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Need help selecting a budget board under 100 on a new rig

D

darkxshade

Lifer
So I'm doing this for a friend. His budget is around 650. It's a multipurpose rig. He'll game on it but not hardcore. Has a 22' monitor, not sure which model. Noise is not an issue. Does not want to overclock at all which is why I'm stumped on which MB to get him.

What I selected for him so far:

PSU: I gave him my Ultra X-finity 600W that I got for free after rebate
GPU: Sapphire x1950 pro ~$130 after rebate
CPU: E6600 ~$225
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 2GB DDR2 PC6400 800 ~$75 after rebate
HDD: Seagate 7200.1 320GB ~$75
Case: Cooler Master Centurion ~$55 after rebate
Total: $560



Ok so now a few explanations:

Despite my pleading to him about the RAM, he insists on getting CL4 pc6400 so I had no choice but to get him the ballistix since they were a great deal.

Any recommendations on other cheap cases, the centurion is the only one I could think of.

And finally, what I need the most help on, I have no clue what's good for a board under 100 so any help would be appreciated. Again, he's not oc'ing, he won't let me do it for him either.


Thanks in advance



 
I can throw out 2 suggestions, something to consider anyway.
Case, check out the COOLER MASTER Elite 330 @Newegg decent price, free shipping and no rebates. I had ordered same case, but from ZipZoomFly.
MotherBoard, I was considering this board for a new build, ECS, no thrills board, but looks decent.
Memory, looks good, price is right.
 
The only difference between the S3 and the DS3 is that the S3 uses old-style liquid electrolyte capacitors, while the DS3 uses solid capacitors for longer life and Durability (which is where the D comes from). Everything else should be the same.

[EDIT] If he's not overclocking, slap him silly for insisting on PC6400 RAM. That's pretty incredibly silly. 😛
 
Would it not be better to get the DS3 rev 1.3 from newegg then for 100 shipped instead of the S3?

That way, if I could convince him... or not, he could at least have the capability to oc at least a bit in the future should he change his mind.
 
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