I have a 2-3 year old motherboard with a VIA chipset that seems to conflict with my Geforce 4 (nv4_disp.dll errors, etc). I've tried a lot of things and decided to just buy a new motherboard as it needs updating in my opinion anyway. I need a motherboard that is stable with games and won't crash when playing them. I do not need a good onboard graphics card as the Geforce 4 is fine for the job (128MB Ti4200). All I need is a fast, efficent, stable motherboard, preferably one of the newer VIAs that I've heard works pretty well with the Geforces. My RAM is 512MB SDRAM, maybe I should upgrade that to DDR. My processor is a 1.4 Athlon, which I am happy with at the moment. I have 2 IDE HDDs, 40GB and 20GB. Will I need to format the OS HDD when I fit the new motherboard? I also have a Soundblaster card.

Good choices there you choose :) AsusTek Gigabyte Soyo Biostar

also check out Chaintech boards

Check out the MSI KT4 Ultra (MS-6590) Supports Athlons upto XP2700+, VIA KT400 Northbridge, VIA VT8235 Southbridge, Upto 333Mhz FSB, Upto 400Mhz DDR-RAM, 1 AGP x8 slot, 6 PCI slots, ATA133, USB2.0, etc... Flawless board!!! Will run a treat with your Ge-Force 4!

I'd make sure that the newer via chipsets have worked out all the nvidia issues. If you have a Fry's Electronics in your town you can get an ecs k7s5a + xp2000+ tbred for $89 right now. Its love/hate motherboard as if you get one that's solid its the fastest board you can get at the price and oc's easily, but many users have also posted problems with ther k7s5a. Mine is great. That's why I say get one locally so you can return it if it doesn't work. The need to put your sdram onto the new board limits your choices to sdram + ddr combo boards, as I assume you don't want to get a board that is only sdram since that makes it pretty much not upgradeable since why get a fast cpu down the road that will be held back by sdram.

HEY DFF, I also reccomend the ECS K7S5A,even if you dont have Fryes store this board is worth every penny you/ll spend on it.Mines 2 years old and still going strong. You can buy this Mb. for 50 to 60 dollars at alot of webstores. As Johnoh said it oc's pretty good with a couple of beta version bios updates, but believe me or not i oc'd mine with speedfan program a few times(curiously) from 1800xp palamino close to 2200xp speeds. I also have geforce ti 4200 64mb.ddr runs flawlessly never a issue in fact ive gotten very reasonable 3dmark 2001 scores (10,400 and better)i'd have to look at some of the ones i have published at futuremark.btw this board runs better with ddr than sdram...ddr is pretty cheap now."Dang" you'd think i work for ECS the way im rambling on about this board...LOL its just a good mb for the money nothing fancy. have a good one,macdaddy