Reliable Motherboard (and ram)

[Paladin165]

I need a super-reliable motherboard that can work with a Sempron 64 2800+ socket 754, and a PCI express X1600PRO 256MB GDDR2 video card.

I've currently got a BIOSTAR GEFORCE 6100-M7 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX motherboard, and I get a machine-check exection error anytime I try to play games or do much of anything intensive. It seems like some kind of conflict between the motherboard and video card. I've already had the video card and RAM replaced more than once, so I'm pretty sure the problem is with the motherboard.

Its so hard to find information about reliable parts, everone is so concerned with speed, and these review sites probably don't run the same rigs for years to check long-term reliability. I'm also looking for a really reliable hard-drive (like what brand, RPM, external vs. internal, RAID, etc) , any general advice on reliable computer parts would be much appreciated.

 

[thebigdude]

I've always bad the best reliability luck with ASUS, but have had bad boards with them too. MSI is who I have had the second best luck with.

 

[acegazda]

asus is rock solid, and I think many others would agree. As for RAM, OCZ, g.skill, corsiar, patriot, crucial...are all good brands. OCZ has some fancy cooling, and g.skill has great value. There's a patriot ddr500 2x1gb kit @ monarchcomputers.com for $155 shipped after MIR.

 

[o1die]

Run memtest to check your memory, and try using just one memory stick. Then I would try a different power supply if you have a spare.

 

[GML3G0]

Abit

Corsair, OCZ, G.Skill

 

[cmrmrc]

most big company are reliable like ASUS, ABIT, MSI, GIGABYTE...

for the ram, OCZ, CORSAIR, PATRIOT, KINGSTON, GSKILL are some good brands

 

[cmdrdredd]

DFI is reliable too and no you don't have to be an overclocker/tweaker.

 

[Paladin165]

ok thanks guys. so should I stay away from Biostar then? what about their Tforce 6100

also would it help to set memory timings manually instead of using auto?

I've tried like 4 different power supplies, and while the better ones make it crash less often, it still crashes!

I got a dead stick of ram from Gskill recently...

 

[cmdrdredd]

you can mess with manual timings if you wanted. See what happens