Building a budget gaming computer

[RedawgTS]

I've been using an old Athlon XP system for far too long now and it's time for an upgrade. I have a very constrained budget that, at the moment, is being pushed to it's limit. I'm deciding on a motherboard now and I had originally settled on the Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L but after reading about the problems Gigabyte has been having with thier boards I'm no longer certain that's what I should go with. I'm getting an E7200 and I plan to overclock it just a little bit, just to get it over 3.0 Ghz and a Nvidia 9600GT video card. Below are some boards that I think would be suitable but I'm not entirely sure what would be the best options. Any suggestions on these or other boards in their price range would be of great help.


GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128337

GIGABYTE GA-EP43-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128347

ASUS P5K SE EPU LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131278

ASRock P43Twins1600 LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813157130

 

[ultra laser]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813130185

MSI makes good boards. Quality components for a very affordable price.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I've been using the GIGABYTE GA-EP43-DS3L for about a week now with an E8400 and ATI 4870. It's working flawlessly so far but I'm running at stock speed.

 

[ZootyGray]

New AMD 780G-mobos (sok = AM2+) by Asus support 'nextgen' 140 watt (!) cpu's (Phenom /DENEB) and also will run A64x2 cpu's for the 'now' budget = cheap and futureproof.

780G's also support HDMI, DVI, HDsound sata2 pcie2-16x HT3 ddr2/1066/dualchanl (also P.ATA-IDE)- and 'for now' it does all that with onboard video which will run HD and BLURAY

- So you only NEED mobo cpu ram (ddr2) = cheap right now - and add-on later .
= ballpark $250ish

- Use your old parts for now. HDD mse kb mon cd/dvd . . . done


/Or you can buy ntel /I spose a comparison would be good. /nor do I know your details.

Anyway that's what I have planned. Cheap now and future plan.
eventually add sataHDD ati4850 change the cpu from a dualcore 5000+BlackEdition to quad Phenom - no rush.
Not much need for it yet.

Peace.