Mobo Recommendation Please

[Danadcorps]

Hey guys, I need some help regarding a mobo. I ordered the Asus EAH3850 512MB card and I was wondering what board I should get to go with it. I would like to spend $80 or less on the board, but I will be trying to get it via the FS/FT thread here on anandtech, ebay, or anywhere else that it would be lightly used, but still fully functioning. $80 used is about equiv. to $120 or so new (from what I've seen over the past week).

I would like to be able to use crossfire down the line so it would be great if the board could have x16/x16 electical. If that is too pricey, would it even be worthwhile to go x8/x8 vs. x16 (using the same vid. card)? It seems that those two (Dual @ x8/x8 and Single @ x16) would be identical looking at the "Common Interconnects & Bandwidth" thread. Needs to be able to use DDR2 677 5300 sticks (i bought that damn HP ram and haven't been able to use it yet!). I would also like a lot of SATA's (>4) as I have a lot of hdd's and am planning to get more once the prices on the 1TB drives fall.

The processor I pick will be decided by the mobo that is chosen. It (the processor), will also be obtained via the FS/FT, ebay, or other medium. Same price restrictions as the mobo.

So far, I've been looking at the Asus M2r32 and the MSI K9A2 boards. I don't game much [just starcraft and CS:S (just started)], so I don't need anything extreme.

I will either be using my 20" LCD (max res. 1680x1050) or my 21" CRT (max res. 2048x1536) don't know which yet.

 

[DSF]

With your light gaming requirements I wouldn't worry about Crossfire. By the time you get that second card it's not going to help you much.

If you're willing to give up the Crossfire idea I'd look at a P43, P35 or P45 motherboard. You might be able to find a Gigabyte P35-DS3R for sale somewhere. The DS3L isn't going to have enough SATA ports. x16/x16 electrical requires the X38 or X48 chipset, which is probably going to be out of your price range unless you find a killer deal.

 

[Danadcorps]

Hey I've been lurking around on this site (FS/FT thread) and ebay for the past two days or so. The mobo you gave me sounds really good so that has def. become the board I want. I've looked at the EP35-DS3R and the EP35C-DS3R. They are almost identical except for the fact that the "C" version comes with 2 slots for DDR3. On ebay (before the 25% cash back) the price difference is $36 (including shipping). I looked at the Memory section of anandtech and they say DDR3 is not worth it right now. Therefore, I'm thinking about the EP35-DS3R (I already have 4x1 gig of 667 DDR2 RAM). Am I right to assume that this will be as future-proof as the EP35C-DS3R?


I got the EP35-DS3R. Now I just have to look for a good core 2 duo for about $90.