This segment is primarily targeted at users who are on a shoestring budget and aspire for satisfactory performance from a motherboard. While J etway ]lN73 M2 - VS won hands down scoring handsomely on all parameters, we put forward to you the 'also rans' who could not quite make it, but scored pretty well in a specified category. The top runner-up honour goes to our highly recommended test piece, the XFX 630i - 7100 which grab bed the top position in the performance category, scoring highly in PCMark and 3DMark benchmark tests.

PC enthusiasts looking for a motherboard, which is actually worth its price, then they may well have a look at]etway JM2A 690 - VP. It scored a perfect 100 in the price parameter in our tests. Featuring 4 DIMM slots and USB ports each, with onboard support for au¬dio channels (3), lAN and VGA; this may be a good deal. However, if features are your primary concern, then, at least in the entry level nobody can compete with the MSI P35 Neo Combo. It features 4 slots each for USB, SATA and DIMM.

Additionally, it supports 6 audio channels, 2 lAN ports, 1 PCI express and 2 PCI slots. As far as performance is con-
cerned, it returned impressive figures of 5228 and 7897 on PCMark and 3DMark respectively. Priced at only Rs 2,250, the Jetway J945 GCD M5-A2 is another option you may con¬sider if you are in a budget constraint and still demands good performance with basic fea¬tures. It scored 3387 on PCMark and 3389 on 3DMark, which is decent enough for an entry¬level board. Features are pretty basic with 4 ports for USB and 2 each for DIMM, lAN, SATA and PCL One PCI express slot also finds a mention here and audio is supported onboard with 3 channels.

The lone player from Asus, the M2N-VM DVI was going strong, but still could not perform well enough on all the parameters to claim the top spot. And two of the test boards from ECS lost out mainly due to lack of features and high pricing. If you compare the asked price vis the features offered, you would inadvertently think it didn't interest you enough as its competitors did. However, performance wise it was at par with Jetway JIN73 M2-PHG-VT which is our overall winner in this category. In fact, it fared pretty well when compared to MSI 945GC M5¬FV2 in terms of performance. MSI P35 Neo was the only board in this range which came with the support for 45nm processor, making it one of the most future ready board. So as soon as 45nm comes in this board will have support for it, whereas other might need an upgrade.

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As stated earlier, the entry level is for the price con¬scious consumers who ask for maximum value for money with the least cost involved. We saw some boards like XFX 630i -7100 which went ahead and offered all the three video ports, and some like the Jet¬way JM 26 GTI - SVP which offered just a single SATA port, and the JHA-02 GTE which had absolutely no on board support for video. In some cases, it may mean that you will have to shell out some extra cash to get an onboard video card. It was good to see RAID support in majority of the board with only some of the J etway boards been the exception in this regard. Overall, lots have changed in this segment and all these are welcome change.