What Motherboard should I go for?

[ZaZ]

Ok I am looking for a motherboard.

My system as of right now is:

Athlon XP 2600+
ECS K7S5a Rev1
384MB PC2100
WD 80GB "Special Edition"
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
Inno3d GeForce FX 5600XT


I just upgraded to all of that except for the mobo. Im building my parents a computer right now, so I may just buy a new mobo and use that ECS to build them one. (I got the mem, cpu, harddrive...just need mobo now for them)


What good board/s would you guys suggest I grab? Not on a budget .

 

[Harvey]

It depends on the features you want. nForce boards, such as the Asus N7N8X family, are great, and I've had very good results with some VIA chipset boards, as well. Check the Motherboards forum for more info on features and problems with specific models. And don't forget to check the reviews on AT's home page, along with other sites (I think there are other sites).

Whatever you do, add more RAM. 384 MB is selling yourself short. Look for a good deal on 256 MB sticks of DDR. If the board you choose supports dual channel mode, two sticks of 256 MB will be a little faster than one 512 MB stick. Office Max occasionally runs a special on 256 MB of PC2100 for $9.99 after rebates. I haven't seen that one for a few weeks, so maybe you'll get lucky. If you can afford it, you may want to move up to faster RAM, too.

Enjoy.

 

[Ionizer86]

No budget? If youy want an extremely loaded board for ~$160, the DFI Lanparty NFII has pretty much everything.

If you want somethign more reasonable but that still has goodies like SATA, two lans, digital sound etc, then the Abit NF7-S (~$105) or the Asus A7N8X-DX (~$120)
If you want something more basic but that still has a lan, firewire, USB2, and good sound, then the EPoX 8RDA+ for ~$80.