At 19:19 1/9/99 -0500, Wayne Ramlogan wrote:
>I'm building a new system and will like people's opinion on
>motherboards. I will be using an Intel 333 celeron but will like
>to upgrade later to an Intel Pentium II 400 or AMD 7.

I don't believe any motherboard that accepts an Intel Celeron
will work with an AMD K7 which I have heard will use a different
design of CPU slot. Since you will start with a slot one Celeron,
you need a slot one motherboard. The two main chipsets used for slot
one are the older Intel LX chipset and the Intel BX chipset. Don't
get an LX chipset based motherboard because it will lack many of the
features introduced with the BX chipset. And avoid any "cheaper"
chipset based motherboard like some designed only for Celerons. BX
chipset motherboards accept Celerons just fine.

I would suggest an Abit BH6 or Asus P2B motherboard. Expect to pay
from $85 to $120 for the Abit and $40 to $50 more for the Asus.

Both run at either the front side bus at either 100 MHz or at 66 MHz
as well all other common bus speeds.
The Abit has 5 PCI slots and 2 ISA slots.
The Asus has 4 PCI and 3 ISA.
They are both ATX boards. (They need an ATX case with ATX power supply.)
    Note: If you don't have an ATX case, it would be better to get one
    than try to use an AT case with some lesser know AT style Pentium II
    motherboard. (Such a board would likely have less expansion slots
    and features anyway.)
The P2B and BH6 will both accept 3 SDRAM DIMMs, and either a Celeron or
PII processor. There are versions of the Asus board available with SCSI
and/or LAN controllers built in.
The Abit will let you change all processor settings (including CPU
voltage which the Asus cannot adjust at all) from within CMOS setup.
The Asus *may* be less picky about memory DIMMs. (This is only hear
say.)

Since Intel processors are multiplier locked, these motherboards will
take any slot processor likely to come along. (The multiplier settings
on these boards will go up to 8X anyway, which would give 800 MHz.)
Both Asus and Abit release frequent BIOS updates which is a good thing.
These are two very well made and readily available motherboards.

I have a P2B in one of my machines and a BH6 in the other and both run
perfectly. If you ever want to "overclock" your processor, get the
Abit. I would not have bought either of these motherboards if I thought
any other board was significantly better.

One suggestion that I would make to you is that after you have made a
decision on what motherboard to buy, do not let some dealer or salesman
talk you into buying a motherboard that you are not familiar with just
because "It's just as good" or "It's on sale" or "It's all I have in
stock". Go elsewhere if necessary.

Regards,
Bill

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