Are there any motherboards with No onboard video, audio and LAN anymore?

[Kaltano]

I've been looking to build a good gaming rig and I can't seem to find a single board without audio and LAN on it. Didn't have this problem a few years ago, are there any good boards out there without these things onboard? And is it no longer true that an actual card doesn't present a performance increase since even high end "gaming" boards have onboard audio now?

 

[r_manic]

Well, that depends. If you're planning to do professional audio editing work, then a separate sound card is important. But if you're just gonna play games, watch videos, surf the net, and the like, don't bother.

The built-in audio hardware of high-, mid-, and low-end motherboards are also pretty much the same.

 

[outlw6669]

Welcome to the forums!

All consumer motherboards are going to have onboard LAN and nearly all will also have onboard audio.
There are, however, a few overpriced motherboards that take the sound off the board and bundle a separate sound card.
As you can disable the onboard sound/LAN in the BIOS, you have the option of running any motherboard as if they were not included.

Do not expect to see any difference between the onboard LAN and an aftermarket add on.
There have been several tests showing that the dedicated 'Gamers LAN' cards perform the same as the onboard LAN.

While onboard audio is much better now than in the past it still incurs a very minor performance penalty.
With the onset of multi core CPU's the performance penalty is negligible at most.

The biggest disadvantage to onboard/bundled audio is the terrible sound quality.
While still usable, these components are added with extreme value in mind.
Upgrading to a decent aftermarket sound card (ASUS' Xonar line or Auzentech's X-Fi series, avoid any Creative branded card) is highly recommended.

 

[amnotanoobie]

Why do you need a stripped down board? I think the cost for manufacturers to include these options are minimal now, unlike before wherein the chipset themselves do not have the audio, lan and video.