Weekly Memory & Motherboard Price Guide: April 2001 3rd Edition

AnandTech Weekly Motherboard Prices - VIA Pro266 Motherboards
Motherboard Model	Price	Change	Vendor	Shipping	Promotion
Shuttle AV32	$128	$3	MWave	Check Vendor	UPS Ground Insured
MSI Pro266 Master	$115	$3	Newegg	$5.00	FedEx Saver Shipping
Chaintech 6VJD	$126	$24	AxionTech	Check Vendor	UPS Ground
AOpen AX37 Pro	$134	$0	AxionTech	Check Vendor	UPS Ground
Gigabyte GA-6RX	$162	$5	Newegg	Free	FedEx Saver Shipping
EPoX EP-3VHA	$123	$1	AxionTech	Check Vendor	UPS Ground
ASUS CUV266	$229	NA	Essential Computer	$12.00	2 Day FedEx, Bundled with 128MB Nanya PC2100 DDR SDRAM

Not much has changed with Slot-1/Socket-370/Socket-324 motherboards since our last guide. Prices with i815E, i815EP, and VIA Apollo Pro 133A-based motherboards has not changed significantly. We continue to recommend the ASUS CUSL2 and CUSL2-C from the i815E(P) bunch because both boards are rock solid, overclockable, and feature a great design. We still recommend the Soyo SY-7VCA and the ASUS CUV4X as both have won top honors from our reviewers and are great boards if you are looking for a budget solution based on the Intel platform.

In the high-end arena of Intel computing, the Supermicro P4STA and MSI MS-850 Pro have fallen quite nicely in price but the other motherboards have remained the same. New to the VIA Pro266 pack is the ASUS CUV266 motherboard which we reviewed recently. The item that sets this board apart from it's competitors is that it already comes bundled with a 128MB stick of Nanya PC2100 DDR SDRAM making the board much pricier. Though a single stick of PC2100 DDR runs for currently $62, this board still outweighs other Pro266 boards by approximately $100. Though it's expensive, the CUV266 is another example of ASUS's trademark quality since the board had great stability and performance with the exception of some glitches during testing. From the Pro266-based boards we've seen in the AT labs, the CUV266 is currently king of the mountain so consider this one if you're in the market for a Pentium III DDR solution.