what do you recommend?

[rubix]

in your opinion, what is the best intel motherboard and the best amd motherboard right now (mainly for gaming, but dvd burning, audio/internet stuff, programming too)? and what is best type of ram for either of these boards too?

also why does it seem the via k7 chipsets (not sure which one exactly) seem to always have problems with people's hardware (video and sound cards). i don't think i want to deal with that, but if amds are really that much better and cheaper than intel cpus then maybe i should go for a via motherboard for once?

anything else i should know about motherboards today? i haven't bought one in over 5 years.

 

[o1die]

There are plenty of more knowledgable people, but you should do some more investigating and decide what features you need and are willing to pay for. For amd, the epox 8rda and + have the nforce2 chipset with good onboard sound and the fastest chipset for the athlon socket 462 in any flavor. For Intel, the asus p4c800 with the Intel 875p chipset is the newest and most flexible setup. At $199, it's priced less than some other models. For 533 p4's, you can save some money and go with a board with the older 845pe chipset, which won't work with the new p4 800 fsb cpus. The new 2.4c and 2.6c 800 fsb cpus are starting to appear, and have hyperthreading support at a more affordable price than the 3.06, which until now was the only cpu to support hyperthreading. I don't need hyperthreading for what I use my system for, but you may want it in the future. A good affordable system would be with the amd barton 2500 and an epox or msi nforce2 board, which can be had for a little over $200. For ram, use pc2700 (for amd) or pc3200 (for p4's). I use generic, but most people recommend corsair, samsung, or crucial. If you haven't set up a system for awhile, I would get someone to help you with the bios settings, and also check manufacturer's websites for recommended memory types and speeds for the board you decide on before ordering.