Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 206

using Shuttle Motherboard?

I'm in the process of building a new computer and came across a great deal on a motherboard. The problem is I've never really looked into motherboards before and I don't know what brand is good. So, here's my question: have any of you ever bought/used a Shuttle motherboard (shuttle is the brand) or have you ever heard of them before? Are they any good?

As a side question, will SDRAM work at 100 and 133 MHz or will I have to buy more RAM as well (I currently have PC100 RAM)?

I figure this would be a good place to ask since a lot of you are computer hardware knowledgeable (I'm halfway knowledgeable but mostly software experienced).

Thanks

- Burns

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 447

PC100 RAM should work in the PC133 motherboard; it'll just run at 100mHz. As far as motherboards, I'm using a FIC VA-503+ AT motherboard with an AMD K6-2 350mHz. It's a Socket 7. No real complaints except that it will only support up to 550mHz AMD K6-2s and something like 233mHz Pentium IIs. Also, it may be my configuration, but it has some kooky problems: it won't work with a WinModem under Win98SE (not a big problem; I don't care for WinModems anyway and just put in an ISA hardware one) and it won't support ANY USB PCI cards; I had to use the bus connector to get USB.

So...I guess my advice is to watch out for weird unsupport-ivity like on mine.

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: St Petersburg Fla
Posts: 224

Sources of motherboards

Some places to look:

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/

http://www.maximumpc.com/

http://www.extremetech.com/

http://www.anandtech.com/

http://www.technicalcorner.com/

A good place for memory is http://www.crucial.com
They have memory selectors for most motherboards and systems.

Make sure the BIOS that comes with the mobo is current.
Also with ATA-133 to support the newest drive speeds.
Also best to be able to set mobo options through the BIOS rather than jumpers.