That's what I use, you can pretty much get a whole low budget yet decent looking site going from there. Here's mine...still a work in progress http://topshelf.forum5.com/
Can you explain a bit clearer please? If you want a forum hosted by some third party that allows you to set up your own stuff, or if you want a basic forum package that you can host on your own server?
If it's the latter, look no further than phpbb. Not the most secure of forums, but constantly being updated and worked on...
Also very easy to install and admin, only needs a basic AMP* setup.
with a few simple changes, it can actually be made into a pretty secure platform. just turn off "allow html" and disable global registers. then you just have to deal with spammers, and if you have an attentive admin staff, isn't an issue.