Help deciding MoBo for new PC and MoBo bying/deciding strategy

[VarzaEl]

Allo everyone!
I'm deciding on a new PC for a good deal of days after a long time(my current one is a Pentium3 800,Geforce2 including PC .
So,considering that
A) I'm budget-conscious but would like a mobo that will last me a good deal of time(by means of possible upgrades and remaining in-technology) and..
B) plan to use the new PC for general purposes(heavy multitasking),much gaming and try my first overclocking with it(not as a hobby,but as a means to maximize the efficiency of my PC parts in the future ) :

1-What MoBo would you suggest these days?

2-Abit IP35 Pro is getting MUCH love everywhere and I've been recommended this mobo many times over,why is that?which brings us to...

3-..what are your consumer's strategy concerning MoBos? Earlier I mentioned "mobo that will last me a good deal of time (by means of possible upgrades and remaining in-technology" ,is that a valid buying principle in the PC market? Why do 300Euro mobos exist if a 120E one like Abit's IP35PRO is the best choice?


Thanks everyone in advance!

 

[o1die]

1. A p35 chipset board will work fine; for onboard video, checkout the g31 or g33.

2. Abit IP35-e used to be cheap with rebate; rebate is gone, so the pro model is all some
places have left to sell. The pro model is still a good value.

3. There is no strategy; Intel will probably change sockets in about 1 year, so any socket
775 will be obsolete. But the boards and cpus will take years to run out of stock.

I'm still using socket 939 amd; my only strategy was to buy a spare board before they
were all gone or the price rose. I found a spare at newegg used for $30.

 

[Rhonda the Sly]

A lot of people like the GA-P35-DS3L these days, though you might need to scale up depending on the features you need (fireware, etc). IP35-E is also nice but frequently missing from Newegg stock. MSI's Neo2-FR is a third option, though its price is marginally higher than the other two boards.

The pro packs lots of nice overclocking features, Uguru, has great compatibility, and an effective heatpipe is the word on the street. : )

Nehalem is out in Q42007 or Q12009, but don't hold me to those dates. In a year or so Westmere will be released, shrinking down the Nehalem architecture down to 32nm and for all we know requiring a new chipset. But considering you're using a bloody P3, I suppose if you got a P35 and a Wolfdale it'd last you until...2016? Truthfully, I don't think anything expensive is worth buying now if you want it to last a while.

Conroe/Kentsfield are pretty much obsolete when Wolfsdale (1/20/08) and Yorky (Q1 or 2, 08?) hit stores. Those will be tossed aside in anywhere from eight (optimistic?) to sixteen months by a completely new architecture.

P35 are all the rage now but don't support DDR3, which is what we'll be using a year (again, maybe a bit early, who knows) or so. X38 and the X48 support DDR3 but you'll pay out the buttocks for those.

The DDR3 itself isn't worth the tag, either. Tell me, would you rather pay $130/GB or $20/GB?

If you can afford a decent rig now go ahead and get it with current stuff at best (P35/DDR2/Wolfsdale) and it should last you a good while.