Is the ASUS TUSI-M motherboard any good? I can't find any reviews. (1 Viewer)

[AllenD]

The out-laws would like me to build them a SOHO system on a budget. I know ASUS makes good products. (I use one for my HTPC and it's solid.) I'm not familiar with the SiS 630ET chipset the mobo uses. Is the mobo altogether reliable? I tried looking for reviews but found none. You can see the specs at MWAVE.COM. At $60 w/audio, LAN, VGA out, and MWAVE being only 20 mins. away it really fits the budget. The only drawbacks that I can see is it doesn't have an AGP slot and it only has one IDE channel. Oh well. The out-laws will need a new mobo if they want to play QUAKE 3 in the future.
Thanks!

 

[Masood Ali]

If they need a box for web browsing, an office suite, and solitaire, then that motherboard is a great buy. In my experiences, SiS chipsets have solid drivers, are easy to setup, and super-cheap.

They will obviously have problems if they want to play any games outside of the simple ones; an Nvidia NForce based motherboard would solve that problem, but at twice the price.

 

[AllenD]

Hi Masood,
Thanks for the input. If I could pick you brain for a little bit more, I'd really appreciate it.
Check out the hardware list below. Do you think a 145W power supply will suffice for SOHO use?
Thanks!
CREATIVE LABS MODEM BLASTER 56K V.90 PCI
ASUS TUSI-M SIS 630ET CHIPSET ULTRA ATA100 MICRO ATX FORM FACTOR
MULTIWAVE 32X64 PC133 256MB CL3 SDRAM DIMM (LIFETIME WARRANTY)
IN-WIN V500 MINI TOWER W/145W MICRO ATX POWER SUPPLY
INTEL CELERON 1.0A GHZ FC-PGA2 RETAILED W/COOLING FAN
MAXTOR 20.0GB EIDE ULTRA-ATA100 9.5NS 5400RPM (Bare drive)
CREATIVE LABS CDRW 8432 32X-READ/8X-RECORD/4X-REWRITE 2MB EIDE INT REWRITABLE W/SW
Sub Total $386.00

 

[Kelley_B]

With prices the way they are now, I would get them a 300W just to be on the safe side.

 

[Masood Ali]

A quality 145W PSU should have no problem with that config. Many uATX PSUs are 150W or less, but they run basic configs just fine.

 

[AllenD]

Thanks, Kelley and Masood! I'll have them read this thread and let them decide what they want.