How's this motherboard?

[chopin1810]

I'm building a new system soon, here's the motherboard I'm most likely going to buy. Just in case, I'm asking wheather anybody here who has had this board (or something a lot like it) blow up on them or anything, no matter how unlikely it is that anybody here is using the exact same board... I'm just makin' sure... I've had great experience with Abit boards and products in the past, they've always been nice to me and my last two motherboards were from them, in fact there's nothing wrong with my current Abit board except that it's slow, but hey I bought it in '98 so what do you expect... and it's got some really good reviews... and I'm not worried about onboard sound, I'm installing a real sound card in the first place... anyways...
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=A455-2105

[Roxoff]

Personally, I'd be looking at a 64 bit system if I were building a PC now - this is a socket A board. Also it's only got an AGP graphics port, not PCIE, so that's another downer. I can see you running out of memory options too, it supports up to 2gig of memory - I'd want to put 2 gig into a machine if I were building it today. And the FSB of 400Mhz might seem good - but I went out of my way to get a 533FSB when I upgraded my tower a while back (and I've been running on my laptop for five months now...)

Abit have a good name tho', so it's probably an excellent board for a low-end system, if that's what your requirement is. It also supports ATA150, so that's another good plus point.

[a12ctic]

an intel mobo, id stay away....

[junkman4547]

I notice that that Mobo is socket 478, and I would suggest that you consider a
motherboard with a newer socket such as 775. I had a bad experiences trying to
find a decent P4 for socket 478, it appears that nobody around where I live carry
the "old" socket 478 CPU anymore. It's an issue you might think about.

[fingal]

I also think you should built a 64 bit model: think about 'future proofing' but Abit are a good brand so even if you built with that board you'll have something that's okay but a bit 'entry level' IMHO.

[AlexK]

I would go with what the others are saying and get a 64-bit system. As for Abit boards, only small problem I have encountered with the one I have had the pleasure of using a few years ago was that some damm capacitor was at the end of the AGP slot thus preventing me from inserting a decent graphics card into it (Ti4600).

From then on I just stuck with either ASUS or Intel made boards and have been happy since.

[d38dm8nw81k1ng]

Personally, I'd be looking at a 64 bit system if I were building a PC now - this is a socket A board. Also it's only got an AGP graphics port, not PCIE, so that's another downer. I can see you running out of memory options too, it supports up to 2gig of memory - I'd want to put 2 gig into a machine if I were building it today. And the FSB of 400Mhz might seem good - but I went out of my way to get a 533FSB when I upgraded my tower a while back (and I've been running on my laptop for five months now...)

Abit have a good name tho', so it's probably an excellent board for a low-end system, if that's what your requirement is. It also supports ATA150, so that's another good plus point.

2 gig is a bit of overkill unless you are running a 64-bit machine, which he won't be doing with this board. if your getting an older board, then you won't care about PCI-E gfx either. anyway if the board blows up in your face, just send it back

arctic, it's a bit harsh to refuse to buy an intel product because of the name. their centrino technology is good, and while their desktop pentiums don't compare to the athlon, they're not too bad. just avoid the celerons like the plague! intel are also pushing for linux on the mobile platform so they aren't that evil...

[budman7]

just avoid the celerons like the plague!

What is wrong with celerons?
I have a Celeron 2.8 Ghz that kicks butt.
I also have a GB of ram.

[techieMoe]

What is wrong with celerons?
I have a Celeron 2.8 Ghz that kicks butt.
I also have a GB of ram.

As with any hardware recommendation, it just depends on what you want to do with your computer. For someone who isn't a hardcore gamer a Celeron no doubt performs fine. Likewise, a 32-bit-only processor would do fine in that case. A less than stellar new video card would also work, as would an onboard sound card.

In the case of the gamer however, all of the above would need to be upgraded if said gamer had any hope of playing something new at a decent speed. To each their own.

[d38dm8nw81k1ng]

As with any hardware recommendation, it just depends on what you want to do with your computer. For someone who isn't a hardcore gamer a Celeron no doubt performs fine. Likewise, a 32-bit-only processor would do fine in that case. A less than stellar new video card would also work, as would an onboard sound card.

In the case of the gamer however, all of the above would need to be upgraded if said gamer had any hope of playing something new at a decent speed. To each their own.

i've had celerons before and i think they perform horribly for anything. but that's my opinion. i'd just say that you should try and get a P4 as they are a better chip all round than the celeron. if it was totally up to me, i'd get an athlon (or sempron) and use that, since they get better bang for the buck. i agree with techieMoe about 64-bit. even if you want to game, the only linux games don't need 64-bit and my 1.6GHz pentium M handles it all fine. it's all in the gfx card there.