# Chosing a suitable MainBoard?

## MoonWalker

Ok just thought of it as a fun thing to make a poll about this and it may come to use for others futurewise. There is only 2 options because my choise are between those and you are supposed to help me - you know that's what BB's are for  :Smile:  and there is only 2 options because that's what my supplier have in stock at the moment.

So give me some opinions on those, for and agains - own experience of MSI/Abit mobos? What are you thinking of/looking at when chosing a mobo?

here's where I am so far...

I have just had a hard days night coming to conlution of using P4 instead of Athlon (so please don't bring up Intel vs. AMD - it's done!)

The box will be running as a 24/7 Internet server with Gentoo (of course) gcc3.1 based, at the moment serving about 20 vhost (some making heavy use of mysql through php) and mail, ftp etc. This amount will possibly increase in the future... Connection is 100Mb/s

I have chosen onboard VGA and LAN because I like to have the o/b Lan as a backup in case and I don't really need anything in graphics and cheapest AGP4 1.5v card would be such overkill for both box and wallet.

So which one would you suggest me to choose?

Below is links to more info about the mobos:

Abit BG7

MSI 845G Max-L 

That's it thanks,

/Joakim

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## klieber

Have you checked Tom's Hardware or other sites that do more in-depth analysis of mobos and seen what they said? 

Here, you're going to get a lot of personal preference stuff.  "I like MSI" and "I like Abit."  (and at least one person who ignores your email and picks some mobo that you're not even considering...)  I doubt you'll get much objective advice based on facts.  But, then again, maybe that's what you're looking for.  You do ask for opinions, after all.

Anyway, IMO, you'll make a better decision (or at least a more informed one) by reading some reviews, noting the pros and cons and deciding how those fit in with your particular needs.

--kurt

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## MoonWalker

 *Quote:*   

> Have you checked Tom's Hardware or other sites that do more in-depth analysis of mobos and seen what they said? 
> 
> 

 

Man you are fast...  :Smile:  Yes I have read so my head is blown! One thing with all those reviews and benchmark test though - it's almost always about Windows, 3D performance etc. 

 *Quote:*   

> Here, you're going to get a lot of personal preference stuff. "I like MSI" and "I like Abit." 

 

Yes I know.

 *Quote:*   

> But, then again, maybe that's what you're looking for. You do ask for opinions, after all. 
> 
> 

 

Exact, you'r right on spot again  :Smile: 

I want opinions and personal experiences as I belive that's kinda "usefull" information in a decission process AFTER your have read the experts reviews. In the end, if you dont feel that you ghave done the right choise it's going to follow you all the way down - may even effect your computers performance - ever heard about "the power of thought"?  :Smile: 

Really, it's not just a joke - a computer is a "living thing" not some dead peace of parts. 

 *Quote:*   

> Anyway, IMO, you'll make a better decision (or at least a more informed one) by reading some reviews, noting the pros and cons and deciding how those fit in with your particular needs. 

 

I normally agree, well I do. But I have bean around reading and truly, even if ther is some good information to find - and I have read it, notting is as valueable as shared experiences. Alos I think that's what BB's are about, or at least it was ones when I started with computers 15 years ago... So I kinda had a hidden motive with starting this thread. 

Not all do, but I use forum search extensivly and the best threades to come across it those where people share experiences. I tend to end up in such side tracks even if it's not about what's on my quest.

So as I already have came to the conclustion to choose one of those mobos and have experience of MSI before but not ABIT I tries to start some sharing... to generat usefull info for people coming a cross a week or even a month+ later...

My experience of MSI wasn't so good, but it was with an early K6-2 300 CPU and I'm prepared to forgive them  :Smile:  If not the advice against is coming on strong... Just as all folks I have prejudices and in my mind MSI is "cheap" stuff. Although I know I probably is wrong, to "erase" the tape or re-record you need something to trigger it. Ok stop ranting...

/Joakim

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