Advice on Motherboard

[Zak]

:t I'm looking for advice on what mother board to choose for a new build. My choices are between Intel and Asus. I'm looking for a socket 775 that will support an Intel Core 2 Duo E8200/ 2.662.66ghz and be upgradeable. I'm not a real gamer, just looking for an all around stabe media board with RAID. Some things I've looked at....

- Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 CPU
- 2 GiG's Kingston RAM
- Seagate Barracuda 250 GiG hard drive
- Asus Geforce 8800GT 512Mb PCI e
- LG Super Muti DVD/RW drive
- Antec Solo case

suggestions?

[BipolarBill]

If you're not going to be overclocking, buy an Intel board. They are easy to manage and very stable. I don't know about you, but I haven't got time to fiddle and would rather that the system just plain work. Performance is so strong in Core 2 Duo systems that it isn't worth quibbling about a few clock cycles.

By the way, the new nVidia 9600GT is within a hair of the 8800GT in performance and at least $50 less. If you're not a bleeding edge gamer, you won't notice any difference.

[Zak]

Thanks Bill.....

[Zak]

I thought about getting the Intel DP35DP media board, but... I'm not sure if I want to go all USB for keyboard and mouse, plus there's no onboard floppy :confused: Is there a similiar Asus board .... What's your opinion ?

[BipolarBill]

I would not go all USB, but that's just me. I'm sure that PS/2 is going to go away sooner or later and I must assume that USB input will be reliable enough by then. I just like options.

I'm sure that Asus has good alternatives. Just shop for a board with the P35 Express Chipset and the features you want.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2000200280+50001315&Configurator=&Subcategory=280&description=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=p35

[Rabbitrunner51]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127004&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL032708&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL032708-_-IntelMotherboards-_-L5D-_-13127004

Just saw this one while checking on something... ABIT boards are very very good also. Room for 8Gb memory, nice 'raid' selections, and future CPU upgrades.

[BipolarBill]

There are lots of good motherboards. Asus gets the nod because they produce fast and in quantity, but they are HUGE and slow at support. Abit, Epox, MSI, Gigabyte, DFI, EVGA and some others make very competitive products and offer better support.

Asus may be the biggest, but they are not alone.

[Rabbitrunner51]

Amen to that brother. The board i got now is my first Gigabyte board, and from all the posts and reviews from many authoritive tech. sites, thier getting much more exposure for thier products lately, esp. those for Core 2 Dual platforms.

Good point Bill. tech. support is important as well as warranties, and just plain dependability. LOL

[cuelebre]

Not long ago I got an XFX 680i LT fron Tiget Direct for $113.00 Shipped.

Highly recomended at that price.

[Slitelyused]

I buy my memory directly from Crucial,,,excellent prices, lifetime warranty and free second day shipping,,,best of all worlds,,,,Plus they truly appreciate you business..

[Rabbitrunner51]

LOL I'll remember that next time. Never thought that direct from manufacturer is cheaper. Most of the time it is not. I paid about $94.00 for my ram and i love it so far. First 'Crutial' buy i've purchased. Most of the tech sites recommended it so thats why i got it.

Most ram these days from all of the top makers are good. Mostly depends uopn what the motherboard maker suggests as best compatible, but that is not always the case. Most boards will use any top brand just fine. ;)