I wasn't suggesting you go and pay big money for a GX board. I paid 15 dollars for the system I have. I don't think I'd call it junk. Even the OEM boards I have are pretty robust, seeing as they still work after being stored stacked on top of each other in a cardboard box. And if something stops working, I either fix it or cannabilize it for parts.
I like to see what I can do with old hardware. I've been running a P200 system for a while now, and for the hell of it, put in a P100 before booting up tonight. A little slower, but hey, I'm still on this site posting this.
Premio 212B motherboard (MSI MS-6112)
Intel PentiumII 333MHz Slot 1 66MHz bus
384MB ECC 66MHz
SIIG ATA133 controller --> Seagate Barracuda 80GB
SIIG Gigabit Ethernet (RTL8169) / USB 2.0 / IEEE1394 controller
ESS 1869 soundcard on board wavetable synth