I have a PC in our office that needs to be a bit faster. It's an old PII 450.
I have workstations sharing files off of it in a server rm. but I suspect beefing it up a bit will improve file access. Anyway...
I am looking for a Motherboard that is solid as a rock that should fit fine in an older ATX case.
I was thinking along the lines of a P4 2.4c socket 478 because it's cheap and should do the trick nicely. I just cannot pick a motherboard.
This is a new business so I don't have the funds to just buy a system. I'd prefer to replace the motherboard w/ a CPU bundle, buy RAM, and that's it, if I can.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Drew

Msi model 865gvm2-LS is a micro atx board with video and 2 memory slots that should work well. It comes with a 3 year manufacturer's warranty, and msi offers direct rma service that takes about 2 weeks. Or abit offers the is7-10 for about $10 more with similar features and warranty. Both at newegg.com.

Another way to look at your situation is this (you didn't mention if you are running server os - will assume wrkstn os):
File sharing off a networked workstation is more network latency dependent and hard disk performance related than cpu intensive.
*Beefing up the network (Gig-E)
*Faster HD

If you want to do an economical upgrade, I saw quite a few p4 423 and 478 mb/cpu combos for around $100.

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Most systems like yours will accept a 1.4GHz Powerleap iP3/T upgrade kit. Which would mean you don't have to disassemble the computer, you just pull the CPU and pop in a new one.

If you really wanted a board upgrade, I'd want to know what brand of case you're using just to be sure it supports a standard rectangular replacement backplate.

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I bet that P2 450 is plenty fast for your file serving needs. What would probably benefit you is getting a faster hard drive and more ram.

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Thanks guys...it always feels good when someone actually responds to your post, and the almighty Crashman to boot

I'll take a look at the Msi and Abit boards...thanks.

It is a workstation OS, and on the suggestion of a friend it's w2k/sp4 while all pc's accessing it are all XP pro. Is there any benefit here or should I have upgraded the w2k OS to XP pro as well?
I am using a Linksys DSL/router and an AlphaShield. Is there a GigE version?

So it seems that I might be better off adding another 512mb of PC133 ram and maybe a Promise ATA100 card. the drive is a Hitachi 7200rpm 80gb.

Crashman you are right, I did just that to my Mom's pc last year and forgot about them. I added a 1.0Ghz to an old BX6 (the 1st pc I built) and it worked well.

I was just thinking that, for reliability reasons, that a newer board may last longer and if it's less than $240-260 then i'd go for it, but spending less is better if I am accomplishing almost the same thing.

On a side note, It's not right to post here, so I won't but I have another network related question. If you think you can help please look for my post in the networking section...thanks again!

Drew

Well, going with what Soberlizard mentioned - it might be more reasonable to go get you a 24 port GIGE switch or 12 port (ie, however many you need) -- port that over to where all your internal users are working off of it -- then, port your lan access router into that switch. Then, the GIGE will only be good if all your other computers are working with GIGE network cards/onboards ... If they don't -- then guess might try beefing the computer up.

Searching on NewEgg -- there's some $70 5 port GIGEs and goes up from there...