This is an entry-level motherboard for the socket AM2 platform, clearly targeted for the new socket AM2-based Sempron CPUs. From this motherboard specs and performance, we don’t recommend it to be used with an Athlon 64, at least while the Athlon 64 models available for the socket AM2 are still above the USD 100 range.

We wouldn’t expect an integrated graphics solution to run games with a reasonable performance, but with SiS 771 you won’t be able to run even older games. The performance of its on-board video is far lower than ATI’s Radeon X1100 and a very low-end video card like GeForce 6200 TurboCache 64 MB with 64-bit interface – which is one of the most low-end video cards available on the market – looked like a rocket compared to SiS 771.

The good news is that a motherboard based on SiS 771 will achieve an overall performance similar to a high-end socket AM2 motherboard, meaning you will run day-to-day programs like Microsoft Office, antivirus and e-mail with the same performance as a high-end PC. Of course for very high-end applications, especially games, a high-end motherboard will be faster.

Since traditionally motherboards based on SiS chipsets are one of the cheapest available, you can buy a PC based on SiS 771 for doing office work and later expand your PC capability by adding a real video card on it, if your motherboard provides a PCI Express x16 slot.

But keep an eye on the price tag. You can find ECS RS485M-M costing between USD 60 and USD 70 today in the US market, and Radeon X1100 provides a far better performance than SiS 771. Motherboards based on SiS 771 must come to the market with a killer price – below USD 50 – in order to make sense.