Motherboards with Integrated Video

[bigdavyc]

I'm looking to build a new rig as an upgrade of my AMD 2000+ system. I'm really looking to keep my costs low as any dual core system will be a huge upgrade for me.

I'm interested in integrated video but haven't seen anything for pentium core 2 duo. I'm not opposed to going with AMD I just need some input. Clearly the set-up doesn't have to be state of the art, just a simple cost-effective upgrade. So what's your opinion on the matter? Is this stupid, should I just go with a cheap graphics card?

 

[haywood]

What will the PC be used for?

Budget?

List of parts you will need and list of parts you will re-use.

 

[bigdavyc]

I'm looking to keep it to the essentials only, so I'm talking motherboard, processor, ram and potentially a lower end video card. And I'd be running XP as opposed to vista obviously.
budget ~$400

I will use it for light gaming, some music/video encoding/decoding and everyday e-mail and web surfing.

I'm looking for reviews of integrated video motherboards and people's personal opinion regarding them.

 

[haywood]

Integrated video will be ok for games that are 5 years old. Anything newer would require a vid card for decent gameplay.

All this can be found at NewEgg.

RAM - Corsair XMS 675 2x1Gb $70
Proc - Intel E4300 $115
Mobo - Gigabyte P965 S3 $100
7600GT vid card ~$100

 

[rwpritchett]

I'm looking for reviews of integrated video motherboards and people's personal opinion regarding them.

Here's a decent review that compares AMD X1250, nVidia 6100, nVidia 6150SE, and Intel X3000 integrated graphics:

http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2007q2/intel-g965/index.x?pg=1

 

[g-paw]

I'm running a couple of ASUS M2NPV-VM, nVidia 6150, a lot of features and no problems. It's an AMD2 board, you could easily do a X2 3800 with 2GB of RAM for less than $400

 

[jaguarskx]

Here's another review of the AMD's 690G with the integrated X1250 IGP.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2942&p=8

The X1250 is basically an integrated version of the old Radeon X700 GPU. It's not the best graphics solution, but at this moment it's better than the nVidia 6100/6150 IGP and Intel's G965 chipset.

Not sure how well AMD's 690G overclocking capabilities are, but the G965 isn't that good. last I heard, the G965 maxes out at around 280MHz - 290MHz FSB.

If a low price is important then you may be better off going with AMD's X2 3600+ or X2 3800+.