MSI MS6378 upgrade

[jb4479]

I just picked up another system for a song ($10), only problem is the MSI mobo. (MS-6378) CPU is an Athlon XP 2000+, need a mobo with much better video capability (socket A), onboard vid (shared mem) only. (8MB) not sure if it's upgradeable.

Any reccomendations, preferably under $100.

[gvblake22]

"Socket A" and "good onboard video" are not two things that really go well together, but I guess it all depends on what you are hoping your onboard video will do for you? Unfortunately, Socket A is nearly extinct as AMD has stopped supporting it a LONG time ago. So finding socket A motherboards brand new in the usual retail channels is going to be a challenge. You'd be best off trying to find an nForce2 based socket A motherboard with onboard video on e-bay or something. Something along the lines of an Asus A7N8X-VM, that's about as good as you're going to get...

[jb4479]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

"Socket A" and "good onboard video" are not two things that really go well together, but I guess it all depends on what you are hoping your onboard video will do for you? Unfortunately, Socket A is nearly extinct as AMD has stopped supporting it a LONG time ago. So finding socket A motherboards brand new in the usual retail channels is going to be a challenge. You'd be best off trying to find an nForce2 based socket A motherboard with onboard video on e-bay or something. Something along the lines of an Asus A7N8X-VM, that's about as good as you're going to get...

Sorry, meant to be clearer than that. Current system has onboard video limited to 8 MB that can't be disabled. I'm looking for something that preferably has AGP, or at least PCI.

Thanks

[gvblake22]

I still stand by my A7N8X-VM suggestion. There is also a VIA based version of that board (A7V400-MX SE) that should work fine too. Both have an AGP and PCI slots.

[jb4479]

OK, that one might work.

What about the PC Chips M848A

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by jb4479

OK, that one might work.

What about the PC Chips M848A

OOOHHHH, so you don't need onboard video then? (because that PCChips board you linked to doesn't have any)
I've not heard much about PCChips as a company and their reliability, so I think it is a toss up. I had an Asus A7N8X socket A motherboard and it was very reliable, I liked it. The Asus A7N8X series and the Abit NF7-S boards were probably to two most popular motherboards from the Socket A era. Prettymuch any ATX or mATX socket A motherboard is going to have at least a couple PCI slots as well as an AGP slot of some flavor (usually 8X though).