUS boards ever. Along with ASUS quality and performance, the P4S533 also includes on-board 10/100 LAN and 6-channel hardware audio.