I'm in IT as well, and I wholeheartedly agree. They took a nosedive after the beige era, IMO. Their high-end stuff is still pretty nice, the Precision and PowerEdge lines, but I think the last decent general-purpose desktop they made was the GX260.

And the laptops... Jesus Christ. A couple years ago I had to roll out about 50 new Latitude E6400s... $1200 each, and every single one of them had some combination of missing screws, bent casings, dark spots in the screen, or warped keyboards. And there was also the brand new $3000 XFR rugged laptop that I had to dismantle because the stylus pen for the touchscreen was jammed in the holder... and in the process discovered that the digitizer panel wasn't even hooked up. And the general design of it was pretty appalling too, like the fact that the hard drive was mounted on the goddamned battery. 😮

"the hard drive was mounted on the goddamned battery. "

This shouldn't be too surprising given the trend for batteries that can't even be removed without at least a partial disassembly of the entire laptop and which are molded to fit whatever space is available, completely eliminating a walled off battery compartment. You can thank Apple for starting that mess. Batteries have been walled off from the rest of the electronics in devices for decades for a reason, so if they leak the leakage will be confined and not spread out all over everything and end up ruining the device. A not so visionary moment for the late visionary of Cupertino, I think.

This shouldn't be too surprising given the trend for batteries that can't even be removed without at least a partial disassembly of the entire laptop and which are molded to fit whatever space is available, completely eliminating a walled off battery compartment.

This wasn't like a Macbook though. It was a walled-off battery compartment... you pop a couple latches on the bottom to remove the cover, and then the battery just lifts out. With the hard drive attached to it.

The OP did not mention if he wants an AT or ATX board. Anything with HX or TX chipset would fit his needs. If old EDO RAM SIMMs are available, then HX is the better choice.
The only advantage of VX and TX is SDRAM support.
I have an old Intel board which works great. ATX, onboard Yamaha soundchip; some versions had onboard S3 Trio64 or ViRGE video; mine only has the Yamaha 701 audio.
Also, the old IBM PC 330 and 340 dektops are good Socket7 platforms. I prefer the 330, again with Intel HX, onboard S3 Trio64V+, standard ATX PS, 1 slot EDO 5v 168pin DIMM and 4 slots 72pin EDO SIMMs. AFAIR, the 340 had Cirrus Logic 5436 video chip.

Pretty much any TX based board will do performance and features wise. Good luck with your build and be sure to hunt around in your city/area as you never know that there might be some good pickings. Old people = old "stuff" = score 😉

Old Thrashbarg wrote:

I'm in IT as well, and I wholeheartedly agree. They took a nosedive after the beige era, IMO. Their high-end stuff is still pretty nice, the Precision and PowerEdge lines, but I think the last decent general-purpose desktop they made was the GX260.

And the laptops... Jesus Christ. A couple years ago I had to roll out about 50 new Latitude E6400s... $1200 each, and every single one of them had some combination of missing screws, bent casings, dark spots in the screen, or warped keyboards. And there was also the brand new $3000 XFR rugged laptop that I had to dismantle because the stylus pen for the touchscreen was jammed in the holder... and in the process discovered that the digitizer panel wasn't even hooked up. And the general design of it was pretty appalling too, like the fact that the hard drive was mounted on the goddamned battery. 😮

Wasn't better with the Latitude XT and the hinges on those are weak but not bad for the current price. As for the E6400 the keyboards and trackpads are HELL once they go bad.

I would prefer ATX for ease of parts finding. It's a BITCH to source anything AT-aged in south florida. Seriously, this place is a black hole of anything interesting.

Intel made other ATX S7 boards

Intel Advanced/ATX (Thor)
Intel Advanced/ML (Marl)
Intel TC430HX (Tucson)
Intel TE430VX (Tigereye)
Intel AN430TX (Anchorage)
Intel LT430TX (Lone Tree)